We are thrilled to welcome this year's guest artist, trumpeter Victor Garcia! Victor Garcia was introduced to music via the piano at age 4. At age 8, he began learning the guitar and singing with his father and brother in a Latin American-style trio, a setting in which he gained a deep sense of harmony. He began teaching himself to play the trumpet in high school, influenced by recordings of jazz musicians such as Dizzy Gillespie, Clifford Brown, Charlie Parker, and Freddie Hubbard, and by the middle of his senior year, he enrolled in the Merit School of Music, studying under Michael McLaughlin. He also gained some performance experience in the Horner Park Jazz Band, comprised almost entirely of senior citizens, and in the Gallery 37 Latin Big Band, funded by the City of Chicago.
By the time he left for college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Victor had begun playing with various Latin bands, including that of Ricky Luis (singer of N’Klabe of Universal Records), Angel Melendez & the 911 Mambo Orchestra, Johnny Rodriguez’s Latin Inspiration, and Papo Santiago & Infraverde. While at UIUC, Garcia studied with classical luminaries Ron Romm of the Canadian Brass, and the late, great Dr. Michael Ewald, as well as with jazz saxophone master Ron Bridgewater.
Victor subsequently transferred to Northern Illinois University due to an increasingly busy schedule in Chicago. There he studied with Dr. Mark Ponzo and jazz trumpet master Art Davis. Playing in the NIU Jazz Ensemble under Prof. Ron Carter, Victor had the opportunity to play with jazz greats Dennis Mackrel, Rufus Reid, Hammiett Bluiett, and Steve Turre. During this time, he met pianist Darwin Noguera, and before long, they founded the band now known as the Chicago Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble (CALJE). The band features original works as well as arranged cover material and consists of world-class musicians, such as Tito Carrillo, Ernie Adams, Steve Eisen, and Greg Ward. CALJE has performed at jazz festivals such as the Chicago Jazz Festival, the Isthmus Jazz Festival, and the Made in Chicago Jazz Series, the latter of which included special guests Howard Levy, Brian Lynch, Paoli Mejias, and Steve Turre.
Garcia continues to freelance in Chicago and beyond. Notable performances including the Montreal Salsa Festival with Angel Melendez, a live DVD recording at the Grand Ballroom in Navy Pier with Ernie Haase & Signature Sound, the Blues & Brews Fest in Telluride, CO, with Lubriphonic, winning the Grand Prize at Buddy Guy’s Legends for the Union League Club Jazz Improvisation Competition (2009), and playing aboard Oprah Winfrey’s Trip Of A Lifetime Mediterranean Cruise with Walt Cunningham. He also has had the opportunity to play with countless salsa artists, some of whom include Michael Stuart, Frankie Negron, Cano Estremera, Marvin Santiago, Tony Vega, Alex D'Castro, Tito De Gracia, La India, Bobby Valentin, Ismael Miranda, Larry Harlow, Victor Manuelle, Jerry Rivera, and Jimmy Bosch. He has also performed with jazz legends including Bill Holman, Roger Ingram, Jon Faddis, Ignacio Berroa, Arturo Sandoval, Luis Bonilla, and Doc Severinsen, with R&B celebrities Aretha Franklin, BeBe Winans, and the Temptations, and with rock band Spoon. He has recorded on dozens of albums, two of which earned Grammy nominations in 2005 and 2008 (Angel Melendez & the 911 Mambo Orchestra and Sones de Mexico), and one of which was nominated for a Latin Grammy in 2007 (Sones de Mexico). He maintains a busy teaching schedule at Loyola University Chicago, the Chicago Jesuit Academy, and the Music Institute of Chicago, as well as through his own private studio.
Originally from Dexter, Oregon, SteepleChase recording artist Joe Manis was the recipient of a 2013 Oregon Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship. Recent Joe Manis Trio appearances include Fat Cat NYC, the Shedd Institute’s jazz series, Jimmy Mak's, Tula's, the Cathedral Park Jazz Festival, and the Montavilla Jazz Festival. Manis has performed on NPR's Jazz Night in America, hosted by Christian McBride.
Manis has toured Europe as a duo and in a trio with David Friesen, where they recorded Structures, a live album. He also appears on Risky Notion (Four stars & Best Albums of 2015, DownBeat Magazine) on Origin Records with George Colligan's Theoretical Planets. Manis has played with Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, including a performance at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, and appears on their album Rise Up! on Real World Records. He has also performed with the George Colligan Quartet, the Chuck Israels Jazz Orchestra, the Ken Schaphorst Big Band, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Johnny Mathis, the Temptations, comedian Bob Newhart, Wayne Newton, the Oregon Symphony with Gladys Knight, the Portland Opera, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Sunriver Music Festival Orchestra, the Eugene Symphony, and the Eugene Opera.
Manis has presented jazz masterclasses across the country, including at University of Nevada, Reno, Whitman College, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Oregon, Ferris State University, Central Washington University, Willamette University, Portland State University, Southern Oregon University, Oregon State University, Western Oregon University, Pacific University, Lower Columbia College and Mesa, Glendale, Portland, Spokane Falls, Mt. Hood, Clackamas and Lane Community Colleges. He received a Master of Music in Jazz Studies-Performance with Academic Honor from the New England Conservatory and a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from the University of Oregon. Additional studies were at the Eastman School of Music. He is a current faculty member at the University of Oregon and Lane Community College and a former music faculty member at Portland State University and Umpqua Community College. His article "Rhythmic Analysis: Jeff 'Tain' Watts - 'Housed From Edward'" was published in the March 2012 edition of JAZZed Magazine.
Jessika Smith is an award-winning jazz composer, saxophonist, and music educator. She teaches at Parkrose Middle School and High School in Northeast Portland, and she directs the Jessika Smith Big Band. She plays frequently with jazz groups throughout Oregon and Washington, including Torrey Newhart’s Obsidian Animals, the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble, Okzat-Ozkat and the Frank Irwin Sextet. Jessika has worked with numerous young jazz groups in the Northwest, and frequently adjudicates jazz festivals and competitions along the west coast. She is the Jazz area chair for the Oregon Music Educators Association. Jessika studied Jazz Composition and Arranging with Steve Owen at the University of Oregon, and has played and recorded professionally with many groups, including the Bob Curnow Big Band, Spokane Jazz Orchestra, the Columbia Basin Jazz Orchestra, the Emerald City Jazz Kings, and the Portland Jazz Composer’s Ensemble. Her first album with PJCE records, “Tricks of Light”, features "Lights", which was the 2013 winner of the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra Composition Contest, and "Cyan Thread", which won the 2015 NBA Young Jazz Composer Contest. Jessika is proud to be a featured composer with Brava Jazz Publishing. She has written commissions for PJCE, Seattle JazzEd, Seattle Saxophone Institute, the Columbia Gorge Orchestra Association, and the Reno Jazz Festival. Her compositions have been played all over the world, including by the UNT 1 O’Clock and 7 O’Clock Lab Bands, Sapphire Jazz Orchestra, the University of Missouri, Iowa Women’s Jazz Orchestra, Ole Miss, the Seattle Women’s Jazz Orchestra, University of Nevada Reno, and many Northwest school jazz bands.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
