Rebecca Kilgore Archive

February 2012 Portland Jazz Festival Reviews

by John Sunier | Mar 4, 2012 | Special Features

Enrico Rava & Tribe – Friday, Feb. 18 – Winningstad Theater Local pianist Tony Pacini opened for Enrico Rava with his trio, including our star drummer Mel Brown. He followed a rough theme of Italian-American jazz since that fit both the Rava concert and his own background. Adding Enrico Rava and his current band, Tribe, to this year’s Portland Jazz Festival was a coup for Managing Director Don Lucoff.  Rava, age 72, a long-established trumpet artist for the ECM label, had never been to Portland before. It was reported that he had not been on the West Coast at all for several decades. (Having Rava perform the night before as part of the first concert of the Spring season of SFJAZZ certainly helped facilitate Rava’s entrée to the Portland scene.) Rava has been known for many years as an introspective trumpeter noted for his moody, film noir-type recordings which bring a comparison to mid-50s Miles Davis, especially with Rava’s use of the mute. However, Rava’s concert on Saturday, Feb. 18, in the intimate confines of the Winningstad Theater, fell into a different bag. Much like Roy Haynes (who performed later in the Festival), Rava seems to have been invigorated by […]