Three pianos event hits a high note

Randy Morris, Jeff Barnhart and Michael Kaeshammer tickle the keys in a special jazz festival performance. photo by Jon Renner Perhaps the sweetest note in a weekend of music at the Sisters Jazz Festival (SJF) was hit on Saturday afternoon, September 18, when three of the finest piano players in the U.S. gathered at Sisters High School.

In a performance described by one audience member as "magical," Canadian sensation Michael Kaeshammer and the multi-talented Americans Jeff Barnhart and Randy Morris dazzled the audience with an improvised performance on baby grand pianos at the high school auditorium.

Randy Morris is a specialist in classic American music such as ragtime, New Orleans jazz and swing. He was at the Sisters Jazz Festival as pianist for the group Brady McKay and Four Play Jazz.

Jeff Barnhart performed at the festival with Titan Hot Seven and Michael Kaeshammer performed with his Michael Kaeshammer Trio.

The "Three-on-One" performance featured all three together on stage for the first time, trading licks and supporting one another on classics such as "Blue Skies."

It was a musically potent event.

"The three pianos... was by far the best single performance we've ever had at the jazz festival," said festival chair Tom Worcester. "It was beyond outstanding."

One awed festival volunteer said that Kaeshammer "has a full orchestra in his left hand."

The event drew a nearly full house at the high school auditorium.