Feb 15-24: Portland Jazz Festival | Ornette Coleman | Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall
February 10, 2008 — Julian Chadwick
2009 Update: Portland Twitter Giveaway: PDX Jazz Fest Tickets | February 13-22
The non-”risk-free” Portland Jazz Festival begins next weekend. Tickets are a little high for many of us, but how many chances do you have to see Ornette Coleman? Not many, so buy them quickly. From the PDX Jazz website:
A great deal of contemporary mainstream jazz, generally speaking, is risk free. Most
jazz festivals in America play it safe, sticking with a successful and predictable stable of
artists who rarely take the music beyond its resting place in history.
The fifth annual Portland Jazz Festival, presented by Qwest & The Oregonian A&E, set
for February 15-24, dares to go where few jazz festivals in North America have ever
been — moving ever forward. Indeed, any jazz event which opens with free jazz
innovator Ornette Coleman and later closes with avant-garde pianist Cecil Taylor, is
admittedly `out there.' But, along with the likes of Parker, Coltrane, Rollins, Monk,
Mingus and Miles, these were the players who kept pushing jazz foward; more afraid of
standing still perhaps than spinning off the road out of control.
Buy tickets and see the full schedule at PDXJazz.com. Bad Plus at Crystal Ballroom on the 16th…
