Night of the Living Dead: Amenta Abioto, Sage Fisher, Maxx Katz, and Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble score iconic 1968 film

August 31, 2018 Kim Morris

A trio of adventurous composers captures the ghoulish fun and the underlying anxiety that gave the first modern “zombie” film its staying power.

Little One and Noah Kite at Alberta Street Pub

May 9, 2018 Kim Morris

Little One releases their premiere recording and Noah Kite joins them for a night fusing folk, jazz, and contemporary chamber music through intimate song at Alberta Street Pub (1036 NE Alberta Street), Wednesday, May 30, 2018, at 9 pm. Tickets are $10 and available online here or at the door on the day of the show. More information and updates are available through the facebook event at bit.ly/LittleOne_and_NoahKite.

From Maxville to Vanport: A Celebration of Oregon’s Black History

March 7, 2018 Kim Morris

Supported by the Oregon Community Foundation’s Creative Heights program, the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble’s (PJCE’s) concert of original songs and film shorts inspired by the stories of the multicultural populations of Maxville and Vanport, Oregon debuts in April 12–14, 2018 in La Grande, Enterprise, and Baker City, Oregon and May 26, 2018 at Portland, Oregon’s Vanport Mosaic Festival. This collection of songs and short films produced by composer Ezra Weiss with writer and speaker S. Renee Mitchell providing lyrics and vocalist Marilyn Keller performing with the PJCE accompanied by shorts by filmmaker Kalimah Abioto to celebrate the shared history of African-American Oregonians, focusing on two towns that represent distinctive viewpoints of the state’s under-discussed Black history. Tickets to PCJE’s concerts are on sale now and are available online through pjce.org.

Darrell Grant's Darker Angels will be premiered by Portland Piano International

January 18, 2018 Kim Morris

Darrell Grant will make his debut as a classical solo piano composer next week when the British phenom Isata Kanneh-Mason plays his piece Darker Angels during her residency with Portland Piano International.

Composer Darrell Grant Takes Home Regional Emmy for Jazz Town

June 7, 2017 Kim Morris

Portland, Oregon-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator Darrell Grant added another feather to his cap Saturday, June 3 when the recipients were announced for the 2017 Northwest Regional Emmy® Awards in Seattle, Washington. Grant was recognized in the Musical Composition/Arrangement category for his composition in Oregon Public Broadcasting’s (OPB’s) Oregon Experience special “JazzTown” Portland’s Golden Jazz Age.

Darrell Grant Leads All-Star Jazz Band at Unitarian Universalist General Assembly to Honor History of Desegregation

May 30, 2017 Kim Morris

Tracing the historic steps of six-year-old Ruby Bridges to desegregate public schools in New Orleans in 1960, composer Darrell Grant’s “Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite” for jazz ensemble and choir makes its Gulf Coast premiere June 22 at 10 pm at New Orleans’ Ernest N. Morial Convention Center as part of the 2017 Unitarian Universalist General Assembly. Grant, who will appear on piano and keyboard will be joined by music director Reverend Jason Shelton of First Unitarian Universalist Church of Nashville who also wrote the choral arrangements for the piece. Shelton and Grant have assembled an all-star cast of talent for the concert: drummer Brian Blade, saxophonist Rahsaan Barber, bassist Clark Sommers, cellist Cremaine “That Cello Guy” Booker, vocalist Marilyn T. Keller, and guitarist Davy Mooney to be backed by the choirs of First UU of Nashville and All Souls of Washington DC (led by Jen Hayman), totalling more than sixty voices, with Tony "Majic" Jackson narrating.The concert, which takes place at the convention center’s Great Hall, is free and open to the public. Complete details of the General Assembly can be found here.