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February 15, 2 00 6
BLACK HISTORY MONTH and the American Experience
ALVIN
AILEY
AMERICAN DANCE THEATER
JUDITH JAMISON
artistic M U T H ,
■Time Our loutun
white i
ilations'
TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY
MARCH 14 & 1 5 , 7:30PM
ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL
Tickets: $19-$60 plus service fee. Discounts for students/seniors/groups.
PCPA Box Office and ticketmaster 503-790-2787.
www.whitebird.org
Portland’s Jazz
History Spotlighted
M iiit ii I C hyi hikmti aithtic in tern
"Wherever they go.Jhey
raise the reot.Jhe sheer joy
fleoUigg across the foatlighis
is irresistible."
Info./Groups:
503.245.1600 ext.201
*
Focus
„„„„„„„„„
conu criD cn
SPONSORED dv BY:
W ELLS
FARGO
Reed College celebrates
Black History Month 2006
Michael Eric Dyson
Lecture: “Come Hell or High Water”
7 P.M .
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 17
TICKETS ARE NO LONGER AVAILABLE.
From his forthcoming book, Dyson speaks
on what Hurricane Katrina revealed about
race and poverty in America.
Fan base
explodes with
hotspot clubs
R on W eber
Jumptown: The G olden Years of
Portland Jazz 1942-1957 (Oregon
State University Press, $24.95) tells
the story o f how African A m eri­
cans brought jazz to Portland and
how the city grew into a m ajor
hotspot for ja zz musicians.
O ver one-hundred years ago, in
1905, a handful o f black musicians
began playing jazz in the basement
o f th e G o ld e n W e st H o te l,
P ortland's prem ier hotel for A fri­
can Americans at the time. The hotel
stood on the com er o f N orthw est
Everett Street and Broadway.
In the very early 1880s, there
w ere ju st 52 perm anent black O r­
egon citizens, most residing near
the G olden W est and the train sta­
tion. A lthough it is now a low-
incom e housing unit, the hotel still
stands today.
In the early 20,h century, jazz was
slow ing gaining fans and a few
clubs popped up here and there.
But by the 1940s, Jazz w as happen­
ing and the North W illiams Avenue
strip made it explode.
By the 1950s there w ere clubs in
nearly every Portland neighbor­
hood, reaching from Milw aukie to
upper W est Burnside to Jantzen
Beach and even Vancouver.
The W illiams Avenue clubs were
open around the clock, seven days
a week to entertain the thousands
o f shipbuilders who w orked the
three different daily shifts during
W orld W ar II. O ne o f the most
popular was the Dude Ranch.
The Ranch was housed in a large
brick building that still stands to­
day at the east side o f the Broad­
way Bridge, ju st a stones throw
from the M emorial Coliseum . My
father-in-law, Herman Jobelm ann
and the Hermann Jobelm ann Band
played five nights a week for the
club when it first opened as a mostly
white club in 1942. Joblemann, 92, is
still alive and active today. He is
known for his nearly 50 years o f
service with the Oregon Sym phony
as its personnel m anager and prin-
by
ciple bassist. He also spent d e­ Avery, Florence Mills M orton, Paul
cades with the O rchestra’s Port­ Knauls, M argie (C arol) Havlechek,
the entire A m ato Fam ily including
land Youth O rchestra.
The jazz scene on the inner north­ Diane Partain, and The Oregon H is­
east side grew as Portland’s A fri­ torical Society.
The Bob T hom pson fam ily and
can-A m erican population grew in a
Bob
Redfern contributed their huge
neighborhood that existed before
collections
o f recorded live music
the construction o f the coliseum.
Jumptown Author Bob Dietsche from the period. These collections
did a superb jo b o f recreating the are the only com plete recording of
“ ro arin g 30s, 4 0 s an d 5 0 s” in P ortland's ja zz history and will be
Port land ’ s jazz hi story. H i s contribu­ respectfully preserved.
Jumptown was truly ajoint effort
tors included such local luminaries
as Ted Hallock, Bob Trowbridge, o f dedicated Portlanders and local
Dick and Bob Cogan, Jim Swenson, jazz enthusiasts. It can be found in
an y o f th e m a jo r b o o k s to re s
Garth Miller and others.
D ietsche’s wife Susan and Leslie throughout the Portland area. Pick
R osenburg w ere pivotal in the up a copy today and role back the
physical com pilation o f the book. tim e clock to o n e o f the best periods
A lso needing m ention w ere the in Portland history.
Ron W e b er is a w rite r and
hundreds o f local Portlanders w ho
o p en ed up th e ir h ea rts to this speaker on A frican A m erican his­
project. W hile the list is too long, a tory and a regular contributor to the
few o f them that deserve being Portland O bserver. He spent seven
m entioned are Sweet Baby Jam es years w orking on Jum ptow n with
(Jam es Benton). Bobby Bradford, author Robert Dietsche, contact­
Clarence W illiam s.Cleve Williams, ing scores o f people involved in
A1 Johnson, Hal Hart, G eraldine P ortland’s jazz, history.
Jazz Comes Alive at Reed College
‘Living experience’ concert Feb. 20
“The Incredible Journey of Jazz”
Concert and Lecture
2 P.M .
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 2 0
KAUL A U D ITO R IU M
FREE A ND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
Co-sponsored by the Portland Jazz Festival,
this program presents the story of jazz for
middle-school children and their parents.
Ethnic Heritage Ensemble
Concert
7 P.M .
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 2 8
ELIOT HALL CHAPEL
FREE A ND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
This group of acclaimed, rule-bending
musicians fuses traditional and popular
African music in this avant garde
performance.
For more information, visit web.reed.edu/black_history_month/
or call the Reed events line at 503/777-7755.
REED COLLEGE
3203 SE Woodstock Blvd. Portland, Oregon 97202
«
Portland Jazz Festival
and Reed College are team ­
ing up to present “The In­
credible Journey o f Jazz," a
special free Black History
M onth co n cert d esigned
for middle school age chil­
dren and their parents.
The 75-m inute perfor­
m ance will tell the story of
jazz from its roots in African
music and culture, through
its d e v e lo p m e n t in th e
United States, to its current
role as one o f A m erica’s
m ost treasured co n trib u ­
tions to world culture.
A jazz com bo led by Port­
land jazz artist and Portland
State University professor
Darrell G rant will give the
audience a “living experi­
ence” o f the ja zz art form
with perform ances, narra­
tion. musical illustrations
from d iffe ren t eras and
styles, and c h a racteriza­
tions of historical jazz fig­
ures.
T he p ro g ra m is p re ­
s e n te d by th e L e ro y
Vinnegar Jazz Institute, and Jazz fa n s fill the seats at Reed College for the “Incredible Journey o f Jazz. "
by Ethos, a non-profit m u­
sic center dedicated to the promo- most underserved com m unities.
A uditorium at Reed College, for
tion o f music and m usic-based edu-
The concert will take on Mon- m o re
in f o rm a tio n ,
v is it
cation foryouth in some o f O regon’s day, Feb 20 at 2 p.m. at the Kaul w eb.reed.edu.