Lynn Darroch recently sat down with PJCE members to discuss their band and role in the community.
“Two Portland-based large ensembles will be on display during the Portland Jazz Festival. In addition to the festival’s resident big band, the Portland Jazz Orchestra, which will perform a “Blue Note Legends” concert on February 19, the Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble will present new work by local jazz composers on Tuesday, February 17, at the Old Church (7:30 pm, $12).
The Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble is a 14-piece group which performs original compositions by its members and other jazz composers in the Portland music community and beyond. The goal: to give them a platform for large-group composition and arrangement which is lacking in the city’s jazz scene.
Band members for the February show will be: Mike Hankins, Paul Mazzio, Tree Palmedo (trumpets); John Moak, Lars Campbell, Doug Peebles (trombones); Mary Sue Tobin, Gus Slayton, Willie Matheis, Mieke Bruggeman (saxophones); Andrew Oliver, piano, Kyle Williams, guitar, Bill Athens, bass, Kevin Van Geem, drums.
The concert — the group’s fifth — will feature new pieces by Sam Howard, Ken Ollis, Andrew Durkin (of the Industrial Jazz Group), Dan Duval, Reed Wallsmith, Andrew Oliver, Gus Slayton, Kyle Williams and Randy Rollofson.
We recently talked with co-directors Andrew Oliver and Gus Slayton about the band and its role in the jazz community.
This band is a representation of what’s going on in the younger local scene. There’s a lot of stuff going on in Portland. For people who are interested in the local scene, this is a fantastic window into it, because you get a wide range all at once.”