With 'Sounds Like Portland,' Oregon Symphony keeps it local
New series places some of Portland's best musicians in front of the orchestra
This weekend the Oregon Symphony unveils Sounds Like Portland, a concert series set in multiple venues.
Sounds like Portland presents symphony collaborations with indie bands The Decembrists; The Dandy Warhols; singer Storm Large and soloist M. Ward, whose concert marks the Symphony’s debut at Revolution Hall.
The series is perfectly timed for Portland audiences to emerge confidently from an uncertain local, national, global moment and blur the lines between classical music, jazz and indie rock.
Grammy award-winning bassist esperanza spalding, who grew up in Portland, kicks off the series with two concerts at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.
I spoke with spalding about her two upcoming dates and asked if there was a Portland-y sound.
“I don’t know if there is a Portland sound in our jazz music, but if there is, I’m so far in it that I can’t say,” she said. “Our land here is so distinct — water, rivers, mountains. The confluence of all that is here, and this is one of the best cities that holds all these elements in one place. There’s no way it couldn’t affect the sound.”
This weekend you will perform ‘‘Gaia,” a composition you and the late jazz legend Wayne Shorter created together. Can you describe it?
“I first got to know Wayne and his wife when when he created “Gaia,” and I was spending a lot of time with him and his wife in L.A., just listening to him and reading over his shoulder. That was a dream come true right there. He asked me to set text to the music, and through that I got to get really close to him, and his wife and daughter. Probably in the most impactful way that I’ve ever known. Now I get to perform this in my hometown. And musically, he is my hometown.”
Your last album, 2023’s “Milton + esperanza” was a collaboration with Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento. What do you want to do next?
“Right now I’m very involved with our relationship to the land that we’re in, and how we draw inspiration from that. I’m excited about that articulation. And I’m so interested in how the arts support our communities. We are a music-ing people, so thinking about music as a way into elder care, or birth, or educating youth.”
What do you do in Portland besides work? (spalding is also the co-director of North Portland’s Prismid Sanctuary, a place where artists and cultural workers of color to convene, rest and heal.)
“I like to be at home. Between my house, the sanctuary, and my family, I don’t go out much. I like to go to Hypnos Coffee Shop because I’m just a sucker for aesthetics, and I just really like the vibe there, so I encourage people to meet me there for meetings. Tonight I’m going to a show at the Holocene to see my friend perform.”
Will you play “City of Roses” this weekend?
“No, that’d be too on the nose!”
Sounds Like Portland
esperanza spalding, Oct. 18 and 19, Schnitzer Concert Hall
M. Ward with the Oregon Symphony, Oct. 21, Revolution Hall
Storm Large presents her theatrical rendition of Kurt Weil’s “Seven Deadly Sins,” Oct. 31 - Nov. 2, Schnitzer Concert Hall
The Decembrists with the Oregon Symphony, Nov. 6 and 7, Schnitzer Concert Hall
Caroline Shaw: the Complete String Quartets, an east side concert crawl, Nov. 9
The Dandy Warhols with the Oregon Symphony, Nov. 13, Schnitzer Concert Hall
