California jazz fame to swing through Vernon

Candice McMahon

Special to The Morning Star

The gorgeous and funky repertoire of Paul McCandless from his solo albums comes back to life on stage with the Charged Particles.

Paul McCandless and the Charged Particle rock the Vernon Jazz Club stage Feb. 24.

“As the VJS booking agent, I hope to be able to snag at least one prominent jazz artist. When I heard that there was a possibility of booking California’s Paul McCandless, I jumped at it,” said Brian McMahon. “Three Grammy awards, more than 250 recordings with some of the best: Wynton Marsalis, Jaco Pastorius, Al Jarreau, Ralph Towner, Bela Fleck, Victor Wooten, Gary Burton and many more. His top-notch band from the Bay Area will help McCandless bring a great night of music to Vernon. Don’t miss this one.”

Located in the San Francisco Bay area, Paul McCandless and the Charged Particles began as a touring project in the summer of 2016, bringing a bit of California to the world. McCandless, beloved in the Jazz world, especially for his more than 30-year association with the band Oregon, is also known for a series of records of his own compositions.

“Really remarkable music, orchestrated in creative ways, beautiful melodies, and everything makes you smile,” said Jon Krosnick, drummer with Charged Particles. “When we approached Paul about doing something together, the idea was to reactivate that repertoire that’s been asleep for more than ten years. We’re bringing it back, and there are people around the world who are looking forward to hearing this music.”

The tunes they are doing are all compositions of McCandless with a lot of variety. Some are beautiful romantic heartbreakers, some are high intensity funky things, some are abstract art and some surprises for the audience.

“There are lots of crowd pleasers,” Krosnick said. “By the end of it, when we’ve done this show live, the audience is on their feet knowing that they’ve just heard something very, very special.”

The Grammy Awards that McCandless has received and been nominated for, over the course of his long and illustrious career, articulate only the most impressive of his countless achievements and recordings. They include: Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, with Al Jarreau, 1993; Best Pop Instrumental Performance with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, 1996; Best New Age Album, with Paul Winter Consort, 2007 and 2011; Nominated for Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Arrangement, Oregon in Moscow, 2001 and Nominated for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo, 1000 Kilometers, 2009.

McCandless began performing with Charged Particles, a jazz trio based in San Francisco, in 2014. Together, they opened the 2015 San Luis Obispo Jazz Festival on the main stage and later headlined at the Stanford Jazz Festival.

This quartet has also appeared at Birdland in New York City, Blues Alley in Washington, DC, Yoshi’s Jazz Club in Oakland, California, The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, The Dakota Jazz Club, and many other venues throughout the United States.

We are absolutely thrilled to welcome them to our small-town, yet much acclaimed, Vernon Jazz Club.

Paul McCandless with Charged Particles will be onstage at the Vernon Jazz Club, 3000-31 Street, Feb. 24 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. Cash only bar on site. Tickets $20 online at vernonjazz.com and at Expressions of Time (2901-30 Ave), with a $5 rebate at the gig for VJS members.