Portland Jazz Festival
The annual festival celebrates the rich local jazz scene and attracts international stars.
PDX Jazz Festival (from local music organization PDX Jazz) celebrates Black History Month with a series of concerts and events presented over two weeks every February. Returning Feb. 20–Mar. 1, 2020, this celebration of improvised music brings some of jazz’s greatest stars to over a dozen venues across Portland.
Dedicated to preserving America’s indigenous art form by presenting internationally recognized jazz masters alongside local musicians, the festival always includes education and outreach programs that extend into Portland’s schools and neighborhoods, as well as a generous offering of free performances.
“We strive to produce a festival that reflects the fabric of a vibrant jazz community … there is no city of a similar size in America that boasts such a wealth of talented artists as Portland.”
Managing director Don Lucoff
The festival celebrates its 17th anniversary in 2020, highlighting musicians, composers and producers who “take chances” with their art. Featured musicians in 2020 include Mark de Clive-Lowe, Jaimie Branch, Ghost-Note and Liv Warfield, along with Portland-based acts like Blue Cranes, Jimmie Herrod and Brown Calculus. Additionally, the festival is partnering with Portland State University to host two headline performances and jazz master-classes for students.
Can’t make it to the festival in 2020? PDX Jazz hosts special events and concerts year-round (visit their website to learn more).
PDX Jazz Festival Concerts
PDX Jazz Festival
The Portland Jazz Festival returns every February with a stellar series of concerts and events celebrating Black History Month.
Donald Harrison, Mike Clark & Wil Blades Trio
Part of the 2020 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival. Note: seating is limited for this show. 21+. Donald Harrison Jr. has combined a whirlwind career as a saxophonist with establishing cultural and educational traditions in his native New Orleans, Louisiana. Known for creating nouveau swing, a jazz style that combines R&B, funk, hip-hop and African dance,…
Thundercat with Georgia Anne Muldrow and Brown Calculus
Part of the 2020 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival, presented in partnership with Soul’d Out. Stephen “Thundercat” Bruner spent the last part of the new millennium’s first decade as the go-to bassist for practically every artist in black vanguard music. Part of the fabric of Los Angeles’ hip-hop/jazz/soul avant-garde since 2005, Georgia Anne Muldrow has built…
Dan Tepfer: Natural Machines
Part of the 2020 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival, presented in partnership with OMSI. Dan Tepfer has made a name for himself as a pianist-composer of wide-ranging ambition, individuality and drive — “a remarkable musician” in the words of the Washington Post and one “who refuses to set himself limits” in those of France’s Télérama. The…
Kenny Garrett with María Grand
Part of the 2020 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival. Over the course of a stellar career that has spanned more than 30 years, saxophonist Kenny Garrett has become the preeminent alto saxophonist of his generation. From his first gig with the Duke Ellington Orchestra (led by Mercer Ellington) through his time spent with musicians such as…