GEORGE at Performing Arts Building

GEORGE plays the Performing Arts Building on Saturday, October 17, at 7 PM. The quartet is the headliner for the night, and they're sharing the bill with 3rio — Machado Mijiga, Andrew Jones, and Mike Gamble — and special guest Morgan Luker. The whole thing closes out Night 5 of the Improvisation Summit of Portland, which Reed College and the Creative Music Guild are presenting together.

GEORGE was put together by composer and drummer John Hollenbeck during the pandemic. He brought in Anna Webber on tenor saxophone and flute, Sarah Rossy on voice and synthesizer, and Chiquita Magic on synthesizers and voice. The band's name is a tribute to George Floyd, and they pull from a wide constellation of other Georges too: George Washington Carver, George Clinton, George Orwell, and George Saunders. Their debut album, Letters to George (Out Of Your Head Records, 2023), was called a "remarkable debut" by AllMusic. This year they put out Looking for Consonance, which they recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin.

Critics have described their sound as a blend of vintage funk and futuristic electronica, and they've been reviewed in Pitchfork and DownBeat. There's a lot of individual weight behind the names here: Webber was voted top "Rising Star" composer in the 2026 DownBeat poll and was a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow, and Hollenbeck has earned six GRAMMY nominations. The show is free, and it takes place in Room 320 of the Performing Arts Building at 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd, on the Reed College campus in Portland.