For the past 20 years, jazz quintet Blue Cranes has been a sturdy presence on the Portland music scene. Regulars at local fetes, like Portland Jazz Festival and Montavilla Jazz Festival, the group’s combination of crisp melodicism and conflagrations of avant-garde frenzy has made it a go-to opening act for equally adventurous artists, like Archie Shepp and Battle Trance. And though the ensemble welcomed various studio and session collaborators over the years, its core players remained fairly solid.
All of that is about to change. After a final performance on Saturday, August 8, tenor saxophonist Joe Cunningham will be leaving Blue Cranes.
For a lot of other groups, a lineup change like this wouldn’t matter. But for Blue Cranes, Cunningham’s departure feels enormous. One of the group’s foundational sounds is a harmonic and occasionally combative interplay between Cunningham and alto saxophonist Reed Wallsmith—a give-and-take made manifest at live performances where the two are often facing each other from opposite sides of the stage. On a personal level, Cunningham’s decision left Wallsmith reeling.
“I couldn’t even talk about it with anyone for a bit,” Wallsmith said, in a recent group interview with fellow Cranes keyboardist Rebecca Sanborn and drummer Ji Tanzer. “I’m really gonna miss him. I’ve never had a musical connection like that with anybody.” Cunningham declined to be interviewed for this story.
Wallsmith started Blue Cranes with Tanzer in 2004, initially as a sax and drums duo. As their creative ambitions continued to grow, more joined the fold, including Sanborn and former bassist Keith Brush—the current bassist Jon Shaw has been with the group since 2013.
At first, Cunningham just wanted to write some material for the group, but after he and Wallsmith shared a stage and started improvising together, both men recognized an immediate chemistry and kinship.
“I just remember both of us being like, ‘Whoa…whoa,’” remembers Wallsmith. “It felt like we were finishing each other’s musical sentences. It’s been really special to have this energy that happens when we compose off each other. He’ll write a song, and I’m like, ‘Oh shit. That was really cool,’ and I’ll try to write a song like it. And vice versa.”
Cunningham also quickly understood the spirit of Blue Cranes, which carried a scruffy energy and DIY aesthetic that hewed closer to the rock underground than it did the traditional jazz world. The band may have played at typical venues like Jimmy Mak’s and Philadelphia mainstay Chris’ Jazz Cafe, but it also filled plenty of basements and punk clubs where, as Tanzer puts it, “audiences would see right through anyone trying to look cool. It was more about being authentic.”
There’s no better representation of this idea than Blue Cranes’ 2011 tour that found the quintet traveling solely on Amtrak. The scrappy, monthlong jaunt took them as far east as New York and as far south as Austin, Texas, where the group played a decommissioned power plant.
“I remember when we stepped onto the train in Portland,” Wallsmith related, “the conductor asked, ‘Oh, what are you guys doing?’ I said, ‘We’re a jazz band.’ And he was like, ‘ah, where there’s good jazz, there’s good wine.’”
In the years since that tour, Blue Cranes’ local presence noticeably diminished. They continued to record and play live, but the time between albums and gigs began to lengthen as the members’ collective adult responsibilities, like day jobs and children, took precedence. In 2019, Cunningham moved away Portland, but his job as a flight attendant still allowed him to fly back regularly for Blue Cranes business.
Now, Cunningham’s declared departure sendoff gig also celebrates the release of “My Retirement Party,” the first single from Blue Cranes’ forthcoming album Bellflower. Despite the title, it’s unlikely that this is the last we’ll hear from Cunningham. He’s already working closely with another Portlander, ambient/modern classical artist Derek Hunter Wilson.
Although Wallsmith, Sanborn, and Tanzer are feeling heavy-hearted about their final show with Cunningham, there’s a lot for them and their fans to look forward to. Blue Cranes will be playing two sets on August 8, incorporating material from the five albums they’ve made together as a quintet, and bringing singer-songwriter Laura Gibson and violinist Kyleen King onstage during the night.
As for what comes next for the group, Wallsmith insists he’s going to be patient about the future of Blue Cranes and not rush into anything like adding a new member or hurrying out some music written for a quartet.
“I’ve said multiple times how sad I am that Joe’s leaving,” Wallsmith says, “but in addition, I’m excited about this new writing challenge and playing challenge. What happens with all this extra space?”
Blue Cranes send-off and release, Alberta Rose Theatre, 3000 NE Alberta, Sat Aug 8, 8 pm, $29.25, tickets here, all ages