I received an e-mail the other day from Pam Jones, who is in Ethiopia visiting her daughter who works at the US embassy there.  Apparently, April is "jazz appreciation month" in Ethiopia and a radio station in Addis Ababa is looking for donated jazz recordings to play. If you send your CD to Pam by April 1st, she will forward it to the Ethiopian radio station.  Send CDs to:

Jazz Ambassadors 3307 NE Oregon St Portland, OR 97232

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.

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On Tuesday, June 12, Portland pianist Darrell Grant was featured on PRI’s “The World,” talking about his new album, “Truth and Reconciliation.” The feature discusses the record’s connection to South African politics, the use of sound bites over the music, and Darrell’s general musical philosophy.

Click here to visit PRI’s site and listen to the feature piece.