Album Notes

Christmas Northwest II Featuring:

Jorge Zamorano: Electric/Acoustic Guitars, Vocals
Thomas Williams: Upright Bass
Renato Caranto: Soprano & Tenor Sax
Jane Wright: Vocals
Donny Osborne: Drums
Skip Von Kuske: Cello

Christmas Northwest II is the second release of holiday music by top Portland area musicians of diverse ethnic backgrounds and musical disciplines.

The project was conceived by Jorge Zamorano, a US born, Mexican jazz-Latin guitarist who passionately loved Brasilian music. He along with Thomas Williams, a jazz bassist currently from Phoenix, Arizona, who also profoundly loves Brasilian and Afro-Cuban music, and Jane Wright, a sultry rock singer from Alabama, arranged these songs for your holiday enjoyment. Joining them on this project are Renato Caranto, a Filipino jazz and blues sax phenom, Donny Osborne, a jazz drummer and Skip von Kuske, a classical cellist. To top it off, Simon Widdowson, a British engineer who respecializes in rock bands, recorded the CD.

Most of the instrumental tracks were recorded live, in the studio, with only a few guitar, sax and cello overdubs.

In 2004, songs from their critically acclaimed Christmas Northwest I and II CDs were selected for a compilation CD of the Northwest's finest jazz artists, "A Kiss of Snow: A Seasonal Set from a Northwest City."