For over 40 years, Italian trumpeter Enrico Rava has graced the jazz world with dramatic sounds ranging from Don Cherry to Chet Baker. An ECM recording artist, Rava traded in his trombone for a trumpet at an early age after hearing Miles Davis. With one listen to Rava’s music, the Davis influence is apparent. Rava employs all of the best qualities of an introspective and atmospheric Davis ballad and leaves the listener in thought-stimulating awe. Rava will make his jazz festival debut with a new album, Tribe, along with his 40-year repertoire of compositions.

“Italy has yet to produce a more accomplished jazz musician than the trumpeter Enrico Rava. Since the late 1960′s, when he was a knockabout presence on New York’s thriving avant-garde scene, Mr. Rava has earned a reputation for incisive instincts and an appealingly burnished tone. Somewhere along the line, he became both a part of Italian popular culture and, more meaningfully, a mentor to many of his country’s best aspiring players.” – The New York Times

For more information about the 2012 Portland Jazz Festival, please visit www.pdxjazz.com.

Tickets available at the PCPA Box office (1111 SW Broadway, open M-SA 10-5), Ticketmaster (800-745-3000, outlets, online link above), and PDX Jazz (133 SW 2nd Ave. Ste. 240, open M-F 2-5:30).

A 3-show package of PDX Jazz Festival concerts in Winningstad Theatre is available for $88.05 (select seating) at the PCPA Box Office and PDX Jazz Office only. Concerts included are Thara Memory (2/17/12), Enrico Rava (2/18/12), and The Jazz Passengers (2/19/12).