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Short Takes USA: Portland<br />
pianists (solo or with vocals), etc. Some of the artists: The Randy Porter<br />
Trio. Tom Grant w/ Nancy Curtin. John Gilmore. Laura Cunard.<br />
The Portland Festival of Jazz followed several weeks later (Feb. 15-24). As is<br />
the usual case the 10 day festival took place in a wide variety of venues (mostly<br />
on the west/downtown side of the Willamette River). This was the 10th year<br />
of the festival and it appears to be doing well with a good number of soldout<br />
shows. Many of these were "big name" mainstream performers/groups<br />
although there were many opportunities for local jazz players as well. The<br />
festival provided many no-cost forums where the general public had the<br />
chance to see and hear guest performers in intimate Q & A sessions and panels.<br />
Some of the headline acts were: Barry Harris. The Afro-Cuban All-Stars.<br />
Scott Hamilton. Kurt Rosenwinkel. Matt Wilson's Arts & Crafts. Wayne<br />
Horvitz. Patricia Barber. Kenny Garrett. Jack DeJohnette. Sex Mob. Nancy<br />
King. ACS (Geri Allen, Terri Lynne Carrington, Esperanza Spalding).<br />
PDXJAZZ (pdxjazz.com), the producer of the festival rolls<br />
out a number of shows throughout the year as well. April<br />
28: The Bad Plus at the Mission Theater (1624 NW Glisan).<br />
The Creative Music Guild (CMG) (creativemusicguild.org) presents<br />
uncompromising avant/improvised music which includes jazz, improv,<br />
electro-acoustic, noise, etc). It's a wide bag of tricks and each show is<br />
correspondingly original. In Feb. CMG teamed up with The Portland Jazz<br />
Fest to co-present a couple of gigs featuring Seattle keyboardist-extraordinaire<br />
Wayne Horvitz in solo (piano) and guest settings. 2/16: He joined Portland's<br />
Blue Cranes (Reed Wallsmith, Joe Cunningham, Rebecca Sanborn, Ji<br />
Tanzer, Keith Brush) at the Mission Theater. The next evening he was guest<br />
conductor of the Creative Music Guild Collective Music Ensemble at Secret<br />
Society (116 NE Russell St). CMG's Outset Music Series takes place on the<br />
1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month at the highly regarded Revival Drum<br />
Shop (1465 NE Prescott). It's a small but soulfull space awash in a crazy<br />
array of drum kits and cymbals and has been home for the last couple of years.<br />
The series generally features two different sets per night and these are usually<br />
solo or duo endeavors most of which are improvised. Recently: Catherine Lee<br />
(solo oboe). Pulse Emitter. Matt Hanafin (solo percussion). CMG also puts on a<br />
succinct (two day) mini-fest called The Improv Summit of Portland. This years<br />
edition will take place May 31-June 1 at Sand Box Studios (420 NE<br />
9th Ave.). Musicians known to be involved at the time of this writing<br />
include: William Hooker. Battle Hymns & Gardens. John Gross trio.<br />
Daniel Menche. Golden Retriever. The Guild brings top-level talent from<br />
around the world to town several times a year. April 5th will see the (long<br />
awaited) return of the ICP Orchestra. (Yes, the premiere improvising large<br />
ensemble of Amsterdam.....and the world at large!). Their last visit was (I<br />
believe) 2006 so this is an important return. Unfortunately, the time has come<br />
where their beloved leader, pianist and co-founder, Misha Mengelberg is<br />
42 | CadenCe Magazine | april May June 2013
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