Lamb played the first season of the Jazz at the Oxford series, then took over booking and producing in 2015 after series founder Marshall Glickman departed.

Poke around patricklamb.com for a bit, and you’ll find no shortage of evidence that jazz saxophonist and vocalist Patrick Lamb works in the music business.

His official bio touts his tours with big stars like Gino Vanelli, Diane Schuur and Smokey Robinson and his hits on the Billboard charts. His tour dates include gigs across the world, including his own Christmas show. He’s got his own busy event production company, he started a successful ticketing company, and he is a longtime member of the Oregon Music Hall of Fame.

Talk to him about his day-to-day work, though, and he’ll offer up a very simple mission statement.

“We’re in the happiness business, and I’m passionate about that,” he said. “It’s a way of connecting people. I love bringing something new (to town) and seeing different fresh faces come together musically and really enjoy it.”

Lamb has been doing exactly that for a decade in Bend, where he puts on the popular Jazz at the Oxford concert series at the Oxford Hotel downtown. Founded in 2010 by Marshall Glickman, the series has hosted world-class jazz performers over five or six weekends each winter ever since. Lineups over the years have included touring artists such as Bernard Purdie, Diane Schuur, Lao Tizer, Connie Han, The Bad Plus, Arturo O’Farrill and Jeremy Pelt.

Lamb played the first season of the series, then took over booking the artists and producing the shows in 2015 after Glickman departed. Because of his broad experience in the jazz scene — he helped operate Portland’s legendary jazz club, Jimmy Mak’s, for years — he is able to use his personal contacts to bring artists to Bend, alongside the typical methods of research, cold calls to booking agents and buckets of persistence.

“It’s a blend of people I meet on the road and people who reach out to me, and then I’ll be really passionate about certain artists and I’ll just hound them,” he said with a laugh. “I try to bring in a mix of artists that really fit into what I know people will like and then also artists who are a little bit outside the box.”

Lamb’s special blend is working. Jazz at the Oxford is held in the hotel’s basement, which staffers dress up to feel like an intimate, upscale jazz club with high-quality food and drinks. The room is full every time, and patrons are buying “more and more” season passes, he said.

Lamb is just part of the equation, of course. He is quick to praise both the Oxford’s staff — “the kindest, most responsible five-star people I think I’ve ever worked with” — and its owners, the Baney family.

“Without their vision, this just wouldn’t happen,” he said. “It’s not like this is a money-making event, you know? It’s a thing that’s good for the community, and I appreciate their commitment to it.”

On Feb. 7-8, Lamb will return to the Oxford stage to play three shows of his own music — something he is somewhat reluctant to do precisely because he also books the series. But people have been asking when he is going to perform, and as we know by now, Patrick Lamb is in the business of making people happy.

“It’s a big world, I like to try different things, and I just get a lot of joy out of bringing people together through music,” he said. “We’re creating something here that has become a central part of what some people think about when they think about music, and I love that.”

Patrick Lamb’s groovy new single “Mint Condition” came out Monday, Jan. 27. Hear it in all the usual places and learn more at patricklamb.com.

If You Go

Who: Patrick Lamb plays Jazz at the Oxford

When: 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, 5 and 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8

Where: Oxford Hotel, 10 NW Minnesota Ave., Bend

Cost: $68

Contact: jazzattheoxford.com or

541-382-8436