6/30/2019 2019 Artist Bios and Descriptions - Google Docs
Artist: Kerry Politzer
Set Name: K erry Politzer: Bossa PDX
Short Description: Brazilian jazz inspired by the masters of bossa nova.
Bio (100 words): Pianist and composer Kerry Politzer is a native East Coaster who has resided in Portland since 2011. Her Brazilian jazz project, Bossa PDX, received RACC Project Grant funding to explore the works of Rio-born guitarist/composer Durval Ferreira. This set will feature Politzer’s compositions inspired by Ferreira’s work. She is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music and a disciple of late jazz guru, Charlie Banacos. Politzer has served as adjunct music faculty at Portland State University since 2013.
Lineup: Kerry, Politzer, piano; Joe Manis, woodwinds, Dan Balmer, guitar; Phil Baker, bass; George Colligan, drums
Artist: Bryan Smith
Set Name: B ryan Smith: Let Me Take You There
Short Description: A nature-inspired multimedia collaboration between composer/saxophonist Bryan Smith and poet/photographer Matt Spohn, aiming to bring awareness to the importance of environmental conservation.
Bio (100 words): S axophonist, composer and educator Bryan Smith has been an active member of the jazz and improvised music scene in the Northwest. Having been a musician in both Seattle and Portland, Smith has been able to develop a unique and individualistic voice that is synonymous with West Coast jazz. Influenced by West Coast bebop with players such as Warne Marsh, Lee Konitz, and Lennie Tristano, mixed with the alternative rock of the 90’s that was popularized in the Northwest, Smith has found a way to incorporate history and regional identity in his music.
Lineup: Bryan Smith, alto sax; Matt Spohn, poetry; Ryan Meagher, guitar; Matt Tabor, piano; Andrew Jones, bass; Jonas Oglesbee, drums
Artist: Dana Reason
Set Name: D ana Reason: Torque Songs
Short Description: A new work utilizing the concept of torque to create thematic and generative sonic rotations that move through "forgotten" voices. Throughout the work, equilibrium and disequilibrium are at play–distilling the spaces in and around sound and visual objects.
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Bio (120 words): Dana Reason is a Canadian-born composer, sound/recording artist, and musicologist. Reason creates music for film, large and small ensembles, and with fixed media. She has performed with seminal artists including Cecil Taylor, Roscoe Mitchell, George E. Lewis, Tim Berne, Fred Frith, Joelle Leandre, DJ Spooky, Joe McPhee, and Pauline Oliveros. Reason premiered her feature film score B ack to God's Country (Kino-Lorber) at BAM in 2018. Her wind ensemble C urrents, as well as her album A ngle of Vision, were long listed for nomination in 3 separate categories for GRAMMY awards in 2014. More recently, Reason was musical arranger on Henry Louis Gates' PBS series R econstruction: America After the Civil War (2019). Reason is the Coordinator of Contemporary Music and Research Oregon State University.
Lineup: Dana Reason, fixed media/piano/synth; Holland Andrews, voice/sound; John Savage, flute; Alissa Derubeis, synth/computer; Mike Nord, guitar; Todd Sickafoose, bass; Ryan Biesack, drums, Paris Meyers, animation/visual artist
Artist: Charlie Porter
Set Name: C harlie Porter Quintet
Short Description: One of Portland’s best-known artists outside of the local area performing new original music with an all-star cast. The Palm Beach Post says, “Porter’s excellent stylish playing draws you in; you hang on each note!”
Bio (240 words): Internationally acclaimed trumpeter and composer Porter first emerged on the New York jazz scene, while studying classical and jazz trumpet performance at The Juilliard School under the tutelage of famed trumpeter and composer Wynton Marsalis. Like his mentor, Porter has delved into many projects from jazz and classical to Arabic, Indian, African, Australian Aboriginal and Korean music, seeking to find common ground among music from these varied traditions. Touring India, China, West Africa and Southeast Asia with Jazz at Lincoln Center's American Music Abroad program shaped Porter's inclusive view of music. Porter recently recorded his long-awaited debut album as a leader, self-titled C harlie Porter, featuring original compositions.
Porter has toured the world performing and recording with many notable musicians and groups over the last twenty years ranging from jazz greats like Joe Zawinul, Paquito D’Rivera, Charlie Persip, and Chuck Israels, to classical artists such as Simone Dinnerstein, Sarah Chang, and Joyce DiDonato, as well as world music greats, Goran Bregovic, Marcel Khalife and Kim Duksoo. He is also a founding member of the grammy-nominated electro-acoustic Absolute Ensemble, directed by Kristjan Jarvi.
Porter holds degrees from the Juilliard School and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and classical performance, and he was a Fulbright Scholar at the Paris Conservatory. Charlie was the first trumpeter to win 1st place in both the classical and jazz divisions of the National
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Trumpet Competition. As a composer he has been commissioned by Chamber Music America and the Doris Duke Foundation.
Lineup: Charlie Porter, trumpet; Joe Manis, saxophones; Greg Goebel, piano; Jon “Sticky” Lakey, bass; Alan Jones, drums
Artist: M el Brown
Set Name: M el Brown B3 Organ Group
Short Description: P ortland music legend Mel Brown and his all-star B3 Organ Group have wowed Portland audiences for 23 years and counting with their unique combination of jazz, soul, and blues, performed with fire and spontaneity.
Bio (240 words): The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group, dubbed "Jimmy Mak's signature band" by The Oregonian, performed at the famed Pearl District jazz venue on Thursday nights for the club's entire twenty-year run. When George Benson heard the group, he said, "If this band played in New York City, they'd be a sensation!" The Oregonian's Kyle O'Brien described the band's unique style as, "the sound of spontaneity.”
Brown spent many years as a Motown staff drummer, performing with the likes of Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, and the Temptations. He returned to Portland and his jazz roots in the early 1980’s, becoming revered as Portland’s “Gentleman of Jazz.” His B3 Organ Group, built around Brown’s deep groove and the organ playing of Bay Area transplant “King” Louis Pain, combines both Brown’s musical worlds, i.e. soul and jazz. Saxophonist Renato Caranto, who has toured with Esperanza Spalding and Merle Haggard, adds incredible soul and virtuosity to the group which also features Dan Balmer who is widely recognized as one of the world’s premier jazz guitarists. The Mel Brown B3 Organ Group rarely pauses during their set––a habit Brown developed playing medleys with the Temptations––and neither does the excitement of their music! The group continues their Thursday night tradition at Portland’s newest jazz venue, the Jack London Revue.
Lineup: Mel Brown, drums; Renato Caranto, tenor sax; Dan Balmer, guitar; Louis Pain, organ
Artist: Ezra Weiss
Set Name: E zra Weiss Big Band: We Limit Not the Truth of God
Short Description: The Ezra Weiss Big Band celebrates the release of their new album on Origin Records with this original suite of intensely personal reflections on the troubled world we live in today.
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Headliner Bio (120 words): Composer/pianist Ezra Weiss has released six albums as a leader, most recently B efore You Know It. Additionally, he wrote the music for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble’s F rom Maxville To Vanport, and the big band arrangements for Derek Hines’ T he Long Journey Home. Weiss currently leads his own big band and sextet, performing at major jazz festivals and clubs throughout the U.S., including Dizzy’s in NYC, the Triple Door in Seattle, and the Catalina Bar and Grill in Los Angeles. Weiss won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Award three times, and has been listed in DownBeat Critics Polls as a Rising Star Arranger. He currently lives with his wife and two sons in Portland, and teaches at Portland State University.
Lineup: Ezra Weiss, conductor; John Nastos, John Savage, Renato Caranto, Joe Manis, Tina Richerson, reeds; Greg Garrett, Charlie Porter, Douglas Detrick, Farnell Newton, trumpets; Stan Bock, Jeff Uusitalo, David Bryan, John Ohnstad, trombones; Jasnam Daya Singh, piano; Jon Lakey, bass; Alan Jones, drums; Carlton Jackson, percussion; The Camas High School Choir: Ethan Chessin, director
Artist: Kathleen Hollingsworth
Set Name: K athleen Hollingsworth: Mad Love
Short Description: Best described as having “East Coast drive and West Coast soul.” The trio’s music is rooted in the jazz tradition yet playfully branches out into Americana, singer-songwriter, and Rhythm & Blues territory.
Bio (100 words): A dedicated and passionate musician, Hollingsworth has been immersed in music since her childhood. Her unique path has allowed her to work with musical giants such as Phil Mattson, Dr. Edith Copley, Dr. Joshua Haberman, Fareed Haque, Michele Weir, John Medeski, Billy Martin, Martin Bejerano, Terence Blanchard, Danilo Perez, Gary Lindsay and Rhiannon. Hollingsworth is Vocal Music Director at Clackamas Community College, founder and director of the Music Performance and Technology Program, and founded Renegade Gospel which grew from the Playa Choir, a 70-voice ensemble that performs at B urning Man every summer.
Lineup: Kathleen Hollingsworth, vocals/keys/compositions; Brent Follis, drums/compositions; Ross Garlow, bass/vocals
Artist: Ian Christensen
Set Name: I an Christensen’s Rolling House
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Short Description: A brand-new group of stellar locals performing Christensen’s newest work as a composer.
Bio (140 words): A native Portlander, Ian Christensen has spent the last decade performing with and learning from some of the finest musicians in the world. After spending six years in New York City, attending the New School and studying with such living giants as Andrew Cyrille, Bill McHenry, and William Parker, Christensen moved back to Portland where he has been a staple of the local jazz scene, playing at such venues as Jimmy Mak’s, The 1905, and Mississippi Studios, and with such groups as the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble and the Frank Irwin Quintet, in addition to leading his own projects. Christensen has a unique and playful approach towards jazz and improvised music that can be heard on his debut recording Finding, which was released on PJCE records and named one of the top 10 jazz albums of 2016 by the Willamette Week.
Lineup: Ian Christensen, Michael Wilbur, tenor sax; Noah Simpson, trumpet; James Powers, trombone; Chris Higgins, bass; Jonas Oglesbee, drums
Artist: George Colligan
Set Name: S herry Alves with George Colligan
Short Description: Newest member of the Portland State University jazz faculty, vocalist Sherry Alves fronts a quartet powered by new music from keyboard virtuoso, George Colligan.
Bio (300 words):
Sherry Alves has been singing and teaching in the Willamette Valley for almost ten years. With an expertise in singing American popular music from ragtime and swing to contemporary pop and country, her talents are in demand throughout the Western United States. She is on the faculty at Portland State University, where she puts her experience and her Masters of Music in contemporary music to use as a private instructor, lecturer and ensemble director. Each summer she is the vocal instructor for the Mel Brown Summer Jazz Workshop. Sherry is also the vocal director for the American Metropole Orchestra where she written for and performed with the likes of New Orleans legend Allen Toussaint, jazz diva Liz Wright, Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Lynn Anderson, Sonny Turner of the Platters, Emmy-winning songsmith Dave Frishberg, Grammy-winning saxophonist Joe Lovano and Drift Away author Mentor Williams.
George Colligan is a New York based pianist who is one of the most original and compelling jazz artists of his generation. An award-winning composer (Chamber Music America/Doris Duke Foundation grant recipient) and player (winner, J azzconnect.com Jazz Competition), Colligan is highly in demand as a sideman, having worked with players like Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Buster Williams, and Lonnie Plaxico, both on the bandstand and in recording sessions (appearing on over 100 CDs). He has released 24 recordings full of his intelligent writing and
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impressive technique. His latest CD on the Origin Label is called T he Endless Mysteries and features Larry Grenadier and Jack DeJohnette. Colligan’s musical style incorporates everything from showtunes to funk, from free improvisation to 20th century classical music. His performances include dazzling technique as well as mature restraint. Colligan was on the faculty of the Juilliard School for two years and is currently an Assistant Professor at Portland State University. He is currently a member of Jack DeJohnette’s New Quintet.
Lineup: Sherry Alves, vocals; George Colligan, piano; Jon Lakey, bass; Tyson Stubelek, drums
Artist: Bobby Torres
Set Name: B obby Torres Ensemble
Short Description: "Latin jazz with enough flavor and spice to satisfy your body and soul's need for rhythmic nourishment.” The Oregonian
Bio (240 words): I n 1994 Torres formed the Bobby Torres Ensemble featuring the highest caliber Portland musicians who explore the many musical inflections of Latin Jazz. Torres’s music is an exciting fusion of American and Latin standards arranged with Latin grooves and jazz inflections. The Ensemble opened for Tito Puente and Poncho Sanchez, and backed Luis Conte, Orestes Vilato, Alex Acuna, Claudia Lennear, Nancy King, and Karla Harris. The ensemble will be performing new songs from their upcoming CD.
Bobby Torres has a forty-year professional history as a band leader, producer, songwriter, recording artist, and session musician. Originally from New York City, Torres developed his reputation performing, touring, and recording with countless stars including Joe Cocker Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Tom Jones, Al Jarreau, Jackson Browne, Beach Boys, the Captain & Tennille, and Etta James. In 1969, Torres performed with Joe Cocker and The Grease Band at Woodstock. A versatile musician with an extensive discography, Torres was nominated for a Cascade Blues Association Muddy Award for outstanding percussionist, was featured on Oregon Art Beat, inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, has received the Jazz Journalists Association J azz Hero award. In 2009 Torres was selected to perform in an All Star Tribute honoring Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He has been a respected advocate, speaker, instructor and keeper of Latin music on the Portland music scene.
Lineup: Bobby Torres, congas; Julana Torres, vocals; Dan Gaynor, Piano; Jay Koder, guitar; Al Criado, Bass; James Travers, drums
Artist: M ike Gamble
Set Name: C MG Sound Foundry presents Wayne Horvitz
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Short Description: M ichael Gamble, the artistic head of Portland’s most adventurous musical organizations, Creative Music Guild, performs an improvised set in collaboration with award-winning pianist Wayne Horvitz.
Bio (280 words):
Wayne Horvitz is a composer, pianist and electronic musician who has performed extensively throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and North America. He is the leader of the Gravitas Quartet, Sweeter Than the Day, Zony Mash, The Four plus One Ensemble and co-founder of the New York Composers Orchestra. He has performed and collaborated with Bill Frisell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, George Lewis, Robin Holcomb, Fred Frith, Julian Priester, Michael Shrieve and Carla Bley, among others. Commissioners include the NEA, Meet the Composer, Kronos String Quartet, Seattle Chamber Players, BAM, and Earshot Jazz. Collaborators include Paul Taylor, Liz Lerman, Bill Irwin and Gus Van Sant. He has been the recipient of numerous awards including two MAP grants and the NEA American Masterpiece award. Recent compositions include The Heartsong of Charging Elk based on the novel by James Welch and 55: Music and Dance in Concrete: a site-specific collaboration with dancer Yukio Suzuki and video artist Yohei Saito. He is the music programmer for The Royal Room, a performance venue in Seattle, Washington, and a professor of composition at the Cornish College of the Arts.
The Creative Music Guild is a Portland, Oregon, all-volunteer, nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote experimental, improvised music by presenting concerts, workshops, and other events that bring together internationally recognized musicians with local performers, audiences, and music students of all ages. For over twenty years, the CMG has been a leader in cultivating Portland’s experimental and improvised music.
There are four major components of the organization: the Outset Series; the Improvisation Summit of Portland; Confluence: The Visiting Artist Series; and the Extradition Series.
Lineup: Wayne Horvitz, piano; Mike Gamble, guitar; Todd Sickafoose, bass; Bobby Previte, drums
Artist: M el Brown and Gordon Lee
Set Name: M el Brown and Gordon Lee with the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble
Short Description: A celebration of their thirty-three year musical partnership, Mel Brown and Gordon Lee reunite to perform Lee’s original works arranged for this performance with the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble.
Headliner Bio (650 words):
Mel Brown was born in Portland in 1944. In high school Brown was involved with the Portland Junior Symphony. He later attended Portland State University, and during that time
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played/recorded with Billy Larkin & The Delegates on Aura/World Pacific/Liberty Records. Brown graduated from Portland State University and moved to Vancouver where he got a steady gig playing with the guitarist Tommy Chong. Martha Reeves happened to be at one of his gigs and hired him in 1967. Brown’s time with Martha Reeves led to a contract with Motown Records, and led to Brown recording with some of the biggest names in the music industry, including Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye.
In 1973, Brown moved back to Portland Oregon, and soon after formed a trio with George Mitchell and Phil Baker. For two years that trio toured with Diana Ross. Brown owned and operated the Mel Brown Drum Shop until 1984 and then opened a bookkeeping service, Metropolitan Accounting and Tax. He maintained his music career performing throughout Pacific Northwest. Later, Brown formed the Mel Brown Sextet, which performed weekly at The Hobbit in Southeast Portland. Brown had the opportunity to record and play with Leroy Vinnegar and the two of them started a Hammond B-3 organ quintet.
In the 1990s, Brown was added to the board of directors for the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival. He created the Mel Brown Jazz Camp at Western Oregon University. In 1999 Brown was inducted into the Jazz Society of Oregon Hall of Fame. Throughout his career he also played and performed with the Oregon Symphony. Brown continues to live in Portland and still runs his accounting company by day. He holds annual jazz camps at Western Oregon University, and plays regularly with his B3 Organ Group at the Jack London Revue in Portland.
Gordon Lee is a pianist, composer, arranger, and educator who has travelled the world performing in Paris, Germany, Vienna, Tokyo, Lima, and Istanbul. Lee has been a featured performer at the Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz, the Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, the JFK Center for the Performing Arts, and the Smithsonian Institute for Native American Art. He performed with the Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Oregon Festival Symphony, and the Oregon Symphony.
Lee moved to Portland in 1977 and began performing with Native American saxophonist, songwriter, and jazz-rock fusion innovator, Jim Pepper, an association that would continue until the saxophonist’s death in 1992. Together they performed throughout North America and Europe. Later, Lee spent several years working as a jazz pianist in New York City, performing with Don Cherry, Bobby Hutcherson, Dewey Redman, Houston Person, Richie Cole, Frank Foster, Bill Frisell, Leroy Vinegar, Bob Moses, Gladys Knight & The Pips, Bobby Vinton, Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and The Temptations.
In 1985 Lee moved back to Portland joining Motown drummer Mel Brown’s in band the next year. In 1989 The Mel Brown Sextet, performing Lee’s pieces and arrangements, won the International Hennessy Jazz Search. The following year, Lee’s recording, Gordon Bleu, won Best Jazz Recording of 1990 from the Northwest Music Association. Lee’s association with Mel Brown continues to this day.
The Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble is a 12-piece jazz chamber orchestra which commissions and performs original works by its members and by other jazz composers in the
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Portland music community and beyond. It is our mission to operate a large musical ensemble, to commission and perform original works by members of the ensemble and by other jazz composers in the Portland music community and elsewhere, to act as a forum for the development and presentation of works for large ensemble by established and emerging jazz composers, and to engage and enrich community awareness and appreciation of contemporary music. We also operate a grassroots label, PJCE Records, which releases albums of original music by local jazz artists.
Lineup: Mel Brown, drums; Gordon Lee, piano and compositions; Lee Elderton, alto sax; Renato Caranto and John Gross, tenor sax; Mieke Bruggeman, bari sax; Douglas Detrick, Thomas Barber, and Paul Mazzio, trumpets; Lars Campbell, Matthew Hettwer, and Stan Bock, trombones; Ryan Meagher, guitar; Ed Bennett, bass
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