The Signature Musical Event of Black History Month in Portland will present the audience opportunities to experience and understand the literary giant’s work via a multi-media off-Broadway-style stage performance combining history and the artistic excellence of Portland jazz musicians.

In honor of Black History Month and the 100th anniversary of the publication of Langston Hughes’ first collection of poetry, The Weary Blues, Jerry Jazz Musician Experiences is staging a multi-media off-Broadway-style production headlined by prominent Portland entertainers that will include jazz music in the style of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, performance poetry, and stunning historic visual imagery. The event will be presented in partnership with the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

The evening will be headlined by the performance poet Emmett Wheatfall, winner of the prestigious 2024 Oregon Poetry Association Patricia Ruth Banta Award, and a jazz quartet made up of musicians led by the drummer Christopher Brown, and including pianist Darrell Grant, trumpeter Noah Simpson, and bassist Garrett Baxter. During the two-set show (with intermission), Wheatfall and the band will perform several poems from The Weary Blues that helped define Hughes’ career, including “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “The Weary Blues,” “I, Too, Sing America,” and “The Dream Keeper.” Historic photography and art from the era will be projected on the screen behind the performers. This immersive experience will provide attendees with an opportunity to understand the complexity of the era and the profound and enduring impact Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance have had on American culture. Maude Hines, Professor of English, Chair of Black Studies, and affiliated faculty of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies at Portland State University, will give a 30-minute talk, “Jazz Rhythms in Harlem Renaissance Poetry,” to interested ticket holders prior to the event. She will also appear at the Literary Arts bookstore on February 1, 2026, for an hour-long free lecture on Hughes and the jazz poets of the Harlem Renaissance. Mr. Wheatfall will accompany her and read a sampling of Hughes’ poetry.