Brown Branch Presents: Big Band Holiday Jazz Showcase
Celebrate the season with a special Big Band Holiday Showcase featuring an all-star lineup of Portland jazz musicians and special guests. Brown Branch, the improvisational jazz outfit led by Domo Branch and Charlie Brown III, present a 15-piece orchestra that pays tribute to the great trumpeter, flugelhorn player, composer, and bandleader Thad Jones (1923-1986), and his longtime bandmate and drummer Mel Lewis (1929-1990), who helped shape the sound of modern big-band jazz.
This special Big Band Holiday Showcase will feature Noah Simpson, Justin Copeland, Devin Philips, Steve Montecucco, Adriana Wagner, Cyrus Nabipoor, James Powers, Kyle Molitor, Max Roark, Hailey Niswanger, Christian Ramirez, Andy Rayborn, Nicole McCabe, and band leaders Domo Branch and Charlie Brown III. The show will also feature special guest performances by vocalists and musicians from all genres.
Domo Branch, drumming prodigy from Portland, Oregon, is an artist, composer, drummer, and producer attending the Manhattan School of Music studying multiple genres. He works to be versatile. He is the co-founder of Sound Poets Productions, leads his own band, and is co-leader of the band Brown Branch. He has performed with amazing talents, such as the Sean Jones Quartet, Taylor Eigsti Trio, Dianne Reeves and Sean Jones Big Band, Mike Phillips, and Wynton Marsalis. He has performed in places such as Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, Monterey Jazz Festival, Caramoor Jazz Festival, Rose Hall Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York’s Jazz Standard, and more. He has also given motivational and public speeches to musicians.
Charlie Brown III is the multi-faceted keyboardist of Greaterkind and featured musician, producer, and musical director for artists like Aminé, Blossom, NuBop, and more.
Current & Upcoming
Art Exhibit: ¡Soy Yo! by Mika Martinez
¡Soy Yo!, is a multi-media project, created by Mika Martinez, that examines and celebrates Latinx identity featuring more than 50 portraits of the Hispanic/Latino community in Portland.
Piano Bar with Courtney Freed and David Saffert
Join us for this monthly event with local songstress Courtney Freed and Portland-based pianist David Saffert as they host a good old-fashioned PIANO BAR.
Improvisation Classes for Beginners
Whether you're looking to get more confident in social situations, think quicker on your feet, or get in touch with your imaginative side, these "one-off" improv classes will set you on the path to success!
Nassim
From Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour (creator of the Off-Broadway smash hit White Rabbit, Red Rabbit) comes an audacious new theatrical experiment, presented in collaboration with Boom Arts. Each night, a new, unrehearsed local performer joins the playwright on stage, while the script waits, unseen, in a sealed box... Touchingly autobiographical yet powerfully universal, NASSIM is a striking theatrical demonstration of how language can both divide and unite us.
Art Exhibit: Garam Garam Chai by Yusra Siddiqui
Portland Center Stage will host Garam Garam Chai, an art exhibit by Portland-based multidisciplinary artist Yusra Siddiqui, featuring a series of hand-sewn teabag printmaking pieces that serve as a contemplation of the communal tea times shared between Desi and British culture.
Coriolanus
Shakespeare’s tragedy about the war hero Coriolanus and the fight between the elite and the deprived masses will be fueled by a dynamic female and non-binary ensemble with a muscular, movement-focused staging.
Portland Center Stage is committed to identifying & interrupting instances of racism & all forms of oppression, through the principles of inclusion, diversity, equity, & accessibility (IDEA).
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