Portland music, remembered in real time.
Oregon Music News is a long-running set of conversational interviews with Oregon musicians, festival figures, record-store lifers, and jazz educators. The talk is unhurried and local, moving from a baritone guitar or a sold-out festival set into the stories that explain why the music matters.
PRESS PLAY
Oregon Music News is built around the kind of conversation that only happens when the interviewer already knows the room. It is local without feeling small. The show returns again and again to Portland and Oregon music people: jazz players, record-store owners, educators, festival organizers, producers, and musicians with new bands or new records to talk through. A typical episode does not race toward a neat takeaway. It starts somewhere concrete, then follows the guest’s memory. Chris Doss can look back at the Biamp Portland Jazz Festival and end up talking about local artists, sold-out showcases, Bill Frizzell, Mavis Staples, and the depth of Portland talent. Terry Currier can discuss the future of Music Millennium, then drift into what kind of character and music passion a successor would need. Chance Hayden can begin with a baritone guitar and turn a piece of gear into a small lesson in how players think. Joe Maness can arrive through a new album, George Colligan, teaching, and the daily life of a saxophone player in Portland. The jazz episodes have real scene literacy. They mention players, programs, ensembles, arrangements, and instruments without making the listener feel shut out. The non-jazz conversations still carry that same musicianly curiosity, especially when Darka Dusty talks about travel to Ukraine, dental care, friendship, and processing what she has seen. The tone is warm but not packaged. There are jokes. There are pauses. There are moments when a guest riffs and the conversation simply lets that riff breathe. Paul K. Ward appears in the machinery of the show as engineer, producer, editor, and a person talking with musicians, which gives the series another layer of working-musician texture. Tom D'Antoni’s Coffee Shop Conversations feel especially rooted in accumulated trust. The show is strongest when it treats music as work, memory, community, and habit all at once. It is for listeners who want to hear how scenes are actually held together. The reward is not hype. It is proximity: a close-up sense of Oregon music people talking among themselves, with enough context for everyone else to listen in.
Made for: For listeners who care about jazz, Oregon music culture, record stores, festivals, and the working lives behind local scenes. It especially suits people who enjoy patient interviews with musicians and festival people who have history in the room.
What sets it apart: The show’s strength is its lived-in access: guests are not treated as press-cycle stops, but as people with long ties to Portland stages, schools, stores, and festivals. Its looseness becomes the point, letting craft talk and local memory surface naturally.
Podcast by Oregon Music News
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Oregon Music News records how musicians, educators and festival organizers sustain the state's music life through candid, detail-rich conversation.
Tom D'Antoni treats Oregon's music community as a living network, drawing out the connections among musicians, educators, record makers and festival organizers.
Portland jazz history pulls up a coffee-shop chair, and Tom D'Antoni lets the good tangents breathe.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Chris Doss connects sold-out shows, Portland talent, and festival choices that made this year's event feel especially strong.
Chris Doss's post-festival conversation turns a recap into a wider portrait of Portland's jazz ecosystem, with local musicians not just appearing around the edges but helping fill rooms and carry the story.
A grounded post-festival debrief on sold-out shows, Portland jazz programming, and local texture.
Chris Doss looks back on the Biamp Portland Jazz Festival from just beyond the finish line, still close enough to feel the momentum and the relief.
Darka Dusty turns a Ukraine trip into a warm, wandering conversation about friendship, dentistry, memory, and what stays behind.
Darka Dusty turns a coffee shop conversation into a reflective account of time spent in Ukraine, moving from Kyiv in spring to Lviv in September.
A patient, detail-rich conversation on Charlie Gray's PSU jazz legacy, student composers, and arranging as a living ensemble practice.
Charlie Gray's retirement from teaching opens onto the story of how Portland State University's jazz program took shape under his direction across 27 years.
Gordon Lee follows a jazz lineage through Jim Pepper, David Ornette Cherry, Don Cherry, and the tears Pepper could bring forward.
Gordon Lee's return turns a simple catch-up into a warmly connected portrait of jazz relationships, moving from a memorial tribute to David Ornette Cherry to an upcoming album and his years with the Mel Brown Septet.
A loose Artichoke conversation turns a recent Grammy win into a reflective talk about making things.
Cheryl Pavelski's recent Grammy opens the door to a wider conversation about weather, writing, pain, and the odd path from first idea to finished work.
Jazz first, lounge after dark.
Musicians, memory, and the living bandstand.
WHPC chaos with trivia reflexes.
Jazz conversation with room to breathe.
Soulful selections with club-scene memory.
Composer-pianist Darrell Grant discusses his new album 'Our Mr.
Jazz pianist and composer Gordon Lee returns to the podcast to discuss his busy schedule.
A host shares a rediscovered 1990 radio interview with composer-pianist Carla Bley, including station breaks and commercials.
Sarah Tiedemann discusses Third Angle New Music's 2023-24 season, reflecting on the exhausting yet fulfilling post-COVID return with sold-out shows and a strong sense of community.
Norman Sylvester, the Boogie Cat, discusses his band's 40th anniversary celebration concert at the Alberta Rose Theater in Portland.
Host interviews Grammy-winning compilation producer Cheryl Pawelski about her recent win for the Stax Songwriter Demos box set.
Chris Doss, executive director of the Biamp Portland Jazz Festival, says the post-pandemic festival had 12 sold-out shows, with 50% selling out well in advance.
Chris Doss, executive director of the Biamp Portland Jazz Festival, says the event's strongest post-pandemic year included 12 sold-out shows, with half selling out well in advance.
Terry Currier discusses his decision to retire and hand over ownership of Music Millennium after 42 years.
Tom D'Antoni interviews guitarist Chance Hayden about his baritone guitar and his busy music career.
Paul K.
Darka Dusty compares Lviv and Kyiv’s street life, air-raid routines, and public trust with the armed spectacle she saw in Portland near the ICE building.
Charlie Gray describes turning Portland State University’s jazz offering from a single jazz band into a jazz major and master’s degree over roughly 10 years.
Reggie Houston returns to Coffee Shop Conversations to discuss his new band and upcoming birthday gig in Portland.