Six Oregon Book Award Finalists inspire new jazz compositions in Playing With Words.
Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE) and Literary Arts will present six commissioned works of music inspired by six 2024 Oregon Book Award finalists’ works at Portland State University’s Lincoln Recital Hall. PJCE’s 12-member ensemble jazz performance draws literature by Oregonians spanning from a children’s book reimagining a Japanese folktale to a guide to keeping chickens in the city in Playing With Words and the sounds presented on stage are equally expansive. Tickets are on sale now and available here.
PJCE Artistic Director Ryan Meagher shares, “Oregon is a land that has always been rife with stories to tell and has had a long tradition of skilled writers to tell those stories. This year, we wanted to partner with some of the best storytellers in Oregon and bring their words to life through music. Playing with Words is a little bit of word play as we are quite literally going to be playing (music) with words.”
The composer/literature pairings are:
Doors at 7:00 p.m., music at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are available via the link below, prices on sliding scale.
A free preview event featuring a discussion between writers Stephanie Andams-Santos, Josephine Woodward, and Waka T. Brown and composers Gordon Lee, Hans Barklis, and Tim Willcox will be held at Rose City Book Pub on Monday, October 7th, from 6:30–7:30 pm.