Greg Goebel Trio performs at the Jazz Station - Eugene
Modern jazz from some of the Northwest's premier musicians
- Greg Goebel piano
- Tyler Abbott bass
- Michael Raynor drums
From straight ahead jazz, funk and pop, to the avant-garde, Greg Goebel is considered one of the Northwest's first call pianists. Praised by critics for "manifesting his ideas with the immediacy and sureness of a master craftsman" (Jazz Times) and as "a force that is stretching known boundaries and moving the music into new territory" (Larry Koonse), pianist Greg Goebel shows himself as firmly rooted in tradition while simultaneously proving to be a unique voice among a new generation.
Goebel was born in Oregon and began playing piano and composing music from an early age. Greg then moved to Portland, OR where he quickly became one of the most in demand pianists in the area. He has recorded and toured extensively in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, South America, and Japan. Currently recording and touring with singer Gino Vannelli, his contributions can be heard on the CD, The Best and Beyond as well as the DVD, Live in L.A. A long time member of David Friesen's Circle 3 Trio, his work can be heard on Friesen’s 2009 CD, Five and Three, the 2011 CD, Circle of Three, the 2013 release, Brilliant Heart, and 2014’s Where the Light Falls. In 2013, Greg’s first album as a leader, Rainy City, was released to critical acclaim.
In addition to keeping a busy schedule in Portland, Goebel has had the pleasure of performing with notable musicians such as John Handy, Dick Oatts, Terrell Stafford, Larry Koonse, Houston Person, Byron Stripling, Pete Christlieb, Antonio Hart, Ben Wendel, Allison Miller, Eric Marienthal, Steve Wilson and many others.
Tyler Abbott teaches double bass, jazz bass, and music theory at the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance in Eugene, Oregon, and has taught at Walla Walla College and Willamette University. He maintains a private teaching studio in Eugene, Oregon. He maintains an active performance schedule as an orchestral bassist, chamber musician, jazz bassist, clinician, and soloist, and has performed nationally and internationally with some of the finest musicians in both the classical and jazz music worlds. He has recently performed with, or is a member of, the Eugene Symphony, Oregon Symphony, Aspen Festival Orchestra, Oregon Bach Festival, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Festival of American Music’s “American Symphonia,” Eugene Opera Orchestra, Yakima Symphony Orchestra, Oregon Mozart Players, Salem Chamber Orchestra, and several other professional orchestras throughout the region and country. As a chamber musician, he has performed with the Oregon String Quartet, Chamber Music Amici, Pacifica Trio, Beta Collide, Aspen Contemporary Ensemble, Orli Shaham, Sharon Robinson, Vladamir Feltsman, Jamie Laredo, acclaimed contemporary soprano Lucy Shelton, and Hundreth Monkey, a contemporary ensemble based in Eugene, of which he was co-director.
As a jazz bassist, Tyler has performed with Steve Wilson, Ben Monder, Randy Porter, Roswell Rudd, Danilo Perez, Billy Childs, Chris Botti, Dave Pietro, Scott Wenholdt, Billy Kilson, Nancy King, Marcus Whitfield, George Mitchell, Arnie Caruthers, Ryan Keberle, Randy Halberstadt, Dick Hyman, Howard Levy, Warren Rand, Tom Grant, John Stowell, and many others. He performs regularly in jazz festivals and on radio broadcasts and has performed with a touring Broadway show. His recording with Toby Koenigsberg, Sense, was released on Origin Records and was met with favorable reviews in several publications. Tyler has presented master classes at several universities and high schools, and presented at the 2011 International Society of Bassists Convention in San Francisco, CA. His playing can be heard on the soundtrack to the documentary Fly Away Beetle, released in 2011. He performed on Hashem Assadullahi’s project Pieces (featuring Ron Miles, and also including James Miley, Justin Morell, and Ryan Biesack), to be released in 2012.
Tyler studied double bass with Roma Vayspapir (former principal bass of the Leningrad Philharmonic), Bruce Bransby (former principal bass of the Los Angeles Philharmonic), Jeff Bradetich (international soloist and pedagogue), Don Hermanns (Oregon Symphony), Lynn Seaton (Professor of Jazz Bass, University of North Texas), Dave Captein (Portland-based freelance jazz musician), Ken Baldwin (former assistant principal of Oregon Symphony), Curtis Daily (Seattle Baroque Orchestra, Portland Baroque Orchestra), Eugene Jablonsky, and has studied briefly and/or participated in master classes with Hal Robinson, Edgar Meyer, Al Laszlo, and Eugene Levinson. He traveled to Gorizia, Italy to study with Christina Hoock, bass professor of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He attended the Aspen Music Festival and School for five years and attended the Atlantic Music Festival, where he was the only fellowship recipient on bass.
Drummer Michael Raynor has been immersed in the Chicago jazz scene since moving there in 1988. After hearing tenor saxophone icon Von Freeman on the radio late one night, he found his way down to Von's weekly gig at the New Apartment Lounge on Chicago's south side and sat in with the band. Three days later Von asked him to the studio to record "Walkin' Tuff" (Southport Records), and Raynor has been his regular drummer ever since. A later recording with Von, "The Improviser" (Premonition Records), was included in Downbeat Magazine's "Best CDs of 2002."
His association with Von lead to numerous gigs with other Chicago greats including Eddie Johnson, John Young, Jodie Christian, Johnny Frigo, Bobby Broom, Charles Earland, Ryan Cohan, and Fareed Haque. Over the course of his career, he has also worked with a host of New York and Internationally based musicians such as Johnny Griffin, Freddie Hubbard, Sam Rivers, Ira Sullivan, Steve Coleman, Jon Faddis, Eric Alexander, Bob Sheppard, Rick Margitza, and Arturo Sandoval.
Raynor began working with vocalist Kurt Elling in 1996 with a weekly engagement at Chicago's Green Mill Lounge, and over the next four years the group toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Scandinavia, and Australia. He can be heard on three of Elling's recordings for the Blue Note label, including "Live In Chicago," which features, among others, vocalese master Jon Hendricks.
