2010 Portland Jazz Festival Sells Out Seven Of ... - DL Media Music

2010 Portland Jazz Festival Sells Out Seven Of Eight Featured
Concerts Including Pharoah Sanders, Mingus Big Band, Luciana
Souza, Dave Holland, and Three Acclaimed Groups From
Norway
Panel Discussions, Jazz Conversations,
Middle School Educational Outreach, Late-Night Jam Sessions
and Local Performances Complemented
This Year's Innovative Festival Programming
Devin Phillips, the young saxophonist who evacuated Hurricane Katrina with the NOLA2PDX
program in 2005, took the stage at the Newmark Theater and showed the audience in his
adopted hometown that he has the chops to share the stage with the legendary Pharoah
Sanders, who welcomed him with open arms. At one point Phillips introduced Pharoah as "my
idol". It was a fitting moment for a festival that encourages the development of young players and
Portland jazz musicians.
Beginning with a sold out show featuring Luciana Souza (pictured at right; photo credit: Fran
Kaufman) on Thursday and concluding with Dave Douglas & Brass Ecstasy at the storied
Crystal Ballroom, the 2010 Alaska Airlines/ Horizon Air Portland Jazz Festival presented by US
Bank demonstrated that jazz is very much alive in this country and across the Atlantic, in Norway.
Friday morning began with a scramble to transport the Mingus Big Band from storm-rattled New
York to rainy Portland. Arriving less than an hour before show time, the band performed the
music of the legendary Charles Mingus to a sold out audience. Even after a long day, five of the
Big Band members joined the packed Midnight Jam Session at Norse Hall, the venue that
featured performances by Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli, the Christian Wallumrod Ensemble
and In The Country. One of the jam session highlights was pianist and program curator Darrell
Grant taking over for Dave Kikoski in welcoming Craig Handy and Justin Faulkner. A Philadelphia
native, Faulkner (pictured at left performing with Pharoah Sanders and Devin Phillips; photo
credit: Fran Kaufman) aptly demonstrated to Portland audiences that he lives up to his rapidly
growing reputation since joining the Branford Marsalis Quartet in 2009. Faulkner also performed
admirably with Pharoah Sanders sounding akin to a young Elvin Jones. Another jam session
highlight was Grant's moving tribute (a recasting of Amazing Grace featuring bassist Glen Moore)
to Portland political and cultural icon Dick Bogle who passed away on the festival's opening day.
The Norwegian artists, two groups premiering in North America, played to sold out performances
at Norse Hall, Portland's Norwegian community center. In The Country demonstrated the
provocative quality of Norwegian jazz with their genre bending and electrifying performance. The
virtuosos Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli (pictured at right; photo credit: Fran Kaufman) captivated
the audience with a personal and unconventional saxophone and accordion duo performance.
Taking advantage of the warm acoustics of Norse Hall, the Christian Wallumrod Ensemble opted
for an acoustic performance creating an intimate sound that highlighted the subtleties of their
acoustic instruments.

Portland's jazz scene was in force at full capacity for PDX Jazz free performances by Devin
Phillips, Ben Darwish, the Blue Cranes, the Quadraphonnes, the Farnell Newton/Marcus
Reynolds Quintet, Toni Lincoln, Clay Giberson & John Nastos, and the John Gross/Dave
Frishberg/Charlie Doggett Trio.
"This year's festival represents the culmination of an experience that began in 2007 when we
prominently featured ECM artists - Charles Lloyd, Gary Burton & Chick Corea - along with
introducing Trygve Seim and Tomasz Stanko," states Portland Jazz Festival co-founder and
artistic director, Bill Royston. "The ECM exposure led to an exhilarating odyssey to the
Kongsberg Jazz Festival as an invited guest of the Norwegian government. Hearing Christian
Wallumrod, In The Country, and the alluring duo of Trygve Seim & Frode Haltli in their natural
environment gave me renewed energy to expand on what jazz is and potentially is not for the
2010 festival."
More festival highlights:
· The festival week began with a sold out Gospel Brunch featuring Mike Phillips at Self
Enhancement, Inc., an organization that serves youth in the N Portland community.
· The Incredible Journey of Jazz traveled to five area middle schools to present the musical
history of jazz to 2,000 students in honor of Black History Month. In attendance were two Portland
Trail Blazer alumni, Terry Porter and Jerome Kersey.
· Dave Holland, who had weather related problems departing New York, was joined by Alex
Sipiagin in place of Robin Eubanks, on tour with the SF Jazz Collective. The Grammy awardwinning
quintet also featured longstanding members Nate Smith, Chris Potter and Steve Nelson.
· Jam session participants included artists from Norway and America - Darrell Grant, Roger
Arntzen (In The Country), Craig Handy (Mingus Big Band), David Kikoski (Mingus Big Band),
Justin Faulkner (Mingus Big Band), Trygve Seim, Frode Haltli, Andrew Oliver, Glen Moore (of the
group, Oregon), Reed Wallsmith, Derek Sims, Ben Darwish and others.
· The Jazz Conversation with Pharoah Sanders took place in front of an overflow audience.
·The Jazz Conversation originally scheduled with Craig Handy became an impromptu discussion
about the life and times of Charles Mingus. Moderated by Tom D'Antoni (Oregon Music News),
the discussion included David Friesen (bassist/composer), Don Lucoff (PDX Jazz), Paul
DeBarros (Seattle Times/ Down Beat) and Sam Howard (bassist).
· Is Jazz Dead (or has it moved to a new address)? featured a highly charged discussion on
transatlantic musical styles, politics, race, art and commerce. Moderated by Paul DeBarros, the
conversation included Forrest Bryant (JazzTimes), Peter Margasak (Down Beat) and Darrell
Grant (pianist/composer), with pianist Christian Wallumrod joining the discussion in mid-stream.
Resources:
Festival photos - www.flickr.com/photos/pdxjazz
Festival press - www.pdxjazz.com/press/
For additional reviews on the Portland Jazz Festival and the Oregon music scene in general, visit
Oregon Music News.

For more information:
Portland regional PR contact:
Spencer Crandall, 503-228-5299, scrandall@pdxjazz.com
National PR contact:
Jordy Freed/DL Media, 610-667-0501, jordy@jazzpublicity.com
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Portland Jazz Festival · www.pdxjazz.com
133 SW Second Avenue, Suite 420, Portland, OR 97204 · 503-228-JAZZ (5299)
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