Kris Orlowski

Guests mingled and socialized sipping wine and beer around the house and deck as the sun set over Bellingham Bay - excited to be part of the Kris Orlowski house show - and surprisingly intimate for 50 people.

Kris's ballads wove tales long to be remembered. He held the audience’s whisper-quiet attention for the entire set with his commanding mastery of dynamics. From subtle, barely audible single guitar notes to whaling chords, from almost imperceptible melodic aaah's and mmm's to his dominating full-out passionate proclamations, the energy was ALWAYS there. The troubadour’s poetry and myth mesmerized the audience.

Interspersed with the fantastic music was an ongoing dialog. Kris chatted with Patty from the audience about what is jazz. You take the main note and play everything except that, and the skill is in making it sound believable. Kind of like there’s no mistakes, but how do you make it work.

Not just a run-of-the-mill strummer, Kris Orlowski is a diverse guitarist. He jives with punchy, heavy hitting rhythms; he uses complex chord structures wrapping around internal melody lines; he soothes use with relaxing fingerpicking.

Some questions came up about where and how Kris got started. Music was a big part of family life. His dad Paul “Papa” [he remembers it being awkward for a kid when everyone else calls their Father ‘Dad’ and yours wants to be called ‘Papa’] taught him his first guitar chords. Kris says his mother Nancy’s a big inspiration. She’s an activist who cares about cautious use of our energy resources and water. Even more so she places a high value on relationships and how you treat everyone. This came out in one of Kris’s songs “Fighting the War’.

A testament to Kris’ musical draw and personal character is the broad spectrum of the audience from high school and college kids, young adults, middle aged and seniors in their 70’s. He sang one of his new reimagined Gershwin songs that appealed to all ages - he'll be publishing a set of 6. Kris had just rocked a house show in Portland the night before. A group came down to Bellingham, WA from Mission, BC Canada. Before they left, they were quizzing Kris about when to book their own house concert.

From Warsaw
“Time wont’ stop,
with words we walk,
I know not,
where we will meet again”.
I hope it is at a Kris Orlowski show.

Bottom line - GET TO A HOUSE SHOW with Kris Orlowski, or book your own.