about rivkah

Rivkah Ross is a Portland-based drummer, composer, and bandleader.

Rivkah’s debut album Dare to Hope (PJCE Records) marks the arrival of an inspiring new voice in modern jazz. Moving effortlessly between beautiful melodies and gritty, angular rhythms, her music embodies defiant triumph and hope. A first-generation American raised by a single mother, Rivkah brings a message of hard-won optimism to every note.

Taking a page from her hero, Roy Haynes, and paying homage to giants like Coltrane and Shorter, Rivkah is pushing jazz forward with a sound unapologetically all her own.

Rivkah is a native Pacific Northwesterner. She has performed her original compositions at the Montavilla Jazz Festival and the PDX Jazz Festival. Her other projects include the Stumptown Sirens, Portland’s first all-female big band, which made their debut appearance on the PDX Jazz Festival in 2026 to a sold-out crowd. Rivkah’s drumming hero is Roy Haynes, and in 2026 she put together The Rivkah Ross Sextet, which played two sold-out Roy Haynes tribute sets at The 1905, Portland’s dedicated jazz club.