Don’t be downbeat

The Oregon Coast Jazz Party is back and cooler than ever

John Clayton

For most concerts, the audience knows who is going to walk onto the stage, who is going to play with whom and, quite often, exactly what music they are going to hear.

The Oregon Coast Jazz Party has spent more than two decades having considerably more fun than that.

When the 22nd annual party returns to the Newport Performing Arts Center this Friday, Oct. 2, through Sunday, Oct. 4, it will once again bring some of the country’s finest jazz musicians together in constantly changing combinations, creating the kind of musical conversations that can only happen when accomplished players are given room to listen, respond and improvise.

But this year, those conversations will carry an added emotional weight.

The 2026 Oregon Coast Jazz Party will celebrate the legacy of Ken Peplowski, the internationally renowned clarinetist and saxophonist who served as the party’s artistic director from 2021 through 2025. Peplowski, who died earlier this year, had been part of the event long before taking its helm, appearing repeatedly in Newport beginning in 2006.

Stepping into the role of interim artistic director is Grammy-winning bassist, composer and educator John Clayton, another longtime friend of the party who has appeared in Newport numerous times since his first performance at the event in 2006.

Clayton will be one of the anchors throughout the weekend, joined by a lineup that combines Jazz Party veterans with newer faces.

Pianist Taylor Eigsti, bassist and vocalist Katie Thiroux and drummer Jeff Hamilton will join Clayton as prominent players across the weekend. Flutist Holly Hofmann also returns to Newport, where she has a particularly deep connection to the event. Hofmann served as artistic director from 2006 through 2018 before co-directing the party with Peplowski in 2019.

Trumpeter Terell Stafford is another familiar face, having appeared at the party repeatedly since 2011, while pianist Randy Porter has been part of the event on and off since 2006. Thiroux has appeared five times since 2015 and Hamilton returns after previous appearances in 2011, 2012 and 2017. Trumpeter Byron Stripling last played the party in 2014.

Joining them are tenor saxophonist and vocalist Camille Thurman, guitarist Anthony Wilson, clarinetist Jacob Scesney, drummer Darrell Green and young tenor saxophonist Kiara Rouse. Drummer Greg Williamson is also scheduled to join the Sunday afternoon session.

That abundance of talent is where the “party” part of the Oregon Coast Jazz Party becomes important.

Rather than having one established band play a conventional set and leave the stage, musicians are mixed into different combinations from session to session — and sometimes from one half of a session to the next. The format creates opportunities for players who might rarely perform together to find common musical ground in real time.

That ever-changing lineup is part of a tradition that stretches well beyond the current incarnation of the Jazz Party.

Serious jazz gatherings on the Central Oregon Coast can be traced to the Otter Crest Jazz Weekend in 1978, when the Jazz Society of Oregon brought nationally known musicians to the Inn at Otter Crest. Although that early festival was not a financial success, it helped demonstrate that there was an audience for high-level jazz well beyond the urban nightclub circuit.

Over the years, the Jazz Party stage has hosted an extraordinary collection of musicians, including Monty Alexander, Bill Charlap, Anat Cohen, Larry Coryell, Wycliffe Gordon, Grace Kelly, Russell Malone, Charles McPherson, Houston Person, Regina Carter and many others.

What has remained consistent is an atmosphere that is considerably less formal than the caliber of musicianship might suggest.

The Alice Silverman Theatre puts the performers close to the audience, while the Newport Performing Arts Center’s Meyer Constellation sound system helps create an environment designed to let listeners hear the subtleties of those musical exchanges. The location, just blocks from Nye Beach, adds another element to a weekend that has long attracted visitors from throughout the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

This year’s gathering will also mark a new partnership between Oregon Coast Council for the Arts and The Jazz Cruise, which is helping produce the event. Proceeds from the jazz party benefit the Newport Performing Arts Center.

Single-session tickets are $65 for standard seating and $75 for preferred seating. A pass covering all four sessions is $250.

The party kicks off at 7 pm on Friday, Oct. 2, continues with sessions at 1 and 7 pm on Saturday, Oct. 3, and concludes with a 1 pm session Sunday, Oct. 4. The Newport Performing Arts Center is located at 777 W Olive Street. For more information, go to coastarts.com or call 541-265-2787.