Jazz pianist/composer Darrell Grant and singer/songwriter/guitarist Edna Vazquez unite to create a powerful set of songs based on letters written by mothers at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, TX—a for-profit prison for refugees in the US—about what it means to be in jail on Mother's Day. Drawing on the composers’ diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, the bilingual songs of 21 Cartas range from lullabies and hymns to battle cries. Together they address the hopes, hardships, struggles, and dreams expressed by those who have risked everything in pursuit of better lives for their children. Interwoven with filmmaker Adolfo Cantú-Villareal’s evocative portraits of Portland, Oregon’s immigrant community, 21 Cartas represents the legacy of bravery, the search for justice, and power of a mother’s love that are common to the multitude of immigrant stories that define our country.
Read morePortland Jazz Composers Ensemble Celebrates Oregon’s Black History in Song and Film
(PORTLAND, OR)—Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE) presents encore performances of From Maxville to Vanport, original songs and short films inspired by Oregon’s blue-collar Black history on Thursday, February 28th at 7:30 pm at Oregon State University and on Sunday, March 3rd at 7 pm at Portland’s Mission Theater.
Night of the Living Dead: Amenta Abioto, Sage Fisher, Maxx Katz, and Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble score iconic 1968 film
A trio of adventurous composers captures the ghoulish fun and the underlying anxiety that gave the first modern “zombie” film its staying power.
Little One and Noah Kite at Alberta Street Pub
Little One releases their premiere recording and Noah Kite joins them for a night fusing folk, jazz, and contemporary chamber music through intimate song at Alberta Street Pub (1036 NE Alberta Street), Wednesday, May 30, 2018, at 9 pm. Tickets are $10 and available online here or at the door on the day of the show. More information and updates are available through the facebook event at bit.ly/LittleOne_and_NoahKite.
Read moreFrom Maxville to Vanport: A Celebration of Oregon’s Black History
Supported by the Oregon Community Foundation’s Creative Heights program, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble’s (PJCE’s) concert of original songs and film shorts inspired by the stories of the multicultural populations of Maxville and Vanport, Oregon debuts in April 12–14, 2018 in La Grande, Enterprise, and Baker City, Oregon and May 26, 2018 at Portland, Oregon’s Vanport Mosaic Festival. This collection of songs and short films produced by composer Ezra Weiss with writer and speaker S. Renee Mitchell providing lyrics and vocalist Marilyn Keller performing with the PJCE accompanied by shorts by filmmaker Kalimah Abioto to celebrate the shared history of African-American Oregonians, focusing on two towns that represent distinctive viewpoints of the state’s under-discussed Black history. Tickets to PCJE’s concerts are on sale now and are available online through pjce.org.
Read moreDarrell Grant's Darker Angels will be premiered by Portland Piano International
Darrell Grant will make his debut as a classical solo piano composer next week when the British phenom Isata Kanneh-Mason plays his piece Darker Angels during her residency with Portland Piano International.
Read morePortland Playwright Tackles Gender, Ethnicity, and Sex Work in Shanghaied! the Musical
Image by Mathew Grubb.
Portland, Oregon playwright Rachel Tusler is producing a staged reading of her world premiere musical SHANGHAIED! on September 27 and 28, 2017 at Portland’s Siren Theater. SHANGHAIED follows Ruth, a young Native American woman, in her quest to learn who has shanghaied her brother in Portland, Oregon in 1894. Based on historical research, Tusler’s world is populated by the corrupt and desperate characters of the historic North End district including sex workers, sailors, madams, and johns.
Read moreComposer Darrell Grant Takes Home Regional Emmy for Jazz Town
Portland, Oregon-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator Darrell Grant added another feather to his cap Saturday, June 3 when the recipients were announced for the 2017 Northwest Regional Emmy® Awards in Seattle, Washington. Grant was recognized in the Musical Composition/Arrangement category for his composition in Oregon Public Broadcasting’s (OPB’s) Oregon Experience special “JazzTown” Portland’s Golden Jazz Age.
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