Join us for our free concert series with top Portland musicians! Pack a lunch or stop by one of the many nearby eateries at NE 24th and Glisan. Bring your food in (no pork or shellfish, please) and come and hear the music!

The concerts will feature small ensembles and soloists that are semi-acoustic and always enlivening. The EJC welcomes seniors, parents and kids, students, and all others. What better thing is there to do on a Friday afternoon?!

This month’s concert features Vince Brown. Vince has been a performing guitarist for over 50 years. He has played at venues & festivals, in pit orchestras and recording studios around the world and now lives quite happily in his adopted hometown of Olympia, Washington. While he has worked in any number of genres from funk to country, it is perhaps jazz and swing music for which he is best known.

Join us for our free concert series with top Portland musicians! Pack a lunch or stop by one of the many nearby eateries at NE 24th and Glisan. Bring your food in (no pork or shellfish, please) and come and hear the music!

The concerts will feature small ensembles and soloists that are semi-acoustic and always enlivening. The EJC welcomes seniors, parents and kids, students, and all others. What better thing is there to do on a Friday afternoon?!

Mavrothi Kontanis is an eternal student of music on a range of instruments and voice, focused especially on the older music of Greece and the Near East. Based in the US but with roots in Halkidiki, Greece, he is known better as a singer in some circles or as a teacher in others, but feels most at home crafting a melody with an oud in his hands.

By keeping an open mind and drawing from his diverse experiences as a Greek and as an American, Mavrothi performs and creates music that is both Eastern and Western; old and new.

EJC Klezmer Jam

The people have spoken and what they've asked for is a Klezmer jam at Eastside Jewish Commons! Let's have one on a Sunday afternoon. Bring your instruments, sheet music, heart and soul, and don't worry about ability--this is a (facilitated) jam for all. We'll settle in and play for a couple of hours. Once you sign up, materials from the other jams will be sent to you and perhaps even new material! If you have a song to share, please bring it! Also if you play an instrument that is non-concert, i.e. Bb, you'll have to be ready to transpose or make your own versions (don't worry if you don't know what this means; it's mainly for clarinet and trumpet players who read sheet music). 

Feel free to eat here (maybe it will start to become a Klezmer brunch), just no pork or shellfish. N.B. this is not a show, so while you might have a family member or two with you this is really not a place to listen to music but rather it’s a place to participate.

2 PM All Ages. Free, but please consider making a donation at checkout.

Made possible in part by the Yiddish Arts and Culture Initiative for Jewish Communities at the Yiddish Book Center.

Join us for our free concert series with top Portland musicians! Pack a lunch or stop by one of the many nearby eateries at NE 24th and Glisan. Bring your food in (no pork or shellfish, please) and come and hear the music!

November continues our three-month collaboration with PSU’s Jazz Vocal department, bringing the best and brightest future jazz performers to EJC. Come out and support the next generation of Jazz at EJC!

The concerts will feature small ensembles and soloists that are semi-acoustic and always enlivening. The EJC welcomes seniors, parents and kids, students, and all others. What better thing is there to do on a Friday afternoon?!

AJ is a pianist, composer, and music educator based in Portland, Oregon. Shortly after moving to the US from the Philippines, AJ started classical piano lessons at the age of 5 years old. During his years studying classical piano, he participated in the National Federation of Music Clubs, in which he earned numerous awards for Outstanding Piano Solo and Concerto performances. Upon attending his first two years of college at Mt. Hood Community College, AJ was first introduced to the art of jazz music, and began studying with Mike Horsfall, and eventually Clay Giberson. His interest in jazz sparked and began to grow, which led him to transfer and study at Portland State University as a Jazz Piano major, studying with esteemed professors and musicians, George Colligan & Darrell Grant. AJ will graduate with a Bachelor’s of Music In Jazz Studies this Spring and will continue to work as a teacher and musician in the greater Portland area. Outside of music, AJ enjoys spending time with his fiancé, Clair, family, and friends.

Sunday October 13th 7-8:30 pm
at Eastside Jewish Commons, 2420 NE Sandy Blvd. Portland, OR
Live band, Square Dancing lessons, social dance and drinks!
All ages, no experience required, $5 suggested donation per person.

Did you know that in ancient times, the maidens of Jerusalem would dance in the vineyards at the end of Yom Kippur? Join us at the beginning of 5784 as we dance to ring in the new year. Register here.

A night of Yiddish electronic music, dancing, and singing along.

This is an afterparty for the Red Thread Concert at EJC. Doors at 9:30, Dj at 10 PM.

All ages, $10.

Register Here

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Enjoy our free monthly concert series with top Portland musicians! Pack a lunch or stop by one of the many eateries at NE 24th and Glisan, bring your food in (no pork or shellfish, please) and come hear the music! These concerts are semi-acoustic and always enlivening. What better thing is there to do on a Friday afternoon?!

Kerry Politzer is a Portland-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator. She is on the music faculty of Portland State University, and she has also taught at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University, the University of Portland, and the University of Manitoba.

Kerry received her music degree from the New England Conservatory of Music where she studied improvisation and composition with the late jazz guru Charlie Banacos,

She has also been a featured sideman on albums of George Colligan, Laura Dreyer, and the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE). Her commissions include works for the PJCE as well as a solo piano piece, "Microclimates," for the pianist Andree-Ann Deschenes.

In 2019, Kerry was awarded a Regional Arts and Culture Council Artistic Focus grant to explore the music of Brazilian composer Durval Ferreira. The project culminated in the August 2019 release of Diagonal: The Music of Durval Ferreira. Kerry continues to be inspired by Brazilian music and studies Portuguese in her spare time.

Ben Graves Guitarist & Composer

Ben was born and raised in Tennessee, close to the musical cities of Nashville and Memphis, where he discovered his love of blues, rock, and jazz. Influenced by Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and John Coltrane at an early age; Ben has developed a style blended with not only jazz elements, but Latin, classical and world music as well.