Shelly Rudolph

Shelly Rudolph plays The Old Church Concert Hall on Wednesday, October 14. It's a lunchtime set, so if you're around downtown mid-week, it's an easy one to slide into. Doors open at 11 AM, the music starts at 12 PM, and it wraps by 1 PM.

Rudolph is a Portland jazz and soul vocalist, songwriter, and performer with a career that goes back more than three decades. She's recorded and performed across the U.S. and abroad, from New York and Los Angeles to the West Indies, Japan, Korea, and Indonesia. Critics have described her voice as a "smoky, sonic concoction with equal parts sugar and whiskey" (All About Jazz) and a "robust and captivating vocalist" (Jazz Times); The Oregonian called her a rising star and wrote that "when Shelly Rudolph sings, you can smell the smoke."

Her music blends jazz, blues, and her own "powerfully romantic" material. Her Swank Soul project leans into bluesy boleros and hip-sway ballads, and she also performs Velvet Chanteuserie live, mixing jazz, soul, and storytelling. This is a solo billing, so the set will be built around her voice.

The show is presented by The Old Church Concert Hall, a Portland nonprofit that has occupied its 1882 hall and staged free lunchtime concerts every first, second, and third Wednesday of the month for over 56 years. Admission is free, with an RSVP of $0.00, and a donation of at least $5.00 is requested. Doors open at 11 AM, the music starts at 12 PM, and it's over by 1 PM.