In the last few years, jazz education in Portland has been booming, producing more and more students looking to go out and hear live music (and if they’re not, they should be). The OLCC has imposed strict regulations on clubs, with seemingly arbitrary rules about when minors can and can’t be in restaurants. Apparently, some places that are safe for minors at 9:00 are not safe post-9:30.

If minors are looking for jazz, one of the safest bets is Jimmy Mak’s, which has live music every night except Sunday. Unlike at the old location, minors can go any night of the week, as long as they are out by 9:30.
Another good bet is Jax, which hosts one of the only minor-friendly jam sessions in town. If you don’t want to hit the Wednesday jam session at Jax, minors can go to the Monday night session that Clackamas Community College hosts in their music building. Tom Wakeling hosts that jam with other CCC faculty like Charlie Doggett, Eli Reisman, and Clay Giberson.
On the weekends, head on over to LV’s Uptown, where Darrell Grant has made an point to keep the music available to minors. At the beginning, the stage was placed so that good seating for minors was pretty limited, but with the new stage location, there’s plenty of spots to get a good view of the music.
A few nights a week, Wilf’s at Union Station has jazz that minors can check out from a few parts of the venue. Wilf’s is a classy venue with pricey meals, but it usually doesn’t have a cover. It’s also very tri-met accessible, which is sometimes helpful for minors.

Other good bets are weekend events, such as farmers markets, art shows, library events, etc. that usually are not serving alcohol and are therefore available to minors.

Know of other good spots for minors to check out jazz? Let us know.