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During 2013 and 2014, Lance Vallis embraced a unique musical adventure: playing guitar on cruise ships.
“I did all the Hawaiian Islands,” he recalls. “I went to San Juan, Puerto Rico, and did the Eastern Carribean one week and the Western Carribean the following week.”
These days, Vallis, who teaches history of rock online at Klamath Community College, stays closer to his home in Portland. But he remains musically adventurous, playing guitar in Special Purpose, a jazz and funk ensemble performing at 7 pm Tuesday, July 11, at No Fun Bar.
Special Purpose has what Vallis describes to WW as “an updated vintage vibe. Jazz has evolved over the years, but the 1970s in the musical reference point for what I’m doing.” The current lineup features Melissa Carroll on saxophone, Tommy Houston on keyboards, Joshua Slamp on bass, and Juan Felipe BZ on drums. (And for the record: The name Special Purpose isn’t a reference to anything specific...especially not Steve Martin’s The Jerk.)
Vallis isn’t just a musician—he’s also a composer. He wrote every track on Special Purpose’s album Password, and his fusion of vintage keyboards and more modern-sounding electronic soundscapes will surprise listeners who dismiss jazz as staid background music.
One time, Vallis remembers playing Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue, one of his top five favorite albums, for a skeptical acquaintance. “She said, ‘I feel like I’m at Nordstrom’s,’” he remembers with rueful amusement. “Diss! Damn!”
At once classic and inventive, Special Purpose’s music draws on both old innovations and present-day imaginings. And while Vallis speaks candidly about the grind of making his music heard in a world overcrowded with new bands, he remains committed to Special Purpose. So much so that he even brings the group out to far-flung locations like Manzanita, Ore., where they’ve often played the San Dune Pub (just a few feet away from the Pacific Ocean).
As he looks toward the future, Vallis reminisces about the past—specifically, the time over a decade ago in New York when he unexpectedly found himself performing at a club at the same show as Lana Del Rey (who was playing under her given name, Lizzy Grant).
“There’s so much awesome talent in New York,” Vallis says. Lucky for jazz and funk fans on the West Coast, he’s brought his talents to Portland.
GO: Special Purpose and the Integer Quintet play No Fun Bar, 1709 SE Hawthorne Blvd., 503-236-8067, facebook.com/nofunportland. 7 pm Tuesday, July 11. $8 (cash only). 21+.