Darrell Grant Jazz Musician

Day 9 - Darrell Grant @darrelljazz Darrell Grant is a pianist, composer, and educator. His work centers hope, community and social change. His honors include a Northwest Regional Emmy, @orartscomm Fellowship, MAP Fund grant, Jazz Journalists Assn Portland Jazz Hero award, & Oregon Governor’s Arts Award. As Professor of Music at Portland State University he codirects the Social Justice & the Arts degree program. 1. What/Who do you consider as your community? I identify as a Black artist, which connects me to those who share my cultural background. As an Oregonian, I feel rooted in this place and connected to those working to sustain it. As a jazz artist, I belong to a liberatory tradition shaped by creativity, resistance, and social change. 2. What kind of world are you building? I am trying to help build a world grounded in compassion, justice, beauty, and radical hope. A world where more people have freedom, agency, and opportunity to realize their full potential. A world that turns toward practices that sustain life and community, rather than systems built on extraction, fear, and limitless consumption. 3. What does "prosperity" and/or "growth" mean to you? Prosperity means creating the conditions necessary for flourishing, and making those conditions accessible to more people. It means unlocking resources so communities can thrive without fear that basic needs will go unmet. Growth means movement toward positive change, while recognizing that real growth is cyclical, and includes decay, renewal, death, and rebirth. PC - Shante Sims, Henry Cromett April 26th denotes the first day of 250 days left in 2026. The "Portland 250 Artist Project" highlights one artist from our Portland region, everyday through the end of 2026. This project makes visible the artists, creatives, and culture bearers who are the lifeblood of community joy, vibrance, safety and resilience!  Artists are critical stakeholders in our region's civic health. Join this journey with me and 250 community artists who create thought provoking work that fuel our culture and enliven our collective well-being. #pdx250artistproject #community #artsaveslives #valueartists #community

Back on S.S., on the other side of a block + grateful for the hang and vistas at the 2026 @renojazzfestivalunr 🙏🏿 Read 'A Shout-out to What Is' about overthinking and overcoming over on SS. Reno peeps and highlights: @trptjosh ,@mradambenjamin , @peterepsteinmusic , @maiyasykes , @carlshultzmusic , @baileyhinkleygrogan ,

I’m excited to present a screening of this powerful film as part of the PSU Social Justice and the Arts program on Friday 4/17. Doubly so because I had the opportunity to work with this seminal artist Sekou Sundiata early in my career. I have to agree with Greg Tate’s quote that he is to contemporary African-American poetry what Marvin Gaye was to modern soul music. Join us if you can. It’s free.

We’re excited to welcome pianist, composer, and educator Darrell Grant as one of our Artist Educators at the Reno Jazz Festival! An internationally acclaimed artist whose debut album Black Art was named one of the New York Times’ Top 10 Jazz CDs of 1994, Grant’s work explores themes of hope, community, and social change through music. At the Reno Jazz Festival, he’ll share his artistry and insight with the next generation of jazz musicians.

I got to reconnect with the one and only Cyrus Chestnut at @pdxjazz last night. His set was everything Jazz Piano can be— tasteful, elegant, playful, creative powerful, and so so swinging! The young lion has become a master.👊🏾🙌🏾🙏🏾

Portland friends, I’m proud to present our PSU Rhythm Lab Ensemble in primetime this Friday night. These students, most of them non-jazz majors, continually inspire me with their work ethic, adventurousness, perseverance, and willingness to take on crazy-hard music!! They truly embody “Jazz without Boundaries.” Come check them out!🖤👊🏾🙌🏾✌🏾

Y'all know that I am deeply invested in place. Projects like The Territory and my Piano in the Elliot Forest initiative were inspired by gratitude for the land and all that it brings us. I'm part of this project to compose 12 new string quartets (yearoftrees dot org), and have been thinking about the trees I'd like to write about. Here's one of them. I call him "Grandfather." He is a grand coast redwood in Lair Hill Park in SW Portland. I regularly visit Grandfather when I need perspective, a feeling of shelter, or just a place to shed some tears. He is the reason I agreed to be part of this special project that is all about connecting trees, music, and community members to each other. I'm working to find 12 people who can give $75 to support my part of the project - would you be willing to donate? More information at yearoftrees dot org. . . . . . #jazzcommunity #stringQuartet #BlackComposer Sequoia sempervirens Pacific Northwest jazz composers elders

🌲 MEET THE COMPOSERS | DARRELL GRANT 🎶 ABOUT DARRELL GRANT: ✏️ Since the release of his debut album Black Art, one of the New York Times’ top ten jazz CDs of 1994, Darrell Grant has built an international reputation as a pianist, composer, and educator who channels the power of music to make change. He has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe in venues ranging from Paris’s La Villa jazz club to the Havana Jazz Festival and recently made his debut as a soloist with the Oregon Symphony. Dedicated to themes of hope, community, and place, Grant’s compositions include Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite; The Territory, which explores Oregon’s landscape and history; and Sanctuaries, a jazz chamber opera exploring gentrification. Since moving to Portland, Oregon, he has been named Portland Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalist Association, received a Northwest Regional Emmy, an Oregon Arts Commission Fellowship, a MAP Fund grant, and the Governor’s Arts Award. He is a Professor of Music at Portland State University, where he directs the one-of-a-kind Social Justice & the Arts degree program. 🌳 TREES THAT INSPIRE DARRELL: Giant Sequoia Western Red Cedar Pacific Madrone Learn more about this project at YEAR OF TREES🌲ORG @darrelljazz @portlandstate #giantsequoia #pnw #redcedar #pacificmadrone #darrellgrant

So proud to have produced "The Weary Blues: Celebrating Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance," which was performed to a sold-out audience at Portland's Alberta Abbey on Feb. 7. Sensational work by the poet Emmett Wheatfall, Christopher Brown (drums); Darrell Grant (piano); Noah Simpson (trumpet); and Garrett Baxter (bass) interpreting the poetry of Langston Hughes. All under the direction of Rhonda R. Dorsett. Shall we do another performance, Portland?

I'm excited to join a host of big-hearted musicians who will be calling members of our beloved communities, singing to them, and reminding them they are loved and appreciated this Saturday. Today is the last day to book your Surprise Serenade at surpriseserenade dot com! With Surprise Serenade, one of us will: 💟 Call your loved one 💟 Sing a song to them 💟 Surprise them with care 💟 Tell them they are loved and thought of by YOU 💟 & possibly evoke joyful tears What do you say? Want to spread some love with me? . . . #lovewins #spreadJoy #blackJoy

Hey y’all, I’m excited about revisiting the Harlem Renaissance this Saturday with The Weary Blues performance, a tribute to Langston Hughes. I’m here about one week out trying to channel my inner Eubie Blake, playing a song from the very first black musical on Broadway, Shuffle Along, called “I’m Just Wild About Harry” — but very slowly. Hope to see ya Saturday, February 7, 2026 7:30 pm Alberta Abbey @coutureofmusic @jerry.jazz.musician @ewheatfall @simpsonaire @instagrarrett #langstonHug #harlemrenaissance @albertaabbeypdx jazz piano

An update on ticket sales for "The Weary Blues", Feb. 7 at Alberta Abbey in Portland. VIP tickets are now sold out. Student seating (which is no charge) is very limited. General admission tickets remain but are selling fast. Get your tickets at Albertaabbey.org. Hope you can make it to the signature musical event of Black History Month in Portland! Starring Emmett Wheatfall, Christopher Brown, Darrell Grant, Noah Simpson and Garrett Baxter.