DIANE SCHUUR “JAZZ CONVERSATION” W/ ASHLEY KAHN

2022 BIAMP PDX JAZZ FESTIVAL
DIANE SCHUUR “JAZZ CONVERSATION”
W/ ASHLEY KAHN

P5 ARTBAR  | 4.30 PM – 5.15 PM
FREE Community Event

Long regarded as one of Contemporary Jazz’s leading vocalists, Diane Schuur is as eclectic as she is brilliant. Born in Tacoma, Washington, Schuur was blind from birth; but she was gifted with perfect pitch and three-and-a-half-octave vocal range. She initially taught herself piano by ear and later received formal piano training at The Washington State School for the Blind, which she attended until she was 11 years of age. Schuur’s latest recording Running On Faith was co-produced by Schuur and Grammy winning saxophonist Ernie Watts.

With a distinguished recording career that spans over three decades, including two Grammy awards (Timeless and Diane Schuur and The Count Basie Orchestra), as well as three additional GRAMMY® nominations, Schuur’s music has explored almost every corner of the American musical landscape. Her musical collaborations include the aforementioned Count Basie Orchestra, B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Jose Feliciano, among countless others. These collaborations have resulted in numerous top Billboard Chart recordings, including Pure Schuur and Heart to Heart with B.B. King.

Ashley Kahn is a GRAMMY® winning music historian, author and producer, a wearer of hats, is wary of autocrats, loves jazz but is allergic to cats. He co-wrote Carlos Santana’s autobiography The Universal Tone: Bringing My Story To Light, and has written titles on legendary recordings Kind of Blue by Miles Davis and A Love Supreme by John Coltrane, and a record label: The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. His most recent book, George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters was published in August 2020. He teaches at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute for Recorded Music.

Ashley has been our esteemed guest interviewer since 2020 in conversations with Archie Shepp, Brian Jackson, Stanley Jordan, Harold López Nussa, Judith Hill, director John Scheinfeld and more.