Jazz Fest Celebrates 10 Years
January 18th, 2013
Esperanza Spalding is just one of the many impressive local and national who will be playing during the 2013 Portland Jazz Festival. Photo by Johann Sauty.
The 10th anniversary of one of Portland’s most valuable music institutions features an ideal balance between national jazz stars and local legends who boast equal or superior musicality, if not the former’s wider celebrity. This year’s Portland Jazz Festival (Feb. 15-24)has a strong female vibe, thanks to the West Coast debut of an all-star band featuring three of jazz’s top women performer/bandleaders: pianist Geri Allen, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, and Portland-native bassist/singer/composer and jazz’s newest star Esperanza Spalding, plus appearances by singer Patricia Barber’s foursome, and, best of all, two chances to hear the greatest living jazz singer, Portland’s own Nancy King with both of her long-running partners, pianist Steve Christofferson and bassist Glen Moore (of the storied band Oregon).
Locals also guest-star in a pair of ensembles featuring national stars, with Portland State professor and pianist George Colligan playing in NEA jazz master Jack DeJohnette’s quartet with Ravi Coltrane, Mel Brown and Chuck Israels sitting in with Barry Harris, and Portland sax phenom Devin Phillips joining pianist Steve Kuhn’s trio.
Other major visitors include Afro-Cuban All Stars, the great saxophonist Kenny Garrett’s quartet, and another all-star band comprising several generations of renowned Jazz Messenger alumni (including Bobby Watson, Eddie Henderson, Curtis Fuller, Javon Jackson and other familiar names) who’ve convened to honor the legacy of its late founder/leader, the legendary Art Blakey — an appropriate homage considering how many great drummers (DeJohnette, Carrington, Brown, Lewis Nash, Matt Wilson and more) will be percussing throughout the festival.
Tags: Jazz, jazz fest, jazz festival, Portland Jazz Festival
