Sat | Aug 26, 2023
1:45 - 2:30 PM | The Ne Plus Ultra Jass Orchestra
Since 2016, The Ne Plus Ultra Jass Orchestra has been delighting audiences with the music of the roaring 20s and Depression era 30s. Under the leadership of master showman Sammuel Murry-Hawkins, the ensemble transports audiences to the golden age of Hot Jazz and Sweet Dance Music, specializing in the tunes of Cab Calloway, Irving Berlin, Duke Ellington, and George Gershwin. The Ne Plus Ultra Jass Orchestra is recognized as one of the most authentic early jazz ensembles on the West coast.
Gates open at 3:00 PM
7:00 - 8:00 | Bottleneck Blues Band
The Bottleneck Blue Band was the 2015 Muddy Awards Winner for Best New Blues Band. Followers of the three Kings: BB, Albert, and Freddie, their music is red, hot, funky blues. They play the kind of music that makes people dance!
The musical lineup for the 2024 Festival is in progress. Check back periodically for updates!
(Below is our 2023 Lineup.)
Northwest Bands
4:00 - 5:00 PM | Norman Sylvester Blues Band
Norman Sylvester was born in Bonita, LA in 1945. His earliest influence came from hearing gospel singing in church, and blues greats like BB King and T Bone Walker coming from the Juke Joints on the back streets of town. His first professional gig was in 1963 with the legendary Isaac Scott, and by the late 70s, he was performing with Buddy Guy and Albert Collins. Norman is an Oregon Music Hall of Fame inductee and is recognized by fans and critics as one of the best bluesmen in the Northwest.
Gates open at 11 AM
Northwest Bands
11:45 AM- 12:30 PM | Taylor Newville & The Riders
Taylor Newville is a Portland native and grew up in the local music scene. She was a finalist in the Journey to Memphis Finals at the 2023 Portland Waterfront Blues Festival. An "Up-And-Coming" young artist, Taylor has performed at The Waterfront Blues Festival, Berbati’s Pan, Satyricon, Memorial Coliseum, Hawthorne Theater and The Crystal Ballroom.
3:00 - 4:15 PM | Sue Foley
Sue Foley is a multi-award-winning musician, and one of the finest blues and roots artists working today and has shared the stage with greats such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, and Billy F Gibbons. Her latest album, Pinky’s Blues is a raw, electric guitar driven romp through the backroads of Texas, and debuted at #4 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart. In 2020, she won “Traditional Blues Female” at the International Blues Music Awards in Memphis, holds the record for the most Maple Blues Awards including “Best Guitar Player,” and has earned three Trophées de Blues de France.
“This country’s finest blues guitarist” - Toronto Globe And Mail
12:45 - 1:30 PM | Sunday Gospel Brunch - Pianist Dave Lee
Portland, Oregon pianist, composer, and producer Dave Lee has been a professional working musician for the past 48 years, performing with various rock, jazz, blues, gospel, pop, and country bands over his long career. Set up your blanket or lawn chairs, get a glass of wine, good BBQ or seafood from one of our restaurants, and join us for a "Sunday Gospel Brunch."
Sun | Aug 27, 2023
7:15 - 8:30 PM | The Blind Boys of Alabama
The Blind Boys of Alabama are recognized worldwide as living legends of gospel music. Celebrated by The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) with Lifetime Achievement Awards, inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, and winners of five Grammy® Awards, they have attained the highest levels of achievement in a career that spans over 70 years. The Blind Boys are known for crossing multiple musical boundaries with their remarkable interpretations of everything from traditional gospel favorites to contemporary spiritual material by songwriters such as Eric Clapton, Prince, and Tom Waits. They have appeared on recordings with many artists, including Lou Reed, Peter Gabriel, Bonnie Raitt, Willie Nelson, Aaron Neville, Susan Tedeschi, Ben Harper, Patty Griffin, and Taj Mahal. The Blind Boys of Alabama have also appeared on The Tonight Show, Late Night, The Grammy® Awards, 60 Minutes, The Colbert Report and many other television shows.
"Their sound remains rich and timeless..." - The New York Times
Fri | Aug 25, 2023
Northwest Bands
8:15 - 9:30 PM | Spyro Gyra
"Music Legend" is usually marketing hyperbole. Not so with Spyro Gyra, which has long been known to its peers in the contemporary jazz world as a “well oiled road machine” due to its relentless schedule of nearly 50 years of performing. To date, they have logged more than 10,000 shows on six continents and released 35 albums, garnering platinum and gold records along the way. Spyro Gyra rose from humble beginnings in Buffalo, New York in 1974 to their current international - and legendary - prominence in the jazz world. They continue to exhibit how to remain among a relative handful of artists who are able to mark 50 years in the business next year. Their energy and joy in concert mirror their unmatched musicality, Join us for a virtuosic closing performance on Saturday night after a day FILLED with great music!
5:30 - 6:45 PM | Pascal Bokar Afro Blue Grazz Band
Born in Paris and raised in Mali and Senegal, West Africa, guitarist / vocalist Pascal Bokar Thiam grew up hearing the musical, harmonic, melodic, rhythmic, dance and spoken word traditions of his West African music and culture. His Afro Blue Grazz Band is an Afro Funk powerhouse that blends the musical legacies of West African instruments such as the Ngoni (banjo) or Balafon (ancestor of the xylophone) with Americana, Jazz, Blues, and Bluegrass into a uniquely multi-cultural expression of West African and African American traditions. The band has performed and headlined at over 60 jazz festivals nationwide and abroad. Dr. Bokar Thiem is Director of the University of San Francisco Jazz Band, and the author of several books on African music.
“…he moved his players through a relentless groove, fed by drums, congas, keyboards and – most surprising and delightfully – fiddle and banjo…” – Downbeat Magazine
2:00 - 3:15 PM | Sue Foley
Sue Foley is a multi-award-winning musician, and one of the finest blues and roots artists working today and has shared the stage with greats such as B.B. King, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, and Billy F Gibbons. Her latest album, Pinky’s Blues is a raw, electric guitar driven romp through the backroads of Texas, and debuted at #4 on the Billboard Blues Albums chart. In 2020, she won “Traditional Blues Female” at the International Blues Music Awards in Memphis, holds the record for the most Maple Blues Awards including “Best Guitar Player,” and has earned three Trophées de Blues de France.
“This country’s finest blues guitarist” - Toronto Globe And Mail
Gates open at 11 AM
11:45 AM- 12:30 PM | Pianist Jasnam Daya Singh
Brazilian pianist and composer Jasnam Daya Singh has performed throughout Latin America and the United States, and now makes the Pacific Northwest his home. His impeccable technique and his introspective playing endear him to audiences - and musicians - alike.
Friday Headline Artist
8:30 - 9:45 PM | Tommy Castro & The Painkillers
Throughout his long, constantly evolving career, guitarist, singer and songwriter Tommy Castro has always remained true to himself while exploring, growing and creating new music, and he has taken his thousands of devoted fans right along with him. Since his solo debut in 1994, he’s made 16 albums. Ranging from horn-fueled R&B, to piping hot blues, to fiery, stripped-down rock ‘n’ roll, each release is solidly built upon Castro’s unshakable musical foundation—a dynamic mix of 1960s-influenced guitar-fueled blues, testifying Memphis-soaked blue-eyed soul and Latin-tinged East San Jose funk, all driven by Castro’s grab-you-by-the-collar vocals and passionate guitar work. Blues Revue declared, “Tommy Castro can do no wrong.”
“Soul-baring roadhouse blues….top notch Memphis soul.” - Washington Post
5:30 - 6:30 PM | Adam Scramstad Acoustic Blues Americana
Adam Scramstad is an award winning Solo Acoustic Finger-style & Blues Musician, born and raised in Oregon. Scramstad’s repertoire covers a broad range of early American Folk and Blues, although he is primarily known as a strong and creative songwriter in his own-right. Adam’s debut Solo album "No Sun Around Blues" climbed to #33 on the Roots Music Radio Blues Chart.
“Tasty old-time guitar" - Corvallis Gazette Times
2024 Festival Dates: August 23, 24, 25
24th Annual / Esther Short Park / Vancouver, WA USA
4:45 - 6:00 PM | Alison Brown Quartet
Alison Brown throws out the textbook when it comes to playing the banjo and the result is a sound that blends the rugged drive of bluegrass with the harmonic sensibilities of jazz, earning vast acclaim and a GRAMMY award in the process. After touring with Alison Krauss and Union Station, she formed The Alison Brown Quartet in 1993. Alison has recorded 12 critically-acclaimed solo albums and received multiple GRAMMY- nominations. Alison is the co-founder of the internationally recognized roots music label Compass Records Group which Billboard Magazine has called “one of the greatest independent labels of the last decade.” Compass Records Group oversees a catalog of nearly 1,000 releases across multiple label imprints, including Red House Records, Green Linnet and Mulligan Records.
“…Alison Brown …has pushed the boundaries of folk and bluegrass...” ROLLING STONE
Artist Website: CLICK HERE | Music Video: CLICK HERE
Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival
12:45 - 1:30 PM | Adriana Wagner Jazz Quartet
Trombonist and composer Adriana Wagner draws inspiration from a wide array of influences, combining traditional and modern jazz sounds. Based in Portland, Oregon, she was selected for the Young Jazz Composers program (CLICK) and was named one of the inaugural recipients of the Music Oregon Echo Fund grant to help create her debut album, to be released in 2023.
6:30 - 7:45 PM | Bonerama
In its 25th year, Bonerama is a New Orleans-based trombone fronted brass rock band that fuses everything that has made that city’s music famous into a genre defying gumbo. The band - 3 trombones, sousaphone, guitar & drums – has taken the best elements of rock, soul, fusion, pop, jazz, funk, brass, gospel, and blues to forge its unique sound. Equally adept at delivering extraordinary originals or blistering covers of artists as diverse as Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, and The Allman Brothers, Bonerama’s distinctive, inimitable, genuine, one-of-a-kind sound is unmatched, high-energy, and fun. It’s current full-length album, “Bonerama Plays Zeppelin” (Basin Street Records), was one of the best-selling albums at the 2019 New Orleans Jazz Fest. The band’s most recent release, the “Empty World” single features Michael McDonald of the Doobie Brothers.
3:45 - 5:00 PM | Grace Kelly
An unequivocal musical prodigy, singer-saxophonist-songwriter-composer and band leader Grace Kelly has rocked the jazz world with sold-out concerts, 14 acclaimed albums and a resume that includes performing at the Hollywood Bowl as well as being part of the house band for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” – all before reaching her mid-twenties. Kelly’s early career featured performances at age 14 as a soloist with the Boston Pops playing an original composition arranged for the legendary orchestra. She has since played over 1000 shows as bandleader in 35 countries at venues like the Kennedy Center and Moscow Symphony Hall and for the Montreal, Newport, and Montreux international jazz festivals. Touted for her scorching saxophone stylings and purring vocals, Kelly has performed and recorded with renowned artists including Lin Manuel-Miranda, Dave Brubeck, Lee Konitz, Phil Woods, Huey Lewis, Harry Connick Jr., Gloria Estefan, Questlove, and Wynton Marsalis.
“[A] jazz innovator... Making jazz young” – BILLBOARD