It Is...and It Isn't

While it isn't officially a part of Jewish Arts Month (JAM) here in Portland, the Portland Jazz Festival will be serving up some amazing music!  And it comes in mid-February! JAM will launch our festival sometime in late February....but we're proud of this JAZZ Festival and encourage everyone to check it out!!!!!!

http://pdxjazz.com/portland-jazz-festival  has the complete schedule...but this is the gist of the festival (below) .....

..........WOW!!!!!
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BRIDGES AND BOUNDARIES: 
JEWISH & AFRICAN AMERICANS PLAYING JAZZ TOGETHER

The 2011 Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by US Bank will be held Friday, February 18 through Sunday, February 27 at venues throughout Portland. The week-long festival will include jazz education and outreach along with a series of concerts all supporting the 2011 theme,Bridges and Boundaries: Jewish & African Americans Playing Jazz Together.

Among this year’s headliners are the SFJAZZ Collective, in the world premiere of new repertoire paying homage to African American pop icon Stevie Wonder; NEA Jazz Master Randy Weston, performing solo piano in support of his new release, The Storyteller, and autobiography, African Rhythms: The Autobiography of Randy Weston; celebrated clarinetist Don Byron and his new project dedicated to the great Jewish entertainer, Mickey Katz – a reunion of the groundbreaking and virtuosic klezmer ensemble that recorded Byron’s eponymous Nonesuch album and spearheaded the klezmer revival in the 1990s; a special performance by The 3 Cohens, featuring siblings, trumpeter Avishai Cohen, saxophonist/clarinetist Anat Cohen, and pianist Yuval Cohen; famed African American violinist Regina Carter will return to Portland, presenting her newest project, Reverse Thread, which traces the musical history of African cultures, including tribes of Ugandan Jews; saxophonistJoshua Redman - son of African American saxophonist Dewey Redman and Jewish American dancer Renee Shedroff – leading his new project, James Farm, that includes both African American and Jewish American musicians; and the Portland Jazz Festival’s new Artistic & Community Ambassador, bassist Esperanza Spalding (who will lead her new Chamber Music Societyin an exclusive Portland area engagement).

AVISHAI COHEN- comes to pdx!

Although it isn't part of JEWISH ARTS MONTH , this blog will attempt to post highlights of the Jewish Arts in the Portland community.


HERE'S THE SCOOP:

PDX Jazz, the presenting organization of the Alaska Airlines/Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by U.S. Bank, announces the October 23rd appearance by Avishai Cohen. The Israeli-born and Paris-based EMI-France recording artist is set to perform at the Winningstad Theater, an intimate 300 seat venue located within the Portland Center for the Performing Arts. This rare Portland area performance by the celebrated bassist will begin at 7:30 PM.

Cohen is a musician who has been called a jazz visionary of global proportions by DownBeat, and was declared one of the 100 Most Influential Bass Players of the 20th Century by Bass Player Magazine. Cohen is not only renowned around the world as an influential double bassist and profound composer, but also as a visionary bandleader that is following in the footsteps of Charles Mingus, Dave Holland, Jaco Pastorius, Ray Brown, Charlie Haden, Stanley Clarke, and even Sting.

*Note: Limited seating is available for this event.

Tickets may be purchased online at http://www.ticketmaster.com

or in person at the PCPA box office.