Rebecca Kilgore, Portland-based swing and Great American Songbook vocalist, dies at 76 after long illness

A central figure in Portland’s traditional jazz community

Rebecca “Becky” Kilgore, a Portland-based jazz vocalist and rhythm guitarist known for interpreting swing-era repertoire and lesser-known standards from the Great American Songbook, died on Jan. 7, 2026, in Portland. She was 76.

Over a professional career that spanned more than four decades, Kilgore became closely associated with a style of vocal jazz rooted in 1930s and 1940s phrasing and songcraft, while maintaining an active presence in Portland’s club and festival circuit. She was recognized locally and nationally through recordings, touring appearances and radio broadcasts, and was inducted into the Oregon Music Hall of Fame in 2010.

From Massachusetts to Portland, and a late start that became a defining story

Kilgore was born Sept. 24, 1949, in Waltham, Massachusetts. She moved to Portland around age 30 and began building a professional music life after joining the Wholly Cats, a local swing band with which she made an early recording in 1982. That relatively late transition into full-time performance became a notable element of her biography, cited by peers and writers as evidence of her self-directed study and persistence.

Her reputation grew through live work in Portland and collaborations that connected her to the national traditional-jazz network—musicians, festivals and specialized labels that have continued to document pre-bop and swing repertoire.

Long-running collaborations and a recorded legacy

Among Kilgore’s most visible partnerships was her collaboration with musician-composer Dave Frishberg, whom she began working with regularly in 1991 during recurring performances at Portland’s Heathman Hotel. The relationship produced multiple duo recordings and helped define a public image built around precise diction, comic timing and close attention to lyric meaning—qualities that also fit Frishberg’s writing. In 2024, she released a tribute album dedicated to Frishberg following his death in 2021.

Across her career, Kilgore appeared as a leader or featured vocalist on more than 50 albums, performing with a wide roster of jazz musicians including tenor saxophonist Harry Allen, trombonist Dan Barrett, and guitarists Bucky Pizzarelli and John Pizzarelli.

• Known roles: vocalist and rhythm guitarist
• Primary repertoire: swing standards and under-recorded songs from the American popular tradition
• Key Portland milestone: regular work that linked local venues to a broader touring ecosystem

Honors, broadcasts, and late-life illness

Kilgore made multiple appearances on national radio programs, and performed in major venues including Carnegie Hall. In addition to her 2010 Oregon Music Hall of Fame induction, she was recognized by Portland’s jazz presenting community in 2020 with a Portland Jazz Master honor.

In her later years, Kilgore experienced cognitive decline that was ultimately diagnosed as Lewy body dementia. Public benefit fundraising was organized in 2024 to support her long-term care. A memorial in Portland is being planned for late May or early June.

Kilgore is survived by her husband, trumpeter Dick Titterington, and her sister, Jane “Jenny” Kilgore.