Photos are available. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Portland’s most adventurous jazz festival enters its second decade with a three-day village-style celebration of local, world-class artistry with more than 30 concerts and events across 12 venues. 

PORTLAND, Ore.—With more than twice the number of performances than the previous year, the 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival will run August 30–September 1, 2024, with concerts across the city. The festival lineup celebrates the rising stars and creative, forward-thinking artists connected to Portland with locally-raised and internationally-lauded saxophonist Nicole Glover bringing her trio to her hometown for the first time. On Sunday, September 1st, Glover’s group will perform selections from her latest release Plays. Saturday, August 31st, violinist, vocalist, and storyteller, Joe Kye journeys through lineage and emotion in collaboration with Seattle’s Civic Poet, Shin Yu Pai. The festival’s geographic footprint continues to expand with the number of concerts, and this year features a nexus of activity in the heart of Montavilla. 

The twenty-nine East Portland neighborhood events include free concerts and conversations in the plaza in collaboration with SoundsTruckNW, a co-presentation with the Driveway Jazz series, performances at Portland Metro Arts and Beer Brats & Beats, DJ sets at multiple establishments, three student stages, and a return to Mt. Tabor Park’s Caldera Amphitheater for two free concerts on Friday, August 30th. Outside the neighborhood, listeners can venture to Alberta Rose Theatre to see the festival headliners, to The 1905 for three of Portland’s top pianists, and Strum for adventurous guitar-centered performances.

Montavilla Jazz Festival is the only Portland festival focused on the original music of the city’s jazz artists, and this year’s lineup is the first crafted by an artist-driven curation process. Montavilla Jazz Executive Director Neil Mattson shares, “We asked the artists to tell us what they would love to present but might not have been able to without support, and they dreamed big. Every year, we are astounded by the way these musicians take risks and innovate. This year, we’re excited to invest in even more artist-centered programming that represents a wide breadth of jazz’s creative spirit. It’s a great way to usher in Montavilla Jazz’s second decade.”

DATES:
Friday, August 30–September 1, 2024

VENUES: 

• Mt. Tabor Park Caldera Amphitheater 
• Portland Metro Arts (9003 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97216)
• Montavilla Plaza (SE 79th Ave. at SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97216)
• Beer Brats & Beats (8826 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97216)
• The 1905 (830 N Shaver St, Portland, OR 97227)
• Alberta Rose Theatre (3000 NE Alberta St, Portland, OR 97211)
• Strum (1415 SE Stark St #C, Portland, OR 97214)
• Driveway Jazz (1524 SE 51st Ave, Portland, OR 97215)
• Montavilla Brew Works (7805 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97215)
• Vino Veritas Wine Bar and Bottle Shop (7835 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97215)
• Threshold Brewing & Blending (403 SE 79th Ave, Portland, OR 97215)
• Beer Bunker (7918 SE Stark St, Portland, OR 97215)

TICKETS:
$5-45 per live concert with discounts for advance purchases, students, and Arts for All available for some concerts. On Sale Now: Alberta Rose Theatre single tickets & Portland Metro Arts single tickets. Discounted student tickets ($10) and Arts for All tickets ($5) are available.

Find ticket details and information at montavillajazz.org.

The 2024 Montavilla Jazz Festival events include:

• Nicole Glover Trio featuring Tyrone Allen and Kayvon Gordon
  Sunday, September 1, 8:00 PM – Alberta Rose Theatre – Tickets $5-45.
  Festival headliner Nicole Glover brings her trio to her hometown for the first time to perform selections from their latest release Plays. 
• Joe Kye’s The Well Sessions featuring Shin Yu Pai
  Saturday, August 31, 8:00 PM – Alberta Rose Theatre – Tickets $5-45.
  Joe Kye takes listeners on a transcendent personal journey, recollecting lineage and love through looping violins, vocals, and traditional Korean instruments interwoven with the poetry of Shin Yu Pai.
• Dan Balmer Trio featuring Gary Versace and Mark Ferber
  Saturday, August 31, 7:00 PM – Strum – Tickets $25-35, available soon.
  Dan Balmer performs music from his latest album When The Night which The New York Times called one of the best albums of 2023.
• Unearthing the Extraordinary: PJCE featuring Christopher Brown
  Friday, August 30, 7:30 PM – Mt. Tabor Park Caldera Amphitheater – FREE!
  Christopher Brown’s new compositions illuminate the extraordinary acts of leadership that have helped shape Portland as a city and a community and offer a guiding light for the challenges to come.
• Julana Torres’s La Colorá featuring Carmelo Torres
  Friday, August 30, 6:00 PM – Mt. Tabor Park Caldera Amphitheater – FREE!
  La Colorá is a fiery Latin Jazz ensemble presented by Julana and Carmelo Torres highlighting the rhythmic legacy of the Torres family.
• Jasnam Daya Singh Trio with String Quartet
  Saturday, August 31, 5:00 PM – Portland Metro Arts – Tickets $5-40.
  Latin Grammy-nominated Jasnam Daya Singh braids the traditions of jazz, classical, and traditional Brazilian music into a universal jazz language.
• Bryn Roberts Trio meets Justin Copeland
  Saturday, August 31, 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM – The 1905 – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  Bryn Roberts’s internationally traveled trio makes its Portland debut to celebrate its forthcoming album with special guest trumpeter Justin Copeland.
• Randy Porter Trio
  Friday, August 30, 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM – The 1905 – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  The Randy Porter Trio grooves with inventive harmony, sophistication, and a refined improvisational approach creating a wealth of sonic textures.
• Kerry Politzer Quartet
  Sunday, September 1, 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM – The 1905 – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  Pianist Kerry Politzer and her quartet perform music from her new release Ruminations.
• DaMiNo with filmmaker Devin Febbroriello
  Sunday, September 1, 2:00 PM – Portland Metro Arts – Tickets $5-40.
  Playing with conventions of sight, sound, and narrative structure, DaMiNo will be improvising to a film by Devin Febbroriello with an audio-reactive A/V element.
• Integer Quintet
  Sunday, September 1, 5:00 PM – Portland Metro Arts – Tickets $5-40.
  Integer Quintet is a brass-centric modern jazz ensemble focusing on melody, groove, and the fire of the creative spirit.
• DoubleDash
  Sunday, September 1, 4:00 PM – SoundsTruckNW @ the Montavilla Plaza –  FREE
  DoubleDash fuses elements of electronic music and jazz, seamlessly blending together medleys of original compositions and improvisations.
• Chris Shuttleworth Chicago Quartet
  Sunday, September 1, 10:00 PM – Beer Brats & Beats – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  With a sound born in Chicago’s jazz scene and grounded in an unabashed search for beauty and melody, this quartet bridges the Windy City and the Pacific Northwest, creating something unified that is both entirely fresh and completely approachable.
• Adriana Wagner Quartet
  Saturday, August 31, 4:00 PM – SoundsTruckNW @ the Montavilla Plaza – FREE
  Adriana Wagner presents her original compositions, playing with vulnerability and a dedication to the music that has no limits.
• Chris Lee Sextet
  Friday, August 30, 10:30 PM – Beer Brats & Beats – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  The Chris Lee Sextet will be performing music from their latest PJCE Records release Green In Grey.
• Pablo Rivarola Quartet
  Saturday, August 31, 10:00 PM – Beer Brats & Beats – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  Pablo Rivarola’s newest works eschew many of jazz’s conventional idioms in a personal dialog on loss, grief, and healing.
• Ross Garlow’s Big Water
  Saturday, August 31, 12:00 PM – SoundsTruckNW @ the Montavilla Plaza – FREE
  A musical dedication to Oregon’s great rivers, the importance of abundant fish migration, and protecting nature by giving land back.
• Sound Creation Trio
  Friday, August 30, 7:00 PM – Strum – Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  Sound Creation Trio plays daring original music that stretches from free jazz and post-rock to Americana and art pop and back again.
• Battle Hymns & Gardens + James Powers & Dan Duval
  Sunday, September 1, 7:00 PM – Strum –  Tickets $5-35, available soon.
  Battle Hymns & Gardens + James Powers & Dan Duval bridge a vibrant free-jazz sensibility with a landscape of moody, evocative compositions.
• The Blue Butler Big Band
  Saturday, August 31, 2:00 PM – Portland Metro Arts – Tickets $5-40.
  The Blue Butler Big Band’s composer’s collective was formed by Paris Blue Butler and Quinn Walker to express a range of sounds varying from the deep end of obscurity to more traditional jazz forms.
• Rivkah Ross Quartet
  Sunday, September 1, 12:00 PM – SoundsTruckNW @ the Montavilla Plaza – FREE
  The Rivkah Ross Quartet plays original jazz inspired by jazz giants like  Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, Kenny Barron, and Steve Swallow.
• Olivia Fields Quartet
  Friday, August 30, 4:00 PM – Driveway Jazz –  FREE
  The Olivia Fields Quartet is a group of some of Portland’s finest young musicians playing a curated set of original compositions.
• MJF Student Stages
  Friday, August 30–Sunday, September 1 – times & venues to be announced – FREE
  Breakout university students take center stage.

Additional events will continue to be announced. The festival lineup and schedule are available at https://montavillajazz.org/.  

Contact:

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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.

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