Tag: Montavilla Jazz

Community, Event

10th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival

Tonight, supporters of the music community will gather for the 10th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival Season Reveal Fundraiser at two venues. Proceeds from the event will help fund this milestone jazz festival. Attendees will begin inside Flattop & Salamander at 6:00 p.m. and conclude the event at 9 p.m., two blocks away inside Strum PDX. The festivities will include live jazz, soul food, and musical “surprises” to celebrate a decade of hi-lighting Portland’s rich musical community.

Starting Monday, May 22nd, tickets will go on sale for the yearly three-day musical event. This season’s Montavilla Jazz Festival spans five venues and features 11 concerts showcasing Portland’s renowned jazz musicians. The festival begins with a world premiere of Views of an Urban Volcano, a three-part commission inspired by Portland’s Mt. Tabor. That project features a 12-member Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble and includes new works influenced by a series of community input events. Performances run from September 1st through the 3rd, with two concerts live-streamed for those who can not attend in person. Montavilla Jazz leaders will announce the full lineup on Saturday, May 20th, at Montavilla Jazz’s Season Reveal Fundraiser. Event organizers will post more information about the event on montavillajazz.org starting Monday.

Alan Jones – Photo by Kathryn Elsesser and provided courtesy Montavilla Jazz.

September’s Montavilla Jazz Venues include:
Mt. Tabor Park Caldera Amphitheater
Alberta Rose Theatre (3000 NE Alberta Street)
Portland Metro Arts (9003 SE Stark Street) – Live Streamed and in-person
The 1905 (830 N Shaver Street) – Live Streamed and in-person

By

Jacob Loeb

Community, Entertainment, Event

Free Public Events Focused on Mt. Tabor Park

Beginning in March, Montavilla Jazz and Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE) will host informative events revealing Mt. Tabor’s history in relationship to marginalized communities and examining its current influence. Three composers will use these events to create new musical works performed at the 2023 Montavilla Jazz Festival’s free public concert held in Mt. Tabor Park on September 1st, 2023. The three-part series is titled Views of an Urban Volcano and is free to attend with advanced registration.

Views of an Urban Volcano will take place Sunday, March 5th, at 2 p.m. at the Oregon Historical Society, Saturday, March 18th, at 4 p.m. at Taborspace’s Copeland Commons, and Saturday, April 15th, at 10:30 a.m. in Mt. Tabor Park. The composers, currently being selected through a panel review process, will attend each event to build a shared understanding of this iconic park’s role in the city. They will use those experiences to craft musical pieces that the 12-member PJCE group performs at the 10th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival. Community participation is needed to feed this creative process. The organizers encourage people to register now to reserve free tickets to the events.

Views of an Urban Volcano: A discussion on Mt. Tabor Park
March 5th, 2023, 2–3:30 pm at Oregon Historical Society
1200 SW Park Avenue

The event features a panel discussion on the history and impacts of Mt. Tabor Park from the perspectives of Portland’s Chinese, Black, and Indigenous communities from 1896–2020. Light refreshments will be available. Panelists include Hap Pritchard, Board Member, Friends of Mt. Tabor Park; David Harrelson, Cultural Resources Department manager and member of The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde; Darrell Millner, Professor Emeritus of Black Studies at Portland State University; and Dr. Marie Wong, Professor Emerita, Seattle University Institute of Public Service, Asian Studies, and Public Affairs.

Views of an Urban Volcano: Community Forum
March 18th, 2023, 4–5 pm at Taborspace’s Copeland Commons
5441 SE Belmont Street

An open forum for lovers of Mt. Tabor Park to share their own stories about its significance with the composers. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet the selected composers and project leads and contribute to the community-driven creative process.

Views of an Urban Volcano: Guided Tour of Mt. Tabor Park
April 15, 2023, at 10:30 am at Mt. Tabor Park Visitor Center
SE Salmon Way and SE Park Drive

Led by Friends of Mt Tabor Park, this 90-minute guided tour of the park will begin at the Mt. Tabor Visitor Center and highlight historical and cultural points of interest and the park’s impressive vistas. Participants should dress for the weather and bring their questions.

Views of an Urban Volcano is presented in partnership with Friends of Mt. Tabor Park and the Oregon Historical Society with support from Oregon Cultural Trust and Regional Arts and Culture Council.

By

Jacob Loeb

Community, Event

Residents Invited to May 26th Vestal Event

Later this month, Montavilla’s Vestal Elementary School will host its annual Social Justice Night. Starting at 4:30 p.m. on May 26th, Students and professional artists will showcase their work featuring collaborative artistic creations focused on community diversity and family identity. These themes represent two of Vestal’s five pillars of social justice. Organizers anticipate that this evening full of art, food, music, and community will strengthen the school’s role as a hub within this diverse neighborhood.

Funded in 2022 by a Metro’s Community Placemaking grant, with collaboration from PSU’s Artist as Citizen Initiative and arts nonprofit Montavilla Jazz, Vestal Elementary expects to expand programming for the yearly event. A welcoming dinner will occur before the performance at The Yard food carts, located directly across from the school, with complimentary meals coordinated with support from Samira Mohamed, owner of Mira’s East African Cuisine.

Before the event, the Artist as Citizen Initiative will lead PSU Capstone students and Vestal 4th graders in projects designed to build artistic skills in storytelling, interviewing, and creativity. All works center on community diversity and family identity, using information gathered in interviews with fellow students and community members. The artists will display their student-led social justice exhibits at the May event.

Located outdoors on the playground and inside the gymnasium at 161 NE 82nd Avenue, the Social Justice Night will include performances by renowned jazz musicians, including Grammy award-winning trombonist Denzel Mendoza. He is joined by Machado Mijiga, saxophonist Mary-Sue Tobin, and other performers and educators from the community.

For those who can not attend in person, PSU students will create a multipart podcast documentary featuring themes from the evening. PSU’s Sonic Arts and Music Production (SAMP) students and Friends of Noise will utilize field recordings captured during the creative phase of the project and at the May 26th event. Montavilla Jazz will distribute the podcast on montavillajazz.org, in addition to broadcasts on local radio stations.

Vestal community members, partners, and neighborhood residents are all invited to attend. Come hungry for food, music, and artistic expression.

By

Jacob Loeb

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