Our Mission
The Portland Jazz Festival's mission is to promote jazz in the Pacific Northwest. The Portland Jazz Festival is an annual, multi-venue series of jazz events presented each February within the downtown area of Portland, Oregon. The Festival is dedicated to furthering jazz as America’s most indigenous art form by presenting contemporary jazz masters in a concert setting; nurturing local jazz musicians presented within intimate, free performances; and celebrating February as Black History Month with a series of jazz education and outreach programs that extend into Portland’s schools and community centers. The Portland Jazz Festival is a celebration of jazz, Black History Month, and the City of Portland. Throughout the Festival schedule, Friday, February 16 through Sunday, February 25, there will be dozens of ways to experience jazz, through performances, lectures, films and exhibitions.
In its brief five year history, key Portland Jazz Festival events include:
- 2004. In its first year, Portland Jazz Festival was awarded the Portland Oregon Visitors Association’s President’s Award in acknowledgement of its innovation in cultural tourism.
- 2005. Presented the North American premiere of Andy Narell & Calypsociation, a Paris based 16-piece steel drum orchestra on February 19 which was recorded by National Public Radio (NPR) and will be broadcast to over 100 affiliates throughout North America, April 2005.
- 2006. Coordinated NOLA 2 PDX in partnership with Azumano Travel and Mercy Corps. After Hurricane Katrina in September 2005, NOLA2PDX provided travel, housing, donated instruments and work opportunities to musicians from New Orleans.
- 2007. Produced Crystal Silence: The History of ECM Records, a series of lectures, panel discussions, Jazz Conversations, and performances featuring Chick Corea & Gary Burton, Charles Lloyd, and the North American premier of the Trygve Seim ensemble.