Ezra Weiss/Marilyn Keller music

June 2 Marilyn Keller and Ezra Weiss premiering excerpts from our new piece for Portland Jazz Composers’ Ensemble at the Portland Art Museum.

Event is free with museum admission, which is just $5 after 5 pm.

In this Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble “work in progress” performance and discussion event, vocalist Marilyn Keller and composer/pianist Ezra Weiss perform two songs from the upcoming concert work “From Maxville to Vanport,” featuring text by Renee Mitchell. The writer, singer and composer will speak about the project, and take questions from the audience.

This project, which will culminate in a concert-length composition for the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble to be performed in the spring of 2018, tells a fictionalized but historically accurate narrative about two unique places and moments in Oregon’s history, Maxville and Vanport. These two towns, both with significant multicultural populations at a time when Oregon’s constitution banned black residents, tells a part of the state’s history that deserves to be heard. Gwendolyn Trice, Executive Director of Maxville Heritage, will also be on hand to speak about Maxville, Oregon. This event is co-presented by the Vanport Mosaic and the Oregon Historical Society.

Seating is first come first served. Limited seating available. Admission to the Museum is $5 after 5 PM.

Performance will take place is the Stevens Room