Friday, May 3rd, 2024

Time: 7:30 PM

Venue: MHCC College Theater, 26000 SE Stark Street, Gresham

THIS EVENT IS PART OF THE MT HOOD JAZZ FESTIVAL. PURCHASE TICKETS FOR D’ZAMA MUSICAL OR THE ENTIRE WEEKEND OF MUSIC HERE:
https://www.tickettomato.com/event/8523/mt-hood-jazz-festival

Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble and Third Rail Repertory Theatre present the concert production of D’Zama: The Musical Vagabond

D’Zama: The Musical Vagabond probes the life of the unsung Oregonian remarkably ahead of her time!

In 2022, Portland writer Sarah Smith and her husband, conductor Raul Gomez Rojas, were offered a dozen boxes of what they assumed were a collection of musical scores. What they discovered instead was an estate’s worth of manuscripts and collectibles, including the self-published autobiography of D’Zama Murielle (1901 – 1985), an Oregon woman who lived an extraordinary life.

Murielle studied conducting under Toscanini. She led the Portland Women’s Symphony Orchestra at a time when women were hardly afforded the opportunity to play in professional orchestras, let alone conduct them. She hopped trains to apply for distant conducting jobs and once biked to Chicago. She toured across the states and throughout Europe with a collection of musical instruments from around the world, teaching students music history and how to play.

She was wildly prolific and clearly ahead of her time. Smith wondered, “ Why wasn’t D’Zama Murielle a heralded figure? Why hadn’t she made a lasting mark or become a notable figure in Oregon history?” Smith and a team of collaborators from PJCE and TRRT — composer Owen Broder, lyricist Ben Tissell, music director Ryan Meagher, and director Isaac Lamb — set out to create a new jazz musical that would probe these questions and consider the legacies we leave, and those we lose.

Inspired by the life of the free-spirited and pioneering spirit of the little-known Oregon musician D’Zama Murielle, the concert production will feature the TRRT cast alongside PJCE’s 12-member ensemble, which includes Mary-Sue Tobin on saxophone. The May 3rd concert production of D’Zama serves as a preview to an upcoming 4-week run of a full production of the musical by TRRT and PJCE.

Mary-Sue Tobin will be performing with other PJCE musicians to play the compositions of up-and-coming young composers. 6 - 7:30pm at Alberta Street Pub

Mary-Sue Tobin will be among the musicians performing pieces from Duke Ellington’s Concert of Sacred Music. This music invites us to reflect on divine presence as it is now and as it has been from the beginning – where it has enveloped us in grace and where it has urged us toward love.

All are welcome.

Doors open at 6:30 pm

Tickets: $25
All ages.
Tickets non-refundable.  

Tickets and more info: https://www.tickettomato.com/event/8534/quadraphonnes-at-bspace-nbsp

Passionate about the saxophone, its characteristics and possibilities, The Quadraphonnes are adventurous!

These strong, talented, ladies break the boundaries of the saxophone quartet with their mighty chops, tantalizing grooves, soaring solos and dynamic vocals. Covering a variety of musical styles from jazz-funk-pop, to avant-garde, gypsy-punk and classical, the quads put on a great show!

Together since 2005, they have released multiple albums & have performed up and down the West Coast. Mary-Sue Tobin, Chelsea Luker, Mieke Bruggeman and Michelle Medler are multi-talented, beautiful women who are serious musicians, composers and arrangers! The Quadraphonnes will blow you away! Drummer Maria Wulf travels from Olympia, Washington to add groove and texture to the group! 

Check out their album, Get the Funk Out

The Rhythm Dogs will be performing at a fundraiser for Blanchett House, an organization that offers meals and clothing to people experiencing homelessness in Portland. The Fundraiser will be Saturday, June 22 from 7 - 10 pm at The Pearl Dive Bar, located inside Bodyvox at 1201 NW 17th Ave.

Mark your calendars - Ticket information coming soon!

Unable to attend? You may donate directly to Blanchethouse.org Net proceeds will be donated to Blanchet House, a provider of free meals and paths to recovery for 70 years.

The Rhythm Dogs, formed in 2000 and based in Portland, play an unusual blend of groove-based jazz, funk, ska, blues, Latin, and Afrobeat. The band is made up of saxophonist Mary-Sue Tobin, trombonist Greg Scholl, keyboardist Chris Azorr, drummer Mark Burdon, percussionist Chuk Barber, and bassist Mark von Bergen. They have recorded four albums of almost entirely originals, the most recent being “The Dogfather” (2018).