News

Portland's Latin Jazz Champion Nick Gefroh - Montavilla Jazz

Marcia K. Hocker — Tue, 05 Aug 2025 10:00:52 GMT

Montavilla Jazz’s 2025 Nick Fish Jazz Community Awardee

Nick Gefroh has been a prevailing presence in our beloved community since high school, playing drums with the Journal Junior Traveling Troupe. Feasting on the music of Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Lester Young, and Oscar Peterson at Jazz at the Philharmonic here in Portland, secured his passion for Jazz. It was during high school that Nick and Jim Pepper were introduced by their parents. Pretty much inseparable for the next several years, they frequented the jazz clubs up and down Williams Avenue, where Nick said, “We really learned to play.” He was always attracted to Latin music, listening to Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, and Cal Tjader. His move with Pepper to New York City in the 60s exposed him to even more. Rooming with Puerto Rican musicians, he was immersed in live Latin music while also hanging with Larry Coryell, Bob Moses, and Richie Havens.

After returning to Portland in the 70s, Nick is credited with starting the first Latin Jazz band in Portland, Pa’lante, which means “Straight Ahead! Onward!” Pa’lante’s first gig opened for Mongo Santamaria at Key Largo, then for Tito Puente at the World Music Festival. The Nick and Molly show on KBOO, with a wide range of Latin music, ran for 30 years while also hosting Monday Night Descarga on KMHD for many years. Now, alternating on Wednesdays, Nick partners from noon to 2 pm with his daughter, jazz singer Anandi, on KBOO to present Jazz Lives! Nick is featured in Salsa Music in the Pacific NW: A Collective Memoir by Oswaldo Lucca.

Read more about the Nick Fish Jazz Community Award here.

For the love of jazz: Commissioner Nick Fish's lasting legacy – By Marcia K. Hocker - Montavilla Jazz

Neil Mattson — Wed, 09 Aug 2023 10:33:47 GMT

The late Commissioner Nick Fish said, “I have always believed that government can be society’s greatest force for good and that together we can do amazing things. As a member of the Council, I have insisted that the whole can be greater than the sum of its parts, and I have focused on partnership, collaboration and shared success. We can rise to this occasion and embrace inclusivity, sustainability and shared prosperity for all.”

Nick won many awards during his twelve years on the Portland City Council including three from the arts community. They include the Angel Award from White Bird, the Community Partner Award from Metropolitan Youth Symphony and the McClendon Makarounis Award for Jazz Advocacy from PDX Jazz. He raised funds for and attended the Mount Hood Jazz Festival, PDX Jazz Festival, and Montavilla Jazz Festival in addition to Jazz concerts in Portland parks even though his demanding schedule often only allowed him to attend one or two sets.

Recognizing that he was a champion for the Jazz community, he was given the title of “Portland’s Jazz Commissioner” by veteran Jazz Radio Host, Marcia Hocker. She was convinced to do so after he spontaneously joined her Monday 6-8pm show during one of KMHD’s membership drives. At that time, they were then located at Mt. Hood Community College. Nick told his wife, Portland State University Professor Patricia Schechter that one of his special Jazz experiences was “spending deejay time with Marcia on her program.” Nick revealed that he fell in love with Jazz when he heard the iconic Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson during a visit to Ireland.”

The United Nations Education and Science Cultural Organization-UNESCO, believes the culture of Jazz breaks down barriers and creates opportunities for mutual understanding and tolerance. It is a vector for freedom of expression, unity and peace while reducing tensions between individuals, groups and communities. Jazz fosters gender equality encouraging artistic innovation and improvisation while empowering young people from marginalized communities.

In alignment with these values, the mission of Montavilla Jazz, a nonprofit 501©3 organization, is to support and strengthen local music culture and enrich our community by showcasing the best of Portland talent.

In recognition of the enormous, enthusiastic contribution from Nick Fish, the Montavilla Jazz Festival will present, for the first time, the Nick Fish Jazz Community Award to Ron Steen in celebration of their tenth anniversary. This will take place on Saturday, September 2, 2023, at the Alberta Rose Theatre.

Submitted by: Marcia K. Hocker, a Montavilla Jazz Board Member and radio host currently on KBOO Community Radio 90.7 FM with Jazz Lives! which airs on alternate Wednesdays from 12:08-2 PM. George E. Hocker, Jr. was the Public Advocate for Commissioner Fish for six and a half years.

Two jazz organizations explore the cultural, civic, and ecological history of Mt Tabor Park in Views of an Urban Volcano - Montavilla Jazz

Neil Mattson — Thu, 09 Feb 2023 09:00:52 GMT

; 713-854-6162

Two jazz organizations explore the cultural, civic, and ecological history of Mt Tabor Park in Views of an Urban Volcano

(Portland, OR) — Montavilla Jazz and Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble are opening up a community-guided creative process to the public as three composers craft new music inspired by Mt. Tabor Park and the stories that surround it. Three public events for Views of an Urban Volcano will take place Sunday, March 5th at 2 pm Oregon Historical Society; Saturday, March 18th at 4 pm at Taborspace’s Copeland Commons; and Saturday, April 15th at 10:30 am at Mt. Tabor Park, inviting participants to learn more about Mt. Tabor’s history in relationship to marginalized communities past and present and its significance as a greenspace in the city.

Three composers that are currently being selected through panel review will attend each of these community events to build a shared understanding of this iconic park’s role in the city. Their new works for the 12-member Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE) will be presented as part of the 2023 Montavilla Jazz Festival in a free, public concert at Mt. Tabor Park on September 1, 2023. The concert represents the culmination of 10 years of partnership between Montavilla Jazz and PJCE. 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.

Community Event Details:

Views of an Urban Volcano: A discussion on Mt. Tabor Park
March 5th, 2023, 2–3:30 pm at Oregon Historical Society *FREE*
1200 SW Park Ave. Portland, OR 97205
(503) 222-1741
Find more information and RSVP here.
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 *FREE*
5441 SE Belmont St, Portland, OR 97215
(503) 954-2610
Find more information and RSVP here.
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 *FREE*
SE Salmon Way and, SE Park Dr, Portland, OR 97215 Map
Find more information and RSVP here.
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.

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March 5th Event Speaker Bios:

David Harrelson is the Cultural Resources Department manager for The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde where he is also a tribal member. David is active in his community and currently serves as an Oregon Arts Commissioner. Working for over ten years in the field of Cultural Resources, David has championed the protection of archaeology sites, maintenance of ancestral lifeways, and proliferation of indigenous art forms throughout his Tribe’s homelands in Western Oregon.

Dr. Darrell Millner graduated in 1975 from the University of Oregon with a doctorate in Education and was then hired by Portland State University to teach Afro-American Literature and History in the Black Studies Department. Dr. Millner served as Department Chair of Black Studies from 1984-1995, and is currently Professor Emeritus and continues to teach as an adjunct faculty member in the department. He serves on numerous local, regional, and national boards and organizations. Dr. Millner is an expert on the history of African-Americans in the western movement with a special focus on the Oregon and California trail experiences, early Oregon and California black history, and the history of the Black Buffalo soldiers in the Indian wars.

Hap Pritchard and his wife moved to the Portland area in 2004 to be close to their two children and their grandchildren. The move coincided with his retirement from a career at the EPA and a final three-year stint at the Danish National Environmental Research Laboratory where he was a senior research fellow.

Dr. Marie Rose Wong is a Professor Emerita with the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University. Wong’s research investigates urban planning and policy, housing, and land use with a focus on Asian American settlements. Her presentations and publications center on Asian American history and urban development that include several articles, a book on Portland, Oregon’s first Chinese communities entitled Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: The Chinatowns of Portland, Oregon (2004, 2012), and the history of Seattle’s Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino settlement entitled Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels (2018). She is currently working on book projects that chronicle the histories of Seattle’s Japanese American community baseball, and Seattle’s Luck Ngi Chinese Music Club.

About Montavilla Jazz: Montavilla Jazz is a nonprofit community organization that engages an inclusive cross-section of musicians, collaborative artists, students, music lovers, neighbors, and businesses, promoting forward-thinking artistry and offering platforms for risk-taking, experimentation, and the creation of new works, adding to the diversity and strength of our community.

About PJCE: Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create original jazz music that engages and supports our community’s diverse artists, cultures, and place. In operation since 2008, PJCE is the only organization dedicated to commissioning and performing original music by Portland musicians, building a broad audience through unique, collaborative and community-oriented programming that builds bridges between communities in this vibrant city.

Montavilla Jazz premiers collaborative film and live concerts for 8th annual festival on August 20–22 - Montavilla Jazz

Neil Mattson — Mon, 12 Jul 2021 06:48:31 GMT

Press assets available here: LINK

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Montavilla Jazz premiers collaborative film and live concerts by local artists at the organization’s 8th annual festival on August 20–22

Montavilla Jazz Festival returns as a 3-day hybrid event featuring live-streamed concerts by local artists, and the world premiere of Call + Response: A collaborative film project pairing local jazz composers and filmmakers.

PORTLAND, OR—If local icons like Mel Brown, Tom Grant, Nancy King, David Friesen, Ron Steen, and Leroy Vinegar ushered in a resurgence of jazz in Portland that blossomed in the 1980’s, a new group of influential artists were handed the torch in the new millenium. One of the most influential of those artists in Portland over the past decade and a half, Farnell Newton, will headline the 8th Annual Montavilla Jazz Festival running August 20–22 live-streamed from Portland Metro Arts and screened for in-person viewing at select locations in Montavilla and around Portland. For the first time ever the Montavilla Jazz Festival is entirely FREE. This year’s festival is bolstered by the world-premiere and repeated screenings of a new music-meets-film project, Call + Response, presented in collaboration with Portland Art Museum, Open Signal and Mobile Projection Unit. Festival information can be found at https://montavillajazz.org/.

Events include:

Friday, August 20, 2021 9PM: Montavilla Jazz Film Night: Call + Response plus Blue Cranes film premieres screening outdoors at Portland Art Museum Courtyard
Saturday, August 21, 2021 4PM: Ryan Meagher: AftEarth
Saturday, August 21, 2021 7PM: Rebecca Sanborn
Sunday, August 22, 2021 4PM: George Colligan: Fredson the Jeffy
Sunday, August 22, 2021 7PM: Farnell Newton Quintet

Our four musical sets will be live-streamed, with limited in-person tickets available, details TBA:

Farnell Newton Quintet – Sunday, August 22, 2021 7PM – FREE
Newton performs music off “Rippin’ & Runnin’” his second leader album for Posi-Tone Records. Personnel: Farnell Newton, trumpet and compositions; Kyle Molitor, trombone; George Colligan, organ; Ryan Meagher, guitar; Andres Moreno, drums.

Rebecca Sanborn – Saturday, August 21, 2021 7PM – FREE
Sanborn explores new material supported by long time mentor pianist Randy Porter and fellow Blue Cranes drummer Ji Tanzer and bassist Jon Shaw. Personnel: Rebecca Sanborn, voice and compositions; Randy Porter, piano; Jon Shaw, bass; Ji Tanzer, drums.

George Colligan: Fredson the Jeffy – Sunday, August 22, 2021 4PM – FREE
Colligan presents original works mixing 20th century European classical techniques with jazz and improvisation in a unique collaborative and genre defying set. Personnel: George Colligan, piano and compositions; Lisa Lipton, clarinet; Micah Hummel, drums.

Ryan Meagher: AftEarth – Saturday, August 21, 2021 4PM – FREE
Meagher writes music inspired by the line-art of visual artist Tina Granzo resulting in a collaborative exploration of the world we live in now and the world we will leave future generations. Personnel: Ryan Meagher guitar and compositions; Tim Willcox, tenor saxophone; Andrew Jones, bass; Charlie Doggett, drums; Tina Granzo drawings and animation.

Montavilla Jazz Film Night: Call + Response plus Blue Cranes film premieres August 20, 2021 9PM – FREE outdoor screening by Mobile Projection Unit at Portland Art Museum Courtyard

Montavilla Jazz presents: Call + Response is a collaborative effort pairing three local jazz artists with three local filmmakers. In early 2021, musicians Micah Hummel, Noah Simpson, and Idit Shner, each composed, performed, and recorded seven to ten minutes of original music. Filmmakers Jeff Oliver, Shilpa Sunthakar, and Deejuliano Scott responded with visual “scores” with access to production facilities and the Independent Filmmaker Kit provided by project partner Open Signal. The result: three entirely original short works of art-music-film. The shorts will premiere at an outdoor screening produced by Mobile Projection Unit at Montavilla Jazz Film Night at the Portland Art Museum’s courtyard (1219 SW Park Ave, Portland, OR) on Friday, August 20 at 9PM. The event will also include world-premiere screenings of Portland post-jazz quintet Blue Cranes’s music-films from their upcoming VOICES album produced by filmmakers Sarah Whelden, Rachel Blumberg, and Jim Bashfield.

Call + Response will also be available for viewing following the live-streamed Festival performances Saturday and Sunday.

The Call + Response shorts include:

The Beast of Torpor with music by Micah Hummel and film by Jeff Oliver
A Day in Color with music by Noah Simpson and film by Shilpa Sunthankar
Last Signs of June with music by Idit Shner and film by Deejuliano Scott

Contact:

For more information, please visit montavillajazz.org and www.facebook.com/montavillajazz.

About Montavilla Jazz: The mission of Montavilla Jazz is to support and strengthen local music culture and enrich our community by showcasing the best of Portland jazz. Montavilla Jazz is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

About the Artists:
Montavilla Jazz Festival ‘21 Headliner Farnell Newton is one of the most versatile musicians & educators in the Northwest, playing straight ahead jazz, smooth jazz, Latin music, soul, hip hop, funk and more. When he is not working as marketing coordinator at Marmoset, trumpeter for Portland Cello Project, creator of Funklandia, producer and trumpeter #LofiJazzSoul (Lo-fi Hip-Hip), and jazz trumpeter at Posi-tone Records, he is touring, recording, and sharing the stage with Skerik, Lettuce, Slightly Stoopid, Karl Denson, Galactic, Nigel Hall, sax man Mike Phillips, the Doo Doo Funk All-Stars, and many more. In the last few years, Farnell has been touring with three-time Grammy winning singer/songwriter Jill Scott and with the Legendary rhinestone rock-star bassist Bootsy Collins. In previous years, Farnell has performed with musical artists including Lalah Hathaway, Ron Isley, R. Kelly, Cee Lo Green, Fantasia, Gladys Knight, Charlie Wilson, Chaka Khan, Najee, Will Downing, Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind and Fire and many more.

Rebecca Sanborn began writing songs at six, starting an early pattern of creative straying from sheet music. The love affair with stories and music continued and at eighteen, she left her native Portland to study at the Contemporary Music Program at The College of Santa Fe, in New Mexico. Upon returning to the Northwest, Rebecca met her husband and musical partner, drummer Ji Tanzer. They are both members of the adventurous jazz quintet, Blue Cranes, the art pop trio Swansea, and Portland’s veteran indie group Loch Lomond. Rebecca also plays in the all-female, cape-wearing, fog-machine-loving synth trio, Eccoh Eccoh Eccoh with Kyleen King and Jenny Conlee-Drizos. When she is not playing music or teaching, she can be found chasing after her disco-obsessed three-year-old daughter or trying to get some sleep.

George Colligan is one of the great jazz pianists of his generation, earning an international reputation as multi-instrumentalist (drums, trumpet, organ, keyboards), composer, accompanist, teacher, bandleader, and blogger (jazztruth.blogspot.com). Winner of the 2015 DownBeat magazine Critics Poll (Keyboard), Colligan has had a long association with living jazz legend Jack DeJohnette; his recent tour took Colligan around the U.S. with An Evening with Jack DeJohnette and Savion Glover. He also toured the US and Canada as a leader with his trio featuring legends Buster Williams and Lenny White. With over 130 albums to date as an accompanist, Colligan has worked with a long list of jazz greats, including John Scofield, Buster Williams, Cassandra Wilson, Don Byron, Ravi Coltrane, and many others. Colligan, a New York resident for 15 years, now lives in Portland, Oregon where he is an associate professor at Portland State University. He recently won the PSU College of The Arts Dean’s Council Award for Research, Scholarship and Creativity in 2020, and also won the Researcher of the Year Award from the PSU College Of The Arts in 2021. His latest album, Theoretical Planets: Long Term Goals (PJCE Records), is his 34th as a bandleader and features PSU faculty and alumni.

Ryan Meagher (pronounced Marr) is a jazz guitarist and composer who grew up in San Jose, California. Perhaps best-known for his compositional acumen, he is also well-known for his flexibility and range as guitarist. He is truly in his own space when exploring thought-provoking original material with exciting and sensitive collaborators. While living in New York, Meagher launched his debut album, Sun Resounding, which announced his arrival on the modern jazz scene. After the release of his second album, Atroefy, on Fresh Sound New Talent Records, Meagher relocated to Reno, Nevada in pursuit of his master of music degree from the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). His third album, Tone, recorded in NYC in between semesters at UNR, received international critical acclaim. After completing his masters degree, Meagher relocated to Portland, Oregon where he quickly became a recognizable force in the creative music community. Meagher’s fourth album, Tango In the City of Roses, was released shortly after his move to Portland, and ever since he has been instrumental in expanding the local jazz scene. Meagher is a co-founder and the programming director of the Montavilla Jazz Festival. He is the director of operations for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE), the director of PJCE Records, was previously the editor of the Jazzscene Magazine, and teaches at a number of institutions in the Portland metropolitan area. His fifth album, Mist. Moss. Home., was released in 2016 on PJCE Records. His two most recent albums, Lost Days, and Evil Twin were both released in 2018.

Call + Response featured artists:
Portland, Oregon-based drummer, composer, and educator Micah Hummel has established himself as an essential player in the creative music scene in the Pacific Northwest. After moving to Portland in 2013, he has become a first-call collaborator with artists including George Colligan, Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, Barra Brown, Machado Mijiga, Moorea Masa, Coco Columbia and others. Honing his craft throughout the last decade, he is known for his specialty in cross-genre sounds and contemporary jazz. He has performed in venues from Toronto and Beijing to Amsterdam, Berlin, and Vienna. He regularly performs with local projects including Sama Dams, Integer, and the Micah Hummel/Alex Mltzer Duo. Hummel is endorsed by Canopus Drums and Sunhouse Technologies.

Jeff Oliver is a media educator, filmmaker, writer, and former stand-up comedian. He has appeared at the Bridgetown Comedy Festival, on NPR’s Tell Me More, and once as a question on Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me. Since 2012, he has been a teaching artist using PBL (Project Based Learning) to create short films with youth. In the Portland area, he has worked with: Open Signal, The Hollywood Theatre, Portland Center Stage, OMSI, Open School North, The Emerson School, Art4Life, and at MacLaren Youth Correctional Facility in Woodburn. He spent seven summers teaching at Buck’s Rock Performing & Creative Arts Camp in New Milford, Connecticut. His documentary about the camp, A Summer To Discover, premiered in 2017. He is currently in pre-production for Redline, a Black horror film about gentrification.

Pacific Northwest performer, composer, and forward-thinking improviser Noah Simpson’s approach to the trumpet is modern, energetic, dynamic, and attentive. Early in his career, he performed in The Young Sounds of Arizona, The Paradise Valley Community College Monday Night Big Band, and many Scottsdale Community College combos. Later he attended Portland State University, studying with his mentors George Colligan and Darrell Grant. Simpson has worked with George Benson, Lewis Nash, Bernard Purdie, Alex Acuna, Ralph Peterson III, Jaleel Shaw, Sean Jones, and Dennis Rowland. He has toured the US with Ron Artis II, Climbing Poetree, The Polyphonic Spree, and Dirty Revival and has performed at The Nash, The 1905, Montavilla Jazz Festival, PDX Jazz Festival, Jack London Review, and the Creative Music Guild Outset Series. His recent work includes a feature on Barra Brown’s new single release, NOAH, and arranger credit on the PDX Jazz educational presentation, The American Refrain: Jazz and Modern Music.

Shilpa Sunthankar is a screenwriter, director, and producer with an affinity for stories about different cultures in coexistence, thanks to her background as an Indian-American woman raised in the “cowboy country” of Colorado. She graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts after interning for BBC London and attending the 35mm Filmmaking Master Class at FAMU in Prague. Her recent short film, Working Lunch (2018), inspired by the proliferation of hate graffiti after the 2016 US presidential election, premiered at the Toronto South Asian Film Festival and received a Regional Arts & Culture Council project grant. Her other short films, The Company of Thieves (2011) and Biography of an American Hostess (2004), have won awards including “Best Director” at the Los Angeles FirstGlance Film Festival, and have been licensed by the ShortsHD Channel, IndieFlix, and the CBC. Her feature script Seeta’s Demon (in production) was showcased at the C3 Conference at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific American Film Festival. She was awarded the SAGindie Fellowship to attend the 2019 Stowe Story Lab for developing her first feature film, Continental Divide, an outdoor thriller taking place on the US-Mexico border.

An active performer of both jazz and classical music, Idit Shner has performed at The Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center as well as The Diet Coke Woman in Jazz Festival (New York), the Belleayre Festival (New York), and the New Trier Jazz Festival (Illinois). Currently she performs and records with her quartet in Eugene and Portland, Oregon. Her debut jazz release, Tuesday’s Blues featuring nursery melodies from Jewish liturgy received critical acclaim from JazzTimes, All Music Guide, and Jazz Review. Her latest jazz release, 9 Short Stories, earned a 4-star review in Downbeat Magazine. As a classical saxophonist, she has commissioned and recorded new music and performed solo recitals in the US and Israel. Her third release, Le Merle Noir, featuring music by Messiaen, Bozza, Partos, and Glass, was released on Origin Classics in August 2013. Her recording, FISSURES: 20th Century Music for saxophone and Harp with renowned harpist Yumiko Schlaffer, was played on NPR’s All Things Considered. Her latest classical release is entitled MINERVA.

Deejuliano Scott is a self-taught filmmaker, editor, and producer based in Portland, Oregon. He manages Desert Island Studios, a film and photo studio that supports underserved members of the Portland arts community. His film credits include production work on Love, Cheryl (2018), film editor of the short film L’Ortolan (2020)–winner of “Most Original Concept” at the 2020 Portland Short Fest, film editor of the documentary Staying Connected (2021), and uncredited assistant editor on The Speed Cubers (2020) which made the Oscar Shortlist in 2021. Scott won “Best Editor” for the short film Vent (2020) at the Asian American Film Lab 72-Hour Shootout.

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