Beyond Category

Montavilla Jazz Festival 2019 was a few months ago, but hearing the voices of these artists brings back vivid memories of all the music we heard that weekend. Like we’ve come to expect, the music was incredibly diverse and the atmosphere was warm and inviting. You’ll hear why that is as you listen to the artists talking about their work and about the festival itself. Before 2019 comes to a close, please make a donation to Montavilla Jazz Festival and to Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble to keep this music community strong!

On Saturday May 18th PJCE honors the late saxophonist and composer Jim Pepper in a concert at the Old Church. We’ll play music by Jim Pepper, Gordon Lee, and Glay Giberson, as well as music by our guest, hip hop artist and traditional singer and dancer 2 8 Tha Native, arranged by Farnell Newton and Stephanie Kitson. Jim Pepper, who identified with the Kaw and Creek tribes, was a Native American jazz innovator who is best known for a song that reached the Billboard charts, Witchi Tai To. Pepper’s was an incredibly distinctive voice on the tenor saxophone, and had fruitful collaborations with many other A-list jazz players, often on the avant-garde side of the spectrum—Don Cherry, Paul Motian, Charlie Haden and Mal Waldron, among others. He also worked extensively with Portland’s own Gordon Lee, who talked with me about how he met Jim Pepper, and the “supernatural” effect that this man—who Lee jokingly called “the older brother I never wanted”—had on his life. Tickets for the May 18th concert are on sale now at

I talked with composer Ezra Weiss as two big projects of his go out into the world. First the release the studio recording of From Maxville to Vanport, featuring his music, and lyrics by S. Renee Mitchell sung by Marilyn Keller; and second, a concert taking place this Saturday, December 8th, 2018 at the Alberta Abbey featuring Ezra’s latest composition, We Limit Not the Truth of God. The two pieces have a lot in common. They’re both concert-length jazz suites that tell stories about who we were as human beings in general and Oregonians in particular, and both say something about how the future can be better than the past. We talked about what it means to make music with a more socially-engaged perspective, and what the difference is between art and propaganda.

This is the second installment of a two-part series recapping the 2018 Montavilla Jazz Festival. This time I talk with Neil Mattson, MJF Executive Director, about how the festival went in terms of ticket sales, budgets, and attendance, you know, the stuff you can measure. And then we get into the intangible measures of the project’s success—the gut feelings he has about whether or not it’s worth it to keep on doing what everyone thought was a fool’s errand five years ago. Fortunately for all of us, I think Neil is ready to be foolish for at least one year more.

If you were at the 2018 Montavilla Jazz Festival on August 19th or 20th in Portland, OR, then you felt the excitement. But if you weren’t, I hope this episode will give you a taste of the music and the people that made the event special. Interviews with Shao Way Wu, saxophonist Idit Shner, KBOO radio personality Daniel Flessas, and the Saturday headliner saxophonist Nicole Glover in this episode.

Trio Untold, with James Miley on piano and keyboards, Mike Nord on guitar and electronics, and Ryan Biesack on drums, is the thirty-third release on PJCE Records. It drops Friday September 14th. Stream and buy it at pjce.bandcamp.com.

Ryan Meagher’s new album of “collective spontaneous composition” is called Evil Twin, and its the 32nd release on PJCE Records. You can hear the band perform live at the 2018 Montavilla Jazz Festival, on August 18th at 4:10 pm. Learn more and get your tickets at montavillajazzfest.com. The album drops August 17th. Stream and buy the album at pjce.bandcamp.com.

The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble gives two world premiere performances of James Miley’s newest work “Watershed Suite.” This six-movement piece is inspired by distinctive bodies of water in the Oregon landscape, from the Tamolitch Pool to Oaks Bottom, capturing the spirit of each through music. James Miley joins PJCE Executive Director Douglas Detrick for a conversation about the piece taped at Sellwood Riverside Park, on the banks of the Willamette River. Learn more at pjce.org/watershed. Episode Transcript [Doug] Welcome to Beyond Category. I’m Douglas Detrick. The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble gives two world premiere performances of James Miley’s newest work “Watershed Suite.” This six-movement piece is inspired by distinctive bodies of water in the Oregon landscape, from the Tamolitch Pool to Oaks Bottom, capturing the spirit of each through music. Head to pjce.org/watershed to learn more about this new piece and the performances in August, 2018. And stay tuned for the release of Trio Untold, with

The 31st release on PJCE Records is “Escape Route,” by Other Barry, a bionic power trio led by George Colligan on keyboards, with Micah Hummel on drums and Enzo Irace on guitar. Transcript: [Doug] PJCE Records artists Other Barry, a trio led by George Colligan, play at 2:50 pm, Saturday August 18th at the 2018 Montavilla Jazz Festival in Northeast Portland. Tickets available at montavillajazzfest.com, and you buy or stream the album at pjce.bandcamp.com. Here’s the episode. Welcome to Beyond Category, I’m Douglas Detrick. The 31st release on PJCE Records is “Escape Route,” by Other Barry, a bionic power trio led by George Colligan on keyboards, with Micah Hummel on drums and Enzo Irace on guitar. The music is adrenaline-drenched, electronica-infused, jazz music that doesn’t mind being a bit complicated, even nerdy in its complexity. Picture Superman in beast mode, alternating between a dapper Clark Kent sipping a latte while he scrolls through his Instagram feed, and maybe that gives you an idea. [Music: Thin

Portland Center Stage is presenting “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” from May 26 to July 1 at The Armory in Portland’s Pearl District. Use the discount code “PJCE” for $10 off your ticket to any performance of this incredible production. And, don't miss a special concert featuring Portland-based singer-songwriter Jimmy Herrod with a sextet of PJCE musicians. We’ll be playing a new song by Jimmie, and songs written or made famous by Billie Holiday arranged by Kerry Politzer, Clay Giberson, and Alex Koehler. It’ll be a bit like a live version of this podcast with musical performances, questions and answers with the artists, and more information about one of jazz’s most iconic masters using some of Billie Holiday’s own words from archival audio. Join us to get a deeper experience of “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” and a deeper appreciation of an American original. The concert is Sunday, June 24th at Portland Center Stage. There’s a reception at 6 pm in the atrium, and the concert starts at 7 pm in th

“Nothin’ but white people and sheep,” is how one Maxville logger described the tiny town of Maxville, Oregon. Oregon's racist history is well-known, but we rarely hear from the people of color who thrived in spite of it. FROM MAXVILLE TO VANPORT celebrates the blue-collar African American experience in 20th century Oregon with new jazz, blues, R&B with a twelve piece band and two short films. Lyricist S. Renee Mitchell, filmmaker Kalimah Abioto, composer Ezra Weiss, and vocalist Marilyn Keller illuminate unheard stories of Oregon’s black history through a live performance with the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble. This episode, first in a series about the most ambitious project ever undertaken by the PJCE, shares some if the community input we received at events in Portland and Joseph, Oregon. More information at http://pjce.org/maxville-to-vanport/.

The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble’s Grasshoppers Young Composers Program is now in its third year with six new students. Hear new music by these young artists March 25th, 2018 at The 1905 from 7 to 8 pm. An open composer’s jam session follows, and there’s no cover charge. Grasshoppers 2018 was sponsored by Vino Veritas wine bar in the Montavilla neighborhood, and the Lynne Detrick Memorial Fund.

Frank Boyd's one-man show is a profane yet passionate "love letter to jazz." In this episode of Beyond Category, sponsored by Oregon Arts Watch, PJCE Executive Director Douglas Detrick interviews the show's creator, director and performer about this production staged as a live jazz radio broadcast.

Edna Vazquez joins the PJCE’s 12-piece jazz ensemble February 15th at the Old Church in Portland, February 16 at Mt Hood Community College in Gresham, and February 17th at the Columbia Center for the Arts in Hood River. If you get your ticket before they all sell out, you’ll hear the incredible passion she brings to every performance. Her energy is unforgettable, and even if you don’t speak Spanish, you’ll understand every word.

Andrew Oliver, co-founder of the PJCE, lives in London now, but back in 2008 he and a group of ambitious graduates of Portland State University staged the first concert in the group's history. Oliver didn't know what he was getting himself into, but we're glad he did.   [Andrew] I was stupid enough to make a 501(c)3 without having any idea of what I was getting into… [Doug] Welcome to Beyond Category, from the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble. I’m Douglas Detrick. This season, we’re celebrating a big milestone: the PJCE is turning ten. Our first concert, in January of 2008, was a grand experiment. Co-founders Andrew Oliver and Gus Slayton wanted to produce a concert of new music for their own large jazz ensemble. They were passionate about the project, but they had no idea if anyone else would care. Fortunately for all of us, it turned people did care, a lot of them. The energy from that night powered the organization through its tenuous early days, and it’s still feeding us today. [music] Before the organiza

This episode is a collection of interviews I did at the 2017 Montavilla Jazz Festival in Portland, Oregon, mostly August 20th. I talked to artists, festival leadership, and a few other members of the jazz community who helped make the event happen. And from what I heard, both in terms of the music and what people had to say about the festival, the Montavilla Jazz Festival is most definitely here to stay, and it has become an indispensable part of Portland’s jazz scene.

Jasnam Daya Singh, a pianist and composer originally from Brazil, has composed a new piece for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble called “Ektah: The Unity Project.” When Jasnam begins a new piece of music, he begins not with a melody in mind, but with a word. This helps to give the piece a purpose, and help him focus his attention on that purpose. In this case, the word was "unity." We had a conversation about the new piece, and about how inspiration, respect, and gratitude combine with hard work in the process of writing music. The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble performs Jasnam Daya Singh’s “Ektah: The Unity Project” with the composer on piano 7 pm, August 16th at Roaring Rapids in Eugene, OR, and 4:20 pm August 19th at the Montavilla Jazz Festival in Portland, OR. All the details are available at our website: pjce.org.

The 4th annual Montavilla Jazz Festival is August 19th and 20th, 2017. Get all the information at montavillajazzfest.com. This year’s festival features headliner Essiet Essiet with Sylvia Cuenca, the Rich Halley Five with Vinny Golia, the Blue Cranes, the David Friesen Quartet, and us, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble playing new music by Jasnam Daya Singh. I had my headphones and my microphone out at last year’s festival, talking to pretty much everyone: artists, volunteers, listeners, and sponsors. These are some of my favorite interviews from last year, to get you excited for what’s coming up this year. Don’t miss this festival, it’s the jazz event of the summer.

Andrew Durkin's "Breath of Fire" is out now on PJCE Records! This pianist and composer, who led the firebrand Industrial Jazz Group in concerts around the world, releases his first album in seven years. The meditative music is inspired by Durkin's yoga practice, which he has started as way to keep his body flexible, and his spirit engaged.

Eddie Bond makes the unheard sounds of the bridges of Portland audible in his new composition for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble's Oregonophony concerts April 13th at Willamette University in Salem, and April 15th at the Fremont Theatre in Portland.