Shoehorn and Aris share a near-telepathic rhythmic symbiosis and create a very unique percussion music framed with Shoehorns sax and other instruments. Featuring Artis the Spoonman ( "the Sultan of Silverware" ) with Shoehorn's VonTap Quartet. Back Story: Shoehorn and Artis the Spoonman first met (and jammed briefly) in New Orleans during the Mardi Gras of 1983. They were hired independently as site entertainment at World Expo 88 in Brisbane, Australia, where they soon started working as a duo, and had their contracts extended by 7 weeks to the close of the event. Since then they have remained close friends and performed together in Halifax, Tokyo, Yokohama, Tulsa, Tucson, Seattle and Portland and throughout the Northwest. They have appeared on each other’s CDs*, and developed an intense rhythmic symbiosis which is nearly telepathic. Well-known to rock fans for his appearances live and on video with Soundgarden (the song “Spoonman” won best metal video Grammy 1994), Artis gigged last October in Portland with Audioslave at the Rose Garden.
With Shoehorn, who calls him “The Sultan of Silverware”, Artis tends to go in a different direction altogether as they explore the intersection of rhythm tap and saxophone with Artis’s highly advanced percussion vocabulary, improvising unisons, thumping grooves and melodically sculpting phrases with reckless abandon. They usually also take a minute to go down a country road with a harmonica blues number and get into some exotic textures with acoustic and electronic effects. World travels are reflected as well as deep respect for jazz men like Coltrane, Sun Ra, and Roland Kirk.

*Shoehorn World Beat Ragtime 1994 Artis the Spoonman Entertain the Entertainers 1995