American Strings: Bob James and Mikael Jorgenson

Bob James’ music has made a mark in every decade since the 1960s and yet, he is far from a household name. Despite a prolific catalog and devoted audience, there’s a large segment of music fans who may not know his name or story but will instantly recognize his music.

“Bob James: Avant Smooth” is the story of jazz keyboardist, composer, arranger, and performer Bob James sitting down with Mikael Jorgensen of the band Wilco, son of Bob’s longtime recording engineer Joe Jorgensen, to discuss his challenges and successes across a genre-spanning music career from classical, to avant-garde, to jazz, and, very much by accident, Hip Hop.

Grammy-award-winning artist Mikael Jorgensen has been touring and recording with Wilco since 2002. Jorgensen cultivates projects parallel to Wilco, including Quindar, an electronic multimedia duo that remixes the NASA audio and film archives, and Expandards, a collaboration with the singer Isaac Koren that explores The American Songbook while composing new, expressionistic songs.

Now in its eighth year, PRAx and the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University present American Strings, a series of conversations and intimate performances with iconic musicians from the Americas whose perspectives shape our world. Prior guests have included Keb’ Mo’, Rosanne Cash, esperanza spalding, and many more.

Hosted by ethnomusicologist and public historian Kelly Bosworth, American Strings performances offer audiences the chance to hear artists play and reflect on their practice. In conversation, artists discuss process, biography, and the themes of their work. Conversation is followed by musical performance. Guests typically perform unaccompanied, but in select cases may appear with their ensembles.

Dr. Kelly Bosworth is Mary Jones and Thomas Hart Horning Assistant Professor of Public History and Ethnomusicology at Oregon State University, where she teaches courses such as “Social Change and American Popular Music” and “Musical Worlds of the Pacific Northwest.”She works at the intersection of sound, place, and belonging. Her research on music/sound/noisein U.S. history delves into the diverse archives of musicmaking, reconstructing often-silenced histories through the songs and sounds associated with place. Her PhD dissertation (Indiana University, 2024) explored “The Music of Miracle City: Vanport, Oregon and the Sonic Imaginaries of Multiracial Democracy.”