Bossa PDX plays Dom Salvador with Guest Laura Dreyer

$25 TICKETS | ALL AGES

Led by pianist Kerry Politzer, Bossa PDX is a Portland-based band that pays tribute to the masters of Brazilian Jazz and Bossa Nova. Kerry welcomes special guest saxophonist, Laura Dreyer for this evening's tribute to the music of Dom Salvador!

Saxophonist, woodwind artist, and composer Laura Dreyer is a vibrant and distinctive voice in the New York jazz scene. Her original compositions blend lyrical melodies with jazz and Brazilian rhythms, creating a contemporary sound marked by strong groove, color, and emotional depth.Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Dreyer has appeared at major festivals and venues including the Kennedy Center’s Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, Blue Note Napa, the Bill Evans Jazz Festival, Montavilla Jazz Festival, and Syracuse Jazz Festival, among many others in the U.S. and abroad. A prolific recording artist, she has released five albums as a leader: Mysterious Encounter, Sax in the City, Free Flying Bird, Vida. Arte. Amor.—recorded in Rio de Janeiro—and her most recent release, Água e Sol. She is also featured on Dom Salvador’s Grammy-winning The Art of Samba Jazz and has performed with his ensemble in Brazil, including at SESC Pompeía and the Cerrado Jazz Festival in 2025.In high demand as a multi-instrumentalist, Dreyer has collaborated with an extraordinary range of artists, including Dom Salvador, Antonio Adolfo, Dr. Billy Taylor, Mel Lewis, the Diva Jazz Orchestra, Robert Palmer, Nnenna Freelon, Amaro Freitas, Marcos Silva, and many others. She was a founding member and longtime arranger for the Diva Jazz Orchestra and rejoined the ensemble in 2021. In 2024, she received a Chamber Music America Performance Plus Grant.

Kerry Politzer is a Portland-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator. She is on the music faculty of Portland State University and Clackamas Community College, and has also taught at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing University, the University of Portland, and the University of Manitoba.

Prior to her latest album Alternate Route (Whirlwind Recordings), Kerry released eight jazz CD’s as a leader, including Blue in Blue, which featured saxophonist Donny McCaslin and was termed a “first-rate jazz outing” by AllAboutJazz.com. She has also been a featured sideman on albums of George Colligan, Laura Dreyer, and the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble (PJCE). Her commissions include works for the PJCE as well as a solo piano piece, “Microclimates,” for the pianist Andree-Ann Deschenes. This piece was featured on Modern Notebook with Tyler Kline.

In 2019, Kerry was awarded a Regional Arts and Culture Council Artistic Focus grant to explore the music of Brazilian composer Durval Ferreira. The project culminated in the August 2019 release of Diagonal: The Music of Durval Ferreira. Kerry continues to be inspired by Brazilian music.

The pianist has headlined the Montavilla Jazz Festival and performed at other festivals and venues including the 25th Annual Gene Harris Jazz Festival, the Black Dolphin, Jazz Forum, the Oregon Coast Jazz Party, Jazz in the Valley, Smalls, the Sound Room, and many others.