Presented by PDX Jazz
Rebecca Kilgore and Nancy King are among Portland’s Jazz Royalty. They are set to make an exceedingly rare appearance together on October 3 at the Winningstad Theatre and will be joined by the remarkable Veronica Swift, who performed with Benny Green to a capacity audience at last February’s PDX Jazz Festival. A Night of Jazz Vocalese is curated as a For Portland Only experience and will also include the stalwart rhythm section composed of Steve Christofferson, Tom Wakeling and Charlie Doggett.
A Night of Jazz Vocalese will feature all singers individually, as well as paired and together as a fiercesome threesome. 2013 Portland Jazz Master Nancy King has been an enduring figure on past Jazz Festivals, appearing several times with Kurt Elling, most recently on the 2018 tribute to Jon Hendricks. Rebecca Kilgore’s last two festival performances were memorable, performing as part of Art Abrams’s tribute to Stan Kenton and in duet with Dave Frishberg. Swift has exploded onto the scene after being honored as the 2017 Thelonious Monk Competition runner-up, and is set to release her long awaited debut album, Confessions, a masterful document of her current moment, and a beautifully crafted business card for her far-reaching skill set. Swift, who has toured and performed with Wynton Marsalis and Chris Botti, continues to forge ahead in her creative pursuits, writing new music and architecting new ways to match her incredible technique—from ballad-singing to scatting—with choice repertoire and expert band-leading.