Adriana Wagner is an up-and-coming trombonist and composer based in Portland, Oregon. Wagner earned her Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Portland State University, studying with George Colligan and Darrell Grant. She formed her quartet in 2022 and his since been featured in the PDX Jazz Festival, Vancouver Wine & Jazz Festival Creative Music Guild Festival and Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble as well as regularly performing at the 1905. Her original compositions weave styles together under a decided jazz banner, submerging the listener in visionary storytelling. As a performer, Wagner uses lyrical elements to create melodies combined with a soft, rich tone that can resonate above or become immersed within the composition’s harmonic structures.
“She Sleeps, She Wakes” was born from perspectives of heartbreak, struggle, perseverance, and resilience. It has been a lifelong journey to be able to externalize these emotions of Wagner’s existence. “She sleeps” represents the peace of slumber and unfiltered creativity drawn from the subconsciousness. “She wakes” is the realization of these visions into the living world. It is a dance between the two realms that has created the music that lives within this album.
The rhythm section featured on the album all contribute their unique perspectives to the music while lending the humility and space for everyone’s voice to shine through. Wagner chose these musicians because they all play with vulnerability and a dedication to the music that has no limits.
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She was selected for the Young Jazz Composers program, highlighted by an in-depth article from Oregon Arts Watch. Wagner was recently named one of the inaugural recipients of the Music Oregon Echo Fund grant to help create her debut album, which she is releasing on PJCE Records. Wagner has immersed herself in the Portland scene, performing with artists such as Brown Branch Big Band, George Colligan, Domo Branch, Lily Sheers, Nicole McCabe, Pleasure, Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble, PDX Jazz Presents: The American Refrain, Cambalache Orquestra and Pura Vida Orquestra.