Stories of Immigrant Children … Parakeets
As told by Nayara Tolentino, age 12. I live in California now, says Nayara. Here, the birds in my backyard are white and brown and black. But in Brazil, the birds were the colors of our flag: green, blue, yellow and white. They were parakeets. If you said your name to them, they would say […]
Read MoreDr. Lonnie Smith with Mel Brown and Dan Faehnle at Jimmy Mak’s November 11, 2006
Review Just because you have muscle doesn’t mean you have to show it off, Dr. Lonnie Smith writes on his website. That restraint may be the key to Smith’s longevity and current star status: not the sheer power of his Hammond B-3 organ, one of the world’s mightiest instruments, but the dynamic contrasts of his […]
Read MoreThe Lions of Batucada Tenth Anniversary Show August, 2006
It wasn’t a performance to sit back and watch. With a roar of percussive power, the Lions of Batucada, Portland’s Afro-Brazilian style drum and dance ensemble, celebrated its tenth anniversary with two Saturday shows at the Wonder Ballroom. The group’s 32-member bateria, or drum section, propelled its 11 costumed dancers into perpetual motion, and the […]
Read MoreJessica Williams in April, 2000
Preview Listening to pianist Jessica Williams is a like riding a musical roller-coaster. We plunge into cascades of fluid ornamentation, soar above them on majestic leaps, then fall, breathe and dash headlong again into an agile stream shaped sleekly into a welcoming groove. From quiet to roaring, double time to achingly slow rubato, Williams always […]
Read MoreCharles Lloyd
Preview I’m a wild yogi, insists Charles Lloyd. I checked out all the excesses. The saxophonist, who reached the peak of fame and fortune in the late 60s with his million-selling album, Forest Flower: Live at Monterey, and appearances before ecstatic youth around the world, is explaining what made him the man he is […]
Read MoreThird Angle New Music Ensemble
Preview Riffs World Premieres by Three Portland Jazz Artists To segregate music is as ridiculous as racial segregation, says saxophonist and composer Rob Scheps about the division between classical music and jazz. There should be no ghettoization, there should be mutual respect. For composer and pianist Gordon Lee, breaking down those barriers goes beyond personal […]
Read MoreHerbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter at the Elsinore Theater in Salem November, 2000
Review A mutually rewarding relationship between performer and audience depends on the delicate balance between art and entertainment. Artists must have the freedom to innovate, to challenge themselves and their audience in order to create fresh, vital work. But with that freedom comes the responsibility to bring audiences along with them, to make their new […]
Read MoreAlan Jones and the Leroy Vinnegar Suite October 2001
Preview At first, it was personal for Alan Jones. His life and work had been so touched by Leroy Vinnegar, that he set out to make an album celebrating the late, legendary jazz bassist. “But as I was writing it, and people heard about the project,” recalls Jones, 38, a Portland-based drummer and composer, “everyone […]
Read MoreLes McCann March, 2005
Preview “The thing about this business,” says Les McCann, “is it’s a reality show, and we’re live when you get it.” Singer and pianist McCann, who will play tonight and Saturday at The Blue Monk, is recalling his 1983 performance at the Mt. Hood Festival of Jazz, where a stolen car slammed into a transformer, […]
Read MoreRed Holloway at DePriest Family Jazz Concert August, 2005
Preview “We want this to be educational,” says drummer and bandleader Akbar DePriest about the Family Jazz Concerts he’s been leading in Portland since 1991. “We want to get the youngsters in and expose them to the music.” With an increase to three concerts a year and a bump in the age for free […]
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