Portland’s only non-profit organization dedicated exclusively to Oregon artists celebrates its tenth anniversary season in a fundraiser and “story-concert” event at the Fremont Theatre. The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble is turning ten! Since our first concert in January of 2008, the PJCE has been proving that Oregon jazz artists can make world-class music when the opportunity. On October 20th at the Fremont Theatre, we celebrate this important milestone by telling our story—how artists can build a network of support that allows them to reach new heights of creativity, and connects them to the most important conversations of our time.

The Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE) is creating a new piece of community-guided music, “From Maxville to Vanport,” incorporating the stories of two unique towns in Oregon’s history: Maxville and Vanport. The project will culminate in a concert-length composition for the PJCE to be performed May 26 and 27, 2018, as part of the Vanport Festival (May 25–28). Maxville and Vanport both had significant multicultural populations at a time when Oregon was particularly unfriendly to non-white residents, and their histories deserve to be heard and better understood by all Oregonians.