Jazz is kind of an umbrella term that’s been used to describe many different forms of American music over the last hundred years. When jazz musicians are asked to describe what jazz is many can’t or won’t give you a straight answer because there is no right answer. Is jazz Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker or Frank Zappa or is it something else? I like to think of jazz as a musical spirit or emotional intention put forth by either a group or a single musician.

 I’m going to play music from different eras of jazz (Dixieland, Gypsy, Bebop, Hard Bop, Swing, Cool, etc…) as well as other music that I feel embodies the same intentional spirit of jazz (Hip hop, Stretch music, Fusion, etc…). I’m also going to try to get musicians from both the music department at PSU and musicians from the Portland musical community to come and do live performances and discuss their music with me.