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The Rifftides staff is off to Portland, Oregon for the first four days of the ten-day PDX Jazz Festival. I have been recruited to moderate a Saturday panel discussion about Frank Sinatra’s influence on jazz musicians. In my primary role as observer, I’m looking forward to hearing a diverse cast that includes newcomers like the French singer Cyrille Aimée and the young saxophonist Hailey Niswanger, as well as oldcomers like alto sax giants Lou Donaldson, 88, and Lee Konitz, 87.
In between: Hal Galper, Nicholas Payton, Marc Cary, Ron Carter, Taylor Eigsti, Vijay Iyer, Sheila
Jordan, Benny Green, Bill Charlap, Stanley Jordan, Jackie Ryan, Julian Lage, Tain Watts and Freda Payne, to single out a few. Whew. For complete details, see the festival website. Blogging from Portland will be as often as time and endurance allow. Stay tuned. A visit to Portlandia is never less than interesting because the community spirit is——well, see the picture on your right.