Rise In Love at Portland PDX Jazz Festival at Lincoln Hall, Portland State University

About

Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble presents five newly commissioned pieces of jazz inspired by singular Black leaders and communities performed by their signature 12-member ensemble. The original works draw on the poetry of Alice Dunbar-Nelson, the legacies of tennis greats Arthur Ashe and Althea Gibson, the revolutionary term of president of Burkina Faso Thomas Sankara, and Reverend James Lawson’s conception of nonviolent resistance. The concert features works by Oregon Governors Arts Awardee Darrell Grant, Oregon Music Teachers Association Composer of the Year Todd Marston and Emmy Award-winner Steven Golliday, “Irresistible” (San Francisco Chronicle) electronics-meets-contemporary classical composer Kirsten Volness, rising star composer/trombonist James Powers, and three-time ASCAP Young Jazz Composer Awardee Ezra Weiss.