By Brett Campbell
With dozens of commendably diverse shows covering emerging, established and legacy artists, including 30 headline concerts, the 2017 Biamp PDX Jazz Festival is, like jazz itself, too big for a listener to take it all in.
Related: 2017 PDX Jazz Festival reflects ‘vibrant’ local jazz scene
So we’ve broken this guide into two categories for different kinds of jazz listeners.
Portland Jazz Master Mel Brown also suggests listening to Portland’s first rate-jazz station, KMHD, or the nonprofit community radio station KBOO (90.7) to learn about more jazz you might want to check out in person — always the best way to experience this in-the-moment music.
Jazz for Newbies
If you’re jazz-curious or new to the music, PDX Jazz’s executive artistic director, Don Lucoff, suggests checking out multi-Grammy Award-winning composer-bandleader Maria Schneider’s Feb. 17 show with her regular sextet.
“Her music comes out of a wellspring of (legendary jazz arranger) Gil Evans and out of her home state of Minnesota: pastoral, impressionistic, approachable,” Lucoff says. “People will come away with a real optimistic feeling.”
Lucoff also recommends the Feb. 19 Yellowjackets show with guest guitarist Mike Stern, whose “fire and juice and melodicism” might especially appeal to pop and rock fans.
Yellowjackets Live at Java Jazz Festival 2016
The Heath Brothers’ straightahead, funky Feb. 18 set, featuring 91-year-old saxophonist Jimmy Heath and drummer Tootie Heath, offers a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear the renowned siblings, who between them have performed with practically all of post-World War II jazz’s biggest names — Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Herbie Hancock and dozens more. The show is double-billed with Javon Jackson’s popular Sax Appeal band.
Guitarist John Scofield’s Feb. 24 show offers a quite different sound — reimagining country music classics from Dolly Parton to Shania Twain — than the sideman’s many earlier festival appearances.
Portland Jazz Master Mel Brown’s Feb. 22 big band show, featuring trumpeter Jon Faddis, pays tribute to Faddis’ mentor, Dizzy Gillespie, while Brown’s opening act reassembles most of his original Jimmy Mak’s house septet.
Roy Ayers’ Feb. 23 concert brings the funk/soul vibes pioneer, whose music has been sampled in more hip-hop songs than any other. Local funk-soul ensemble Farnell Newton & The Othership Connection opens.
Roy Ayers – Liquid Love
Jazz for Nerds
For experienced jazz fans looking to expand their horizons, Lucoff suggests emerging stars and musicians’ musicians not as widely known as they should be.
Drummer Ralph Peterson’s late show with TriAngular on Feb. 17 brings a veteran who’s played with everyone from Art Blakey to the Marsalis brothers.
Ralph Peterson Trio with The Curtis Brothers Perform Backgammon
Solo pianists Amina Claudine Myers (Feb. 19) and Bill Mays (Feb. 23), one just emerging, the other long acclaimed, highlight the piano concerts at Classic Pianos.
Award-winning keyboard master Craig Taborn’s quartet features terrific players like The Bad Plus’ Dave King and saxophonist Chris Speed performing Feb. 23.
The Aaron Parks Trio’s Feb. 24 show offers the opportunity to see both a rising Northwest jazz pianist, Parks, and an ageless, versatile drummer, Billy Hart.
Classical/world music fans will want to hear the Feb. 21 solo set by Ralph Towner, the pioneering acoustic guitarist and University of Oregon alum who founded the global jazz band named after his home state of Oregon. He’s double-billed with cello/piano duo Anja Lechner and Francois Couturier.
For a heavier, bluesier electric guitar sound, try James “Blood” Ulmer’s Feb. 19 solo set.
James Blood Ulmer solo live @ Skopje Jazz Festival 2015
No matter how much jazz you do or don’t know, take the festival’s once-a-year chance to break out of your comfort zone. Try names you don’t recognize, and be sure to catch some of the free or low-cost shows featuring local acts who enrich our city’s enviable jazz scene year-round.
–Brett Campbell, for The Oregonian/OregonLive
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PDX Jazz Festival
When: Feb. 16-25
Where: Various locations, including Newmark and Winningstad theatres, 1111 S.W. Broadway; The 1905, 830 N. Shaver St.; Classic Pianos, 3003 S.E. Milwaukie Ave.; Revolution Hall, 1300 S.E. Stark St.; Fremont Theater, 2393 N.E. Fremont St.; Al’s Den, 303 S.W. 12th Ave.; The Old Church, 1422 S.W. 11th Ave.; and more.
Tickets: Tickets start at $20 for individual concerts (no festival passes); pdxjazz.com or 503-228-5299
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