Talent Overview

About The Shanghai Woolies

The Shanghai Woolies is a wonderful 8-piece band for every situation. They can set any mood with great American pop and jazz from the 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s. Whether you want a romantic atmosphere for dining or a thumping dance party, they create it with tastefulness and ingenuity. Hear songs loved and performed by Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Guy Lombardo, Paul Whiteman, Harry James, Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw, Glenn Miller, Bessie Smith, Helen Forrest, Raymond Scott, Tony Bennett, and Frank Sinatra. And if you want, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen, Tom Waits, and Etta James.

Biography:

Founded by Pink Martini trumpet player Gavin Bondy, the Shanghai Woolies puts a “new twist on the music of the flapper era: Jitterbug music. Big band. Swing. The raucous, slippery, foot-happy jazz you’d expect to hear at the legendary Cotton Club,” says The Oregonian.

Vocalist and songwriter, Mel (Melanie) Kubik, is the centerpiece of the show. Her early training in music (classical piano at age 3, saxophone at 9) and her traditional jazz and pop rock (Quarterflash) experience combine with her Bohemian lineage and down-home Kansas upbringing to give her versatility, personal accessibility, and musical depth and beauty that is rare.

Gavin plays trumpet and cornet, writes songs and creates arrangements for the band. Brought up in Portland, Oregon, he studied music from old-school horn players who showed him how it was made in the first part of last century. They had worked in live radio orchestras and in the bands of people like Glenn Miller and Tex Beneke. It became Gavin's task to reconcile this training with the newer sounds he enjoyed. Along the way, he discovered beauty in musical elements others had discarded in the name of progress. So, he chose the music of the 1920's when, in 1999, he began work in earnest on the material for the Shanghai Woolies.

In 2004, the band released their debut CD, Jungle Nights, to an enthusiastic house at the Aladdin Theater in Portland, Oregon. National Public Radio later put the third track, Concerto for Trumpet, on their Open Mic web site where the public voted and gave it one of the highest ratings ever.

Soon after, though, various members’ schedules prevented the band from accepting most of the requests for bookings, until recently, when the line-up shifted and grew so that they can now accept almost all the dates that come in.

It is often noted that the Shanghai Woolies' live shows are the best: "That's the coolest band I've ever seen," said Marv Ross of Quarterflash, after seeing their performance at a Cycle Oregon show he had organized.

"Though Brian Setzer, Cherry-Poppin' Daddies, and others have paved this road, the fanciest, coolest machine on the highway is The Shanghai Woolies." -- Victory Review

Act Members:

Bernardo Gomez — string bass

Dan Stueber — drums

Tom Hill — trombone

Tom Sandahl — guitar, banjo

Mel Kubik — vocals

Gavin Bondy — trumpet, cornet, band leader

Clark Bondy — saxophones, clarinet, flute

Tyson Schmidling — lead guitar

More Information:

Gig Salad Address: GigSalad.com/shanghaiwoolies

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The Shanghai Woolies is listed in the following categories:

1920s Era Entertainment in Portland

Big Band in Portland

Dixieland Band in Portland

Jazz Band in Portland

Jazz Singer in Portland

New Orleans Style Entertainment in Portland

Party Band in Portland

Sound-Alike in Portland

Swing Band in Portland

Tribute Band in Portland

Wedding Band in Portland

1930s Era Entertainment in Portland

1940s Era Entertainment in Portland