Join us for the fifth installment of Black Tie/White Noise, where The Christopher Brown Quartet will perform David Bowie’s ninth studio album, Young Americans, in its entirety.

Regarded as David Bowie's breakthrough album (in the U.S it was a top 10 LP), Young Americans cemented his complete departure from the Ziggy Stardust identity with his move into an R&B influenced “sax-y white soul.”  This emotionally intricate and sparse soundscape sets up the The Christopher Brown Quartet perfectly for the exploration of these themes and motifs.

John Nastos (Alto Sax & EWI)

Greg Goebel (Keyboards)

Jon Shaw (Bass)

Christopher Brown (Drums)

For more information on Days of Bowie, including other events, please visit daysofbowie.com

While the Christopher Brown Quartet has been active since 2014, it has arguably been the busiest jazz group in Portland since 2017. And just like his father [Mel Brown] before him, Christopher has been on a quest to further infuse the Portland jazz scene with as many of the same musical and cultural sensibilities as is to be found within the NYC jazz scene. However, what separates this group from many others (in and outside of Portland), is the degree to which their sensibilities are entrenched within the NYC sound of the 1990's, which was marked by a youthful exuberance towards being steeped in as much of the history of music as possible, so as to use those same insights to agitate the boundaries of conventional thought.

So given that David Bowie's approach to music follows the same ethos, is why it's so fitting to have the Christopher Brown Quartet navigate his music, so as to further push against the edges of what people would normally expect from Bowie himself.