Julian Lage Quartet

Julian Lage brings his quartet to Newmark Theatre on Friday, October 16, as part of the PDX Jazz Presents series. He's playing with John Medeski, Jorge Roeder, and Kenny Wollesen, with support from Laura Itandehui.

The set centers on Scenes from Above, Lage's second full-length album with producer Joe Henry and his first with this particular lineup. The record grew out of a writing sprint Lage started in the waning days of 2024, as he prepared for a four-day residency at SFJAZZ and the premiere of a quartet of old collaborators who had never recorded together. If you've kept up with his recent work, you'll recognize the shift: where 2024's Speak to Me was his grand statement as an improvising bandleader, Scenes from Above is about being a band member himself.

Lage describes the music as folkloric, and the influences he lists make that clear. He draws from Susana Baca and early calypso, the American blues, and Béla Bartók's integration of Romanian and Hungarian tunes. The nine tracks were recorded at Sear Sound in New York, and they all hover around the four-minute mark, keeping the songs concise rather than letting them stretch into long jams. Hearing that material live with the quartet—Medeski, Roeder, and Wollesen—is the point of the night.

It's reserved seating, doors open at 7:30 PM, and all ages are welcome. The show is at Newmark Theatre, 1111 SW Broadway, in downtown Portland.