PDX Jazz events are free and open to the public, except for ticketed concerts and events with cover charges and/or drink minimums.
Is Jazz Dead (Or Has It Moved to a New Address)?-New Music from Norway
Contemporary American and Norwegian jazz artists come together during the 2010 Alaska Airlines/ Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by U.S. Bank, February 21 - 28, throughout downtown Portland, Oregon.
This year’s provocative theme is borrowed from the title of British jazz writer Stuart Nicholson’s book on the globalization of jazz with a special spotlight on Norway, a forefront of redefining America’s indigenous art form and making it their own. The festival focus showcases three North American premieres that exemplify what Nicholson calls the "Nordic Tone" as a counterpoint to a series of diverse, contemporary American jazz masters pushing the boundaries of jazz.
Hailed as one of the major annual jazz events in North America by the Jazz Journalists Association and lauded by critics as a "bullet train to jazz nirvana", the Portland Jazz Festival is where you experience leading, international jazz innovators, plus performances showcasing NW artists and stimulating jazz outreach programs.
From Norway we have borrowed the rallying cry of Uten Jass Blitz eb Treg du Tass (loosely translated as ‘Without Jazz my life would have less meaning’), which you can experience in February. While for now... Vi ses snart (‘See you soon’)!
The best seats are selling fast!
Luciana Souza: Superior section sold out, best Prime selling fast
Mingus Big Band: Superior nearly sold out, best Prime selling fast
Dave Holland: A dozen Superior seats remaining, best Prime selling fast
Pharoah Sanders: Superior sold out, best Prime selling fast
Dave Douglas: A dozen Superior seats remaining
All Norwegian shows: A couple dozen Superior seats remaining
Norway has quietly been building its cache of fine jazz musicians ever since America’s indigenous music landed on its shores in the 1920’s. Bolstered in recent years by Norwegian government support, Nordic jazz has made a big push spreading internationally. With seven universities dedicated to jazz, there’s no doubt Norway will continue to be a force in keeping jazz alive. This year the 2010 Alaska Airlines/ Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by US Bank is thrilled to present a trio of ensemble premieres to North America as part of the festival showcase, “Is Jazz Dead (or has it moved to a new address)? New Music from Norway.”
Trygve Seim wowed audiences in 2007 with his ensemble, and this year he comes with Frode Haltli with whom he recently released an atmospheric jazz improvisation called “Yraz” on ECM Records. All About Jazz calls their latest album, “An intimate, deep and beautiful exploration.” Seim’s ECM debut “Different Rivers” won the annual prize of the German Record Critics (Jahrespreis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik 2001). Similarly, Haltli’s ECM debut “Looking on Darkness” won the French Prix Gus Viseur in 2004 as well as the Norwegian Spellemannprisen for Best Contemporary Music Album. For their concert on Saturday, February 27 (3:00 PM), they’ll present music from Yraz and other collaborations as a duo of saxophone and accordion.
Also on ECM, The Christian Wallumrod Ensemble represents the intersection of jazz, chamber and experimental music. Christian Wallumrod has worked Read the rest of this entry »
Most of the discounted multiple concert packages for the 2010 Portland Jazz Festival are sold out (still a few left). The popular A-Train and Broadway packages first offered in October are gone, and a limited number of the Nordic Tones package remains -offering general admission tickets for the three Norwegian showcases. Reserved seats for In The Country, Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli, and the Christian Wallumrod Ensemble are almost sold out! Individual, Superior-level tickets for the Mingus Big Band are sold out, but some balcony seats remain. The best seats for Luciana Souza, Dave Holland Quintet, Pharoah Sanders, and Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy are going fast!
One other remaining ticket package is available via the Amtrak Cascades PDX Jazz Train, leaving Seattle at noon on Friday, February 26 and returning Sunday evening, February 28. This package includes seats to Sanders, Holland, and Mingus, plus hotel, a Friday VIP reception, Sunday brunch and transportation to your hotel. For more information on the Jazz Train click here or call the PDX Jazz Box Office. Reserve by February 8.
For the best remaining individual concert tickets call the PDX Jazz Box Office, 503-228-JAZZ (5299), 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM (Monday through Friday), walk-in to the box office at 133 SW Second Avenue, Suite 420, Portland, or contact Ticketmaster.
KEEP AN EYE ON THE WEBSITE FOR MORE UPDATES
Reserve the Jazz Train package and make your festival experience memorable by riding the rails with other jazz fans. Whether you live in Vancouver, BC or Seattle, Washington, the Amtrak Cascades delivers you from your departure city to your hotel door.
The Jazz Train package includes:
Submitted by Portland Spoke
Calling all fedoras, fancy dresses and sport coats. Feb. 21-28, 2010, the Portland Jazz Festival returns to get music lovers, culture vultures, movers and shakers up and out of their regular winter routine.
Want to be one of the cool kids? Click to make a reservation at a participating Jazz Festival hotel. Need more convincing? Read more.
Known as a true innovator, Dave Douglas perennially invents new ensembles with new sounds. For the 2010 festival, the comparisons to the legendary Lester Bowie and his Brass Fantasy group come to fruition in a 21st Century way. Douglas brings his ensemble of trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, and drums, aptly named Brass Ecstasy. While the group plays mostly original tunes, their recent release, Spirit Moves, features arrangements of tunes by Otis Redding, Hank Williams and Steve Cropper.
“Dave Douglas arguably became the most original trumpeter/composer of his generation. Douglas’ stylistic range is broad yet unaffected; his music is not a pastiche, but rather a personal aesthetic that reflects a wide variety of interests. He explicitly cites such diverse influences as Igor Stravinsky, Stevie Wonder, and John Coltrane. As a composer, Douglas adapts and synthesizes unusual forms and creates his own out of disparate elements. As a trumpeter, Douglas possesses a comprehensive jazz technique; certainly, one hears the ghost of Lester Bowie in Douglas’ expressive manipulations of timbre and pitch, but more pronounced is the integration of distinctive compositional and improvisational conceptions that ultimately defines his work.” – All Music Guide
Douglas performs Sunday February 28, 7:30 PM at the Crystal Ballroom; a great way to wrap up the festival. Tickets available
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