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Photo by Chavelin Gonzalez PSU Vanguard

02/24/2016

Charlie Gray: Coffeeshop Conversations #58 - 2016 PDX Jazz Festival Jazz Master

By TOM D'ANTONI // He ran the Portland State University Jazz program for 27 years and produced generations of great musicians. // Photo by Chavelin Gonzalez PSU Vanguard

Coffeeshop Conversations is back after a week off while we piled PDX Jazz Festival Jazz Conversations on your plate. Hope you had a nice meal. If you didn’t hear Pat Martino’s, you should go listen as soon as you’re done with this one.

Joining me today at World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18^th and Glisan is the man who is pretty much responsible for several generations of Jazz musicians in Oregon. I’m not exaggerating. Most of our greatest players have come out of Portland State University’s Jazz program.

Charlie Gray invented it and was in charge for twenty-seven years until he retired last spring.

He was named a PDX Jazz Festival Jazz Master this year and he’s going to tell us all about how he did all that, and maybe about directing the Ice Capades orchestra before he came here.

You can hear his work at the Festival:

Africa/Brass Ensemble, Friday, February 26 | 7:00 pm at Newmark Theatre. (He talks about it.)

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