Jazz Has a High Point of Entry, Both Culturally and Financially. A New Showcase Wants to Change That.

options are still limited for this city’s younger generation of jazz musicians, and for jazz-curious audiences who can’t shell out a lot of money for a ticket. So Rossi, a vet of both Portland’s jazz and rock scenes, began mulling a plan. One night, after hoisting a few pints, he decided to just go for it. “Honestly, at like 1 am I just thought, ‘Well, I’ll reach out to my favorite musicians and see what happens,’ and I started emailing around,” he says. “Amazingly, I started getting responses the next day. That actually ended up with us landing Justin Brown, who is Thundercat’s drummer, in February at the Liquor Store.”