Portland has an incredible jazz scene. Always has, hopefully always will. From the historically Black Albina district to KMHD Jazz Radio, Montevilla Jazz Festival to the Jack London Revue, The 1905 jazz bar to Albina Music Trust—the Rose City’s cup runneth over with world class jazz music. 

Champion of the genre, the Portland Jazz Festival has been bridging the gap between inter/national jazz musicians and local artists since 2003. True luminaries including Pharoah Sanders, Erykah Badu, Archie Shepp, Thundercat, Terry Riley, Ravi Coltrane, Moor Mother, and Angel Bat Dawid have graced the festival's stages over the years, connecting them with local jazz giants Lo Steele, Brown Calculus, Orquestra Pacífico Tropical, and Omari Jazz. Seattle has also been well represented at the Portland Jazz Festival—Kassa Overall and Shabazz Palaces doing us the honor of cruising down I-5 to play the festival. 

For their 23rd outing, Portland Jazz Festival continues its trend from last year of pulling out stops, delivering a lineup of jazz and jazz-adjacent acts to get us through late winter/early spring. The festival is spread across Portland, as it always is, but has moved from the month of February to March in 2026. From March 5 to 14, the festival will take over Portland favorites Aladdin Theater, Alberta Rose Theatre, Holocene, Jack London Revue, Mission Theater, Mississippi Studios, The Old Church, Revolution Hall, the Schnitz, the Winningstad Theatre, and more. 

The 2026 festival is highlighted with Mavis Staples. Staples, the last surviving member of The Staple Singers, cut her pearly whites in the churches and upper rooms of Chicago starting in the late 1940s. The Singers' minted hits including Soul Train favorites “I’ll Take You There” and “Respect Yourself.” Curtis Mayfield’s production on “Let’s Do It Again” will send the most devout celibate straight into the arms of Marquis de Sade. The diva was friends with MLK and turned down a marriage proposal from Bob Dylan. If you need more convincing, have a listen to Staples’ massive catalog, where you’ll find doo-wop and deep soul flowing pure from the source. 

If you caught either of SML’s incredible sets at Pickathon earlier this year, you’re well aware that the band is able to put any audience in a trance. The quintet includes bassist Anna Butterss and synthesis-composer Jeremiah Chiu, both of whom boast exceptional solo works. For this special night, SML will be opening for the Jeff Parker IVtet, a quartet led by Parker that includes Butterss, along with SML member Josh Johnson and drummer Jay Bellerose. 

Icon of Portland vocal jazz and soul, Shirley Nanette is not only a Portland music elder, but is respected by musicians and listeners across the country and across genres. High priestess of the torch song, Nanette’s been burning a candle for lost loves since the ’60s. And it’s no wonder she exudes a comfortable cool in her vocals—it’s in her blood being a relative of Bessie Smith. Portland Jazz Festival has dubbed Nanette the festival’s “2026 Portland Jazz Master.” What that is I don’t know, but she deserves it. "Welcome aboard Trans-Love Airlines."

Adopting an expansive understanding of the genre, the Portland Jazz Festival will host St. Vincent at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall on March 6. By no stretch of the imagination does St. Vincent, AKA Annie Clark, conjure sonic landscapes of jazz, though through her innovation of pop music, Clark often builds her compositions using jazz frameworks and instrumentation. Helping Clark early in her career by making her their roadie are Tuck & Patti, the openers of this special evening. The duo—Clark’s aunt and uncle—have been creating meandering guitar and vocal jazz since the early ’80s. It’s contemporary smooth jazz edging on the better-known new age of their Windham Hill label mates. The love and disco and heartbreak of St. Vincent didn’t materialize in a vacuum, it was developed through the influence of her aunt and uncle Tuck & Patti, as well as through the likes of influences-turned-collaborators David Byrne and Glenn Branca. This is a setting we may never see St. Vincent in again.

As an only child, I have zero concept of what it must be like to live in the shadow of a sibling, let alone a musical deity sibling. Roger Eno, the younger brother of Brian Eno, has the last name, but does he live up to it? Yes, he does. Involved in music exploration similar to that of his big bro, Roger recorded his first studio album, alongside Brian, in 2020. The result, Mixing Colours, has both the brothers’ ambient fingerprints all over it—music to soundtrack a candle-lit night, or a cool elevator ride, or as you’re reading the most recent copy of the Mercury at your favorite coffee shop. Vastly more gravitational are his albums since 2020, especially Without Wind, Without Air. Released on Halloween this year, the new installment incorporates more structure, more drama. Ambient, quite literally, is intended to fade into the background, putting you asleep. Without Wind, Without Air features clearer strings and pianos, and haunting vocals from Roger's daughter, Cecily Eno. The captivating show at Winningstad is sure to have you on the edge of your seat, or wrapped so warmly in the timbres that you’ll be out before the third song. 

The forever homies Dreckig continue holding Portland down with cumbia beats and krautrock precision. The duo, husband-wife combo Papi Fimbres and Shana Lindbeck, pull influence from their respective cultures of Mexico and Germany. After playing a basement show for a birthday of mine a few years back, a friend—in the bleak clutches of late-January mind you—said Dreckig's set was “life-giving.” If they can give life in a North Portland basement, imagine what they can do in the opening slot for Cochemea. The Yaqui multi-instrumentalist and composer builds ancestral soundscapes true to his lineage, simultaneously exploring and shaping its future. His list of collaborations is extensive, and includes work with The Roots, Amy Winehouse, Archie Shepp, Quincey Jones, Run The Jewels, and more. 

The Portland Jazz Festival isn’t a solitary mountain, but a range of mountains and valleys and sun and wind. Other festival pinnacles include Bill Frisell, as well as Portland’s Charlie Brown III, Stumptown Sires Jazz Orchestra, and Foamboy.