The return of Senor Music Man.

Senor Music Man was abducted by a group of evil garage band junkies and held hostage in the basement of Dante's; strapped to a chair, fed a steady diet of Chicken McNuggets and forced to listen to the entire Journey catalog over and over again.  It was painful.

Back in the "swing of things", we caught a show at the Scottish Rite Center last night; one of the first shows of the current Portland Jazz Festival  .  You need to look at the schedule; there are great shows and events happening all week.

Some personal recommendations:

PSU Student Stage - noon to 6pm today - youth bands from all around the area including the 2012 and 2013 winners of the Jazz Society of Oregon's Jeff Cumpston Trophy (Battleground and Lincoln).  Make sure you at least check out the band from Lincoln High; they include a superb vocalist in their septet.

Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts at Jimmy Maks on Wednesday.

The Kenny Garrett Quartet at the Winningstad on Thursday.

Jack DeJohnette with Ravi Coltrane, Matthew Garrison, and George Culligan at the Newmark on Saturday.

I would put Esperanza Spaulding's Sunday show at the top of the list but that show sold out (probably the day after she won her 2nd and 3rd Grammys).

Back to last night's show:  Art Abrams Swing Machine featuring Rebecca Kilgore.  This was a Stan Kenton tribute session.  Frankly, I don't care who Art and the boys are covering (he described Rebecca as one of the boys, OK?), if I am in town and not in ICU, I am there.  I love this band and what this man means to our local music scene.  The Swing Machine is 18 top local musicians led by our local legend, Art Abrams.  And Rebecca, looking lovely in her gold sequins, was a perfect fit for the June Christie interpretations of the Stan Kenton playbook.  We hadn't seen Rebecca in a couple of years and were reminded of how well she sings; no tricks, just beautifully singing the songs the way they were written.

The show was opened by The Shanghai Woolies, a great opening act for this show (and a fine headliner on their own).  They presented a mix of original tunes and covers of traditional jazz (gypsy jazz flavored).

OK; I'm back and Journey sucks!

Next up; PSU Sound Stage today and Bureau of Standards Big Band (with Kat Cogswell at Tony Starlights on Friday