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TAKE FIVE! One reason for this month's title is that there's a good chance you'll be reading this on May 4. Perhaps a reminder to take five. And you also may notice on page 4 Jack Berry's wonderful review of Take Five -- Doug Ramsey's biography of the life and times of saxophonist Paul Desmond.
More than that, though, the month of May is an opportunity for your JSO board and volunteers to take a short break! Thus, our shot at Take Five.
The all-out effort of First Jazz and the Portland Jazz Festival is behind us, and the summer season of festivals and events is not yet upon us. It's a good time to reflect a bit, and to look ahead. It's also a time of our fiscal year coming to a close, and election of new board members and officers.
Right now, the Jazz Society of Oregon is in the best financial shape of recent years. We have a strong board of directors that is hard working, collaborative, and effective. We have a new and constantly improving website.
Our Education Committee has new members, and is moving forward with a lot of activities for young jazz musicians. JSO continues to build strong partnerships with the other organizations that promote jazz in the Northwest. All our members have much to be proud of!
Looking ahead, we have need of volunteers for Cathedral Park, Mt Hood and Newport Festivals. We will have a gigantic CD, DVD and record sale on Saturday, May 21. We're planning our annual summer picnic, and we're investigating possible venues for presentation of national artists in an intimate setting. Next month we'll unveil a new JSO logo.
Further down the line, we're already planning next year's First Jazz. As you know, we have a tradition of honoring a local jazz musician by including them in the JSO Hall of Fame. We would be very interested in who you might think would be a worthwhile nominee.
The best way of looking at criteria would be to consider our past honorees: Dan Balmer, Mel Brown, Dave Frishberg, Tom Grant, Rebecca Kilgore, Nancy King, Ron Steen, Eddie Wied and Leroy Vinnegar.
Who on the Portland jazz scene would be a logical choice to join this stellar group? Send me your nominee and reasons for your choice via an email (address below) or to the JSO address in this issue of your Jazzscene.
The Jazz Society of Oregon will hold our annual meeting at Wilf's on May 10 at 6PM. We'll be electing new board members, and the new board will elect officers for the coming year.
Please join us, and play your part in the exciting plans for our 2005-2006 year. It promises to be our best year ever!
Chuck Carpenter
President, JSO
JSOChuck@aol.com
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