USA Projects

In February 2012, I will be honored as the "Jazz Master", a unique headlining honor from the 2012 Portland Jazz Festival. This historical concert will be performed in the downtown Winningstad Theater at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 17.  The amount of money the Portland Jazz Festival has offered me will not cover the honorariums for the number of musicians that I would like to hire to perform with me. They have been participating in weekly rehearsals in preparation of this monumental event.  Your support is needed to pay these musicians honorariums for their work and to cover the cost of creating a video recording of the concert.

I have admired Miles Davis for more than 50 years, and am using this opportunity to spotlight the most revered collaborations between Miles Davis & Gil Evans, including compositions and arrangements from the albums "Porgy and Bess" and "Sketches of Spain," an eclectic sub style of early Latin jazz. The featured music, which is an upwards of six decades old, includes: "The Buzzard Song," "Gone," "Summertime," "It Ain't Necessarily So," "Will o' the Wisp," "Concierto de Aranjuez" and a solo from "Seven Steps to Heaven." The lineup will also include some of Miles' compositions from the '80s with Marcus Miller, including the song, "Tutu." 

I met Miles once but he never taught me straight on. Yet his teaching was so prevalent, for four or five decades he constantly changed the music. I hope by doing this program, I can pick up where Miles left off and I can continue going with that torch and making sure it stays lit.

Since Thanksgiving, I have been conducting this powerhouse band of 22 professional  jazz and classical musicians, including tubist Ja'Ttik Clark (principal with the Oregon Symphony) and violinist Peter Piazza (Portland Opera), as well as lead trumpeter Ben McDonald, bassist Ben Jones, drummer Israel Annoh, pianist Janice Scroggins, trombonist Stan Boch, trombonist Dan Brewster, french hornist Bill Stalnaker, and tenor saxophonist Renato Caranto, among others. Additionally, some of my best students who are part of my award-winning Pacific Crest Orchestra are joining the lineup. Those same students are also playing on the new CD of my mentee and former student, GRAMMY® Award-winning bassist Esperanza Spalding.

I'm calling the project "Artfully Miles" because I want the musicians to get down to the soul of the music and give that passion away to the audience.  I remember first hearing of Miles when I was about 11 years old. I would save my money, buy Miles' records and practice copying the notes I heard in the music. I struggled to mimic Miles by walking around playing the lines, but I eventually had to settle for the emotion behind the music.  I was trying to 'feel" like Miles. That's the whole point of the project - use our passion and try to draw out some of the things in the music that Miles did.  I am also greatful to my friend and Portland artist, Diane Russell for creating the beautiful pencil drawing of myself with Miles mirrored in the background.  Your contribution to my project could reward you with a print of this gorgeous work of art or the original!

I have been an instrumental performer and teacher within the Portland community for over 40 years. I founded the American Music Program in 2005, which is an award-winning youth jazz orchestra with national accolades. In 2006, I earned the Jazz Society of Oregon's "Musician of the Year" award and, one year later, was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. I have also played with seminal musicians, such as Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, Stanley Turrentine, Eddie Henderson, Natalie Cole, The Four Tops, Arturo Sandoval, Eddie Harris, and The Commodores,  but my real love is teaching and playing with the outstanding musicians right here in Portland.