Strike up the jazz: Portland jazz scene / jazz demographics

Date: Sun, 11 May 2003 10:31:39 +0900
Newsgroups: rec.music.bluenote
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Interesting demographic profile of jazz fans. I fall a bit short on the
income and am a bit younger than the average but otherwise fit the profile.
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http://www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=17674
Strike up the jazz
While record industry slumps, Portlanders bolster a traditional genre
Musicians take heart in growing fan base, club scene and studios
By DICK BOGLE
Issue date: Fri, May 9, 2003
The Tribune
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---- Portland's jazz scene doesn't compare to West Coast strongholds like
Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland and Los Angeles. But the gap, say jazz aficionados, is narrowing because of a rich pool of
resident jazz artists, a small but thriving network of jazz clubs and a
growing base of devoted fans. One telling indicator of the fan base: The Border's Books & Music
downtown store is in the top 50 of the chain's 425 stores nationwide in
sales of jazz CDs, says Dewey Mahood, its manager. While sales of jazz CDs account for less than 3 percent of total CD sales
nationally, Music Millennium owner Terry Currier says they make up nearly 10 percent of his sales. In hard times when every asset is counted as a blessing, the lure of
Portland's jazz scene is one of the underappreciated, if minor, cogs in
Portland's economic engine. It's not only the musicians and club owners who gain. Airlines, hotels,
restaurants and other performing arts groups all benefit from a cadre of
fans that, in general, fall into what marketers regard as the demographic
sweet spot. Jazz fans are pegged as mostly upper middle class, middle-aged and
well-educated professionals, a profile statistically supported by a 2001
survey of reserved-seat ticket holders at the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival. The survey found that the group averaged 47 years of age, held at least a
master's degree and had an individual income of $91,000. Eleven percent were
physicians, 10 percent attorneys and 8 percent teachers or university
professors. The Jazz Society of Oregon, which sponsors live jazz events, educational
workshops and scholarships for young musicians and also publishes Jazzscene
magazine, is adding members at a rapid clip. It grew from 500 in 2002 to 600
in 2003, says Chuck Carpenter, the group's president. The Creative Music Guild, a volunteer-run nonprofit group founded in
1991, focuses on original, improvised jazz and produces an average of 12 to
15 concerts per year. The Portland jazz scene relies on an assortment of businesses and support
systems. At the center is a fairly robust network of jazz clubs and other
performance venues. Jazz De Opus in Old Town has been presenting jazz since
1972. Its seven-nights-a-week schedule showcases mostly local groups. There
are others: Brasserie Montmartre, the Blue Monk, Billy Reed's Restaurant and
Bar, the Benson Hotel and Jimmy Mak's. Jimmy Mak's on Northwest 10th Avenue in the Pearl District, selected by
Down Beat Magazine as one of the 100 best jazz clubs in the world, features
three bands led by the internationally known drummer Mel Brown.
Bigger venue wanted
Owner Jimmy Mak says he is looking for another site in the Pearl with a
larger space that would seat 250 to 275 customers. He could then book
national acts on a consistent basis as they travel between engagements at
Seattle's Jazz Alley and Yoshi's in Oakland, Calif. It's the lack of a large, first-class dining and listening venue that has
kept Portland on a lower rung than Seattle, the Bay Area and Los Angeles,
say local jazz enthusiasts. One thing Portland has that many other cities lack, however, is a radio
station that devotes itself 24/7 to jazz and blues. Jazz radio stations are becoming a rarity across the country, but Gresham
has kept its Mt. Hood Community College-based KMHD (89.1 FM) on the air for
nearly 20 years. "Listenership has increased from 57,000 per week in 2000 to 89,300 in the
fall of 2002," says station Manager Doug Sweet. The sting jazz fans suffered last spring when the demise of the
debt-mired Mt. Hood Jazz Festival was announced has been eased somewhat by
the startup of a smaller, leaner version. Over its 20-year run, the festival had evolved into one of the
Northwest's major jazz events. The new slimmed-down festival will be held
Aug. 2-3 at Gresham's Main City Park rather than at Mt. Hood Community
College's expansive stadium.
Musicians put down roots
What Portland lacks in venues, it makes up for in depth of local talent --
although many performers are on the road a lot. Drummer Akbar DePriest worked in Europe with saxophone legends Dexter
Gordon, Ben Webster and Gene Ammons. Vocalist Nancy King is a star in
Europe. Composer-pianist Dave Frishberg works nationally and
internationally. Portland is particularly rich in pianists and bassists. Drummer Alan Jones says, "The September 11th terror attack made a huge
difference in the amount of work I do in Europe. Germany cut arts funding,
and Sweden and Austria implemented stricter taxing on promoters." Now he is
forced to compete more for local jobs. Most of the area's top jazz artists have recorded at least one CD. The
Kung Fu Bakery is a state-of-the-art recording studio in Southeast Portland.
One of its co-owners, Tim Ellis, says 15 percent to 20 percent of the
studio's recording work consists of jazz. Bandleaders Darrell Grant, Dennis
Springer and Art Abrams have recorded there. Occasionally, bands passing
through Portland also will stop and record there. It is one of about a
half-dozen recording studios in Portland that record jazz. While most of Portland's jazz talents are transplants from the East or
California, more and more of them are trained right here -- by such artists
as trumpeter Thara Memory. Memory, whose Super Band is a mainstay at Jimmy Mak's, came to Portland
in 1970 as a member of the Joe Tex blues band and decided to stay. Holder of
a Marylhurst University degree in composition and conducting, he has devoted
himself to teaching at Beaverton's Arts and Communication Magnet Academy and
performing. Recently, Memory has been putting the Jazz Ensemble of the Metropolitan
Youth Symphony through its paces as it rehearses for performances later this
month at the Canby Performing Arts Center and the Rose Festival at Gov. Tom
McCall Waterfront Park. For the past four years, Mel Brown and the members of his septet have
held a summer jazz camp on the campus of Western Oregon University. The camp
has grown from a first-year enrollment of 48 to this year's expected
attendance of around 130. And student musicians hone their skills with the pros at regular evening
jam sessions hosted by veteran drummer Ron Steen on Sundays at Vine Leaves
on Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard, Mondays at Produce Row Cafe on Southeast
Oak Street, and Thursdays at the Four Points By Sheraton Portland Downtown
Hotel on Southwest Morrison Street. Performing is life to artists such as Memory, but teaching has become
even more important. "I will never cancel one day of teaching my kids in
order to play at a nightclub, not now, not ever," he says.
© 2003 THE PORTLAND TRIBUNE