Jumptown: The Golden Years of Portland Jazz, 1942-1957

A fascinating blend of music, politics, and social history, Jumptown sheds light on a time and place overlooked by histories of Portland and jazz. For a golden decade following World War II, jazz talent and musical activity flourished in Portland. A thriving African American neighborhood–that would soon be bulldozed for urban renewal–spawned a jazz heyday rarely rivaled on the West Coast. Such luminaries as Duke Ellington, Charlie Parker, Oscar Peterson, Dave Brubeck, and Wardell Gray headlined Portland clubs and traded chops with the up-and-coming local talent. The Dude Ranch. Lil’ Sandy’s McClendon’s Rhythm Room. The Frat Hall. The Chicken Coop. The Uptown Ballroom. Jazz historian Bob Dietsche leads a guided tour of the main jazz spots–from supper club to dance hall–capturing the emotion, excitement, and energy of an evening on the town. His book for the first time collects hundreds of pieces of local jazz history–photographs, personal recollections, reviews, maps, handbills–to create an anatomy of a jazz village. Dietsche’s compendium of stories and moments brings to life the citizens of the jazz village–the musicians and dancers, the disc jockeys and promoters, the critics and music teachers, the club owners and patrons. Jumptown celebrates and preserves this rich cultural past and showcases its continuing influence. In an afterword, Lynn Darroch recaps the highlights in Portland jazz since 1968 and shows how Portland’s twenty-first-century jazz scene reflects the city’s original golden age, and the spirit of the Avenue remains in the sounds of today.