Oregon Jazz Festival

The 2018 Oregon Jazz Festival – formerly the Lane Jazz Festival (Lane Community College) and the Oregon Jazz Celebration (University of Oregon) – brings together students, jazz educators, performing artists, and jazz enthusiasts to learn from one another and to enrich each others’ experience and enjoyment of jazz. By sharing resources and facilities, the University of Oregon and Lane Community College do even more to enhance the jazz festival experience in our community.
Our philosophy is that jazz and music in general is by nature ”non-competitive,” thus we are emphasizing a focus on jazz education creating a positive experience for all involved! Student performances with coaching sessions as well as technical clinics and concerts by our festival artists all serve to provide a forum for participants to learn more about jazz as we share our passion for this music.

Participants are encouraged to support each other as they take risks and pursue with vigor their study of jazz and music performance. To this end, we bring together some of the very best jazz educator/artists available to instruct, inspire, and encourage students throughout this event. Each student ensemble is given forty minutes to perform for and receive feedback from OJF clinicians. In addition to providing comments and suggestions following student performances, our OJF clinicians also lead clinics on various aspects of jazz performance. Finally, our two evening concerts are designed to provide jazz students and community members the opportunity to experience live jazz in an intimate concert setting.

Friday night’s concert in Raggozino Hall on the LCC campus will showcase 2018 Guest Artist Terell Stafford on trumpet.

The Saturday daytime activities will take place at the University of Oregon and will feature a variety of performances, workshops, clinics, sectionals, and a meet-the-artist session with Terell Stafford.

Our Saturday evening concert in Beall Hall at the University of Oregon will feature several outstanding participating groups, and the 2018 Oregon Jazz Festival guest artists/clinicians performing with the Oregon Jazz Ensemble (under the direction of Steve Owen) and the Lane Jazz Ensemble (under the direction of Joe Freuen).

The music faculty, staff and students of Lane Community College and the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance are very proud of the Oregon Jazz Festival and the opportunities we have been able to provide for our community over the years. The list of past festival guests includes Branford Marsalis, Ben Wendel, Julian Lage, Kneebody, Ingrid Jensen, Jesse Lewis, Donny McCaslin, Thomas Marriot, Don Braden, Luis Bonilla, Rich Perry, Dick Oatts, John Mosca, David Pietro, Scott Wendholdt, Eddie Daniels, Marian McPartland, Bobby Shew, Jim Rotondi, Eric Alexander, Conrad Herwig, Bob Mintzer, Mel Brown, and more! It is through exposure to artist-educators like these that our horizons are expanded and our potential revealed.

We thank you for your attendance and support and hope to see you again as the Oregon Jazz Festival continues to bring great jazz artists and opportunities to our students and our community for years to come.
Steve Owen
sowen@uoregon.edu

Paul Krueger
kruegerp@uoregon.edu

kruegerp@uoregon.edu