Darrell Grant’s DG3

Darrell Grant’s DG3

Jazz pianist Darrell Grant, called “a jazz visionary” by All About Jazz, is appearing at The Liberty Theater with his exciting new piano trio DG3 featuring special guest vocalist Dani Bravo. 

A bandleader, composer, and influential educator, whose 2022 release The New Black: Live at Birdland was called “thrilling” and “a definitive statement.” Darrell was named Portland Jazz Master by PDX Jazz in 2019. In 2020, he received the Governor’s Arts Award, Oregon’s highest arts honor. With the DG3, Grant draws on the formative influences of piano giants Ahmad Jamal, Ramsey Lewis, Joe Sample, and Herbie Hancock, and blends in contemporary sounds of a new generation of voices like Cory Henry and Robert Glasper. 

Grant’s 30-year catalog of original compositions and arrangements are fuel for the inventive explorations of drummer/producer Machado Mijiga and the electric bass virtuosity of Sam Arnold, two musicians who represent the vanguard of today’s jazz. The DG3 traverses from jazz, African, and soul grooves, to Grant’s harmonic reimaginings of pop classics by Laura Mvula, James Taylor, and John Lennon.

Darrell Grant 
Since the release of his debut album Black Art, one of the New York Times’ top ten jazz CDs of 1994, Darrell Grant has built an international reputation as a pianist, composer, and educator who channels the power of music to make change. He has performed throughout the U.S., Canada, and Europe in venues ranging from Paris’s La Villa jazz club to the Havana Jazz Festival. Dedicated to themes of hope, community, and place, Grant’s compositions include Step by Step: The Ruby Bridges Suite honoring the civil rights icon, The Territory which explores Oregon’s landscape and history, and Sanctuaries, a jazz chamber opera exploring gentrification. Since moving to Portland, Oregon, he has been named Portland Jazz Hero by the Jazz Journalist Association, received a Northwest Regional Emmy, and received a MAP Fund grant and the Governor’s Arts Award. He is a Professor of Music at Portland State University where he directs the Artist as Citizen Initiative.

Machado Mijiga
Multi-instrumentalist and Portland native Machado Mijiga wears many hats, both literally and metaphorically. Classically-trained, jazz-weathered, and eclectically inclined, Mijiga left the proverbial creative “box” at a very early age, with access to many instruments and a diverse musical background brought about by an intercultural heritage. Mijiga is a musical polymath; composer, producer, bandleader, educator, gear fanatic, and audio engineer, to name a few. Authenticity and uniquity assume the locus of Mijiga’s artistic identity. Self-expression is the prime directive, and the medium of choice changes like the weather.

Sam Arnold
Sam Arnold is a native Oregonian and has been active in teaching and performing in the Portland music scene for over a decade. His first endeavor into music occurred when he picked up the trombone in middle school band, followed by piano, bass, and guitar; all of which he still plays to this day. Sam studied music at Portland State University where he received his Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education. He is an active freelance performer and recording bassist, and a private teacher and clinician for the Portland Public School District. He has played with groups and artists such as Stelth Ulvang (The Lumineers), Y La Bamba, greaterkind, Korgy & Bass, Mbrascatu, Brian Jackson, LaRhonda Steele, Mike Phillips, Mae.Sun, Quickly Quickly, Sarah Clarke, Haley Johnsen, Reva Devito, The Eugene Ballet/Orchestra Next, and Portland Summerfield Opera. Sam proudly endorses MTD basses and Bartolini Pickups.