He owns Monday nights at Jimmy Mak’s:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Watch “Galaxy” by Go by Train

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Watch “What’s Going On?” Mel Brown B-3 Group, the Thursday night band at Jimmy Mak’s

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“Are We There Yet” Balmer with the Portland Jazz Orchestra

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The very young Mr. Balmer playing with theTom Grant Band at the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival in 1983

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Mel Brown / Painting by Diane Russell

Editor’s note: This was published on OMN’s first day. Not many folks saw it. Now that we’re pretty popular, I wanted to give it another shot.

Start with drummer and leader Mel Brown and Thara Memory, the band’s Musical Director.

Thara knows how it happens but he says, “I’m not telling that. I’m not telling THAT. I’m not telling it.”

A little later he says, “I believe in that thing that Elvin Jones said. Someone asked him ‘How come you guys sound like that when Trane plays?’ He said, ‘Because we’re willing to die for one another.’ And so when I hit the bandstand, that’s what I expect from everybody, that they’re willing to die for one another that night.

“That’s the real reason.”

That’s the conclusion. Here’s the beginning and middle.

The Tuesday night band / The Mel Brown Septet

Personnel from left to right if you’re facing the stage:

Gordon Lee

Gordon Lee, piano

Gordon Lee is the kind of pianist who always surprises. There is a distinct pleasure in hearing any musician and never really knowing what’s coming next. It is the thrill of discovery and it’s why we sit and listen, as opposed to getting up and dancing, although there is the kind of dancing you do in your seat when you find your leg is moving in time and you don’t remember starting to move it.

Anticipating a Gordon Lee solo is like anticipating a journey you know will take you someplace you’ve never been before and bring you home happy.

Stan Bock, trombone

Stan Bock is a big ole bald bone player whose personality reflects his instrument.  He’s got something to say, and goddamn it, you’re going to listen. You have to, it’s a trombone. His occasional scatting is in the same vein.

Warren Rand, alto saxophone

Warren Rand is on the same wavelength as Lee.  He’s brainy and his solos are short but leave you breathless.

Thara Memory / Painting by Diane Russell

Thara Memory, trumpet (Musical Director)

Brilliant composer, performer, teacher, trickster, musical psychologist, muse and Mel Brown notwithstanding, the reason this band is what it is.

Derek Sims, trumpet

Derek Sims was in a tough spot.  He replaced Thara Memory when Thara became incapacitated.  His personality is totally different. He isn’t flamboyant, but he has monster technique from his training as a classical trumpeter. He doesn’t try to do too much. The role of the trumpet in the band has changed but certainly not for the worse.

Renato Caranto, tenor saxophone

Renato Caranto is full of soul.  The other members of the band call him “Soulfinger,” and they count on him to express the heart of the band.

Andre St. James

Andre St. James is a wonderful bassist in a town of virtuoso bass players.  His combination of rhythmic heft and acute interplay with Brown can often get lost in the blasting of the horns.  Worth focusing on him for those reasons alone.

Mel Brown, drums

He has what Memory calls, “Actual accurate rhythm.” He started out in Portland playing behind strippers, moved quickly into the upper-echelons of drummers as a very young man, was on the road with Motown’s Diana Ross and the Temptations.  Came back to Portland and formed the basis of this band 25 years ago with Memory, Lee, bassist Tim Gilson, and saxophonist Michael York.

Sitting in on tenor and alto saxophone:

John Nastos

Was one of Warren Rand’s students. Began sitting in with the band at age 15. Left to attend and graduate from the Manhattan School of Music. Came back and is very active in several bands.

Disclosure: John is Webmaster for Oregon Music News

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note: Jof Lee is on piano.

In the mid-1980s Brown was getting tired of the road and wanted to settle back in full-time in Portland. He had been playing with Thara Memory for over a decade in bands of all sizes and during that time the two of them had developed a musical telepathy that they had not found with anyone else.

When Brown came home, he and Memory started a new band, a quintet with Lee, Gilson and York. The unspoken communication between Brown and Memory strengthened. “Mel and I could play all night long without talking to each other,” Memory said. “That’s the truth. We just started practicing the band to do that.”

Let’s hear from Thara, Mel, Gordon, Warren and John on just how things work:

Mission Statement:

Thara: All of our moves are to feature Mel Brown. It doesn’t matter how well they solo. Everybody solos anyway. It’s like having that bowl of soup and putting Mel Brown in the middle. If you get some splashed on you that’s really cool.

At the beginning:

Gordon: 1986 was another world. Mel called me to do a gig at the Hobbit, the primary jazz club in 1986. 39^th & Holgate. Notorious club.  Very mixed audience. Lot of social backgrounds. I thought we were just going in for 2 weekends. Our gig got extended again and again.

Thara: I was playing with Mel 15 years before the Hobbit.In the early days we had lots of configurations of this band. We had a mean big band. We were settled about playing together. I just wasn’t going to let go. By the time we got to the Hobbit we were one of the better bands in the country.

Mel: I had been playing in Motown, Diana Ross and The Tempts but I was ready to get off that road.

Stan Bock

Stan: First time I heard the 5 piece band in the 80s, I was still on active duty and the Air Force Big Band that I was directing at the time played right before them. So I was in the audience and I was dumbfounded. This is amazing!

Gordon: I think there are different stories about that. We played at the Mt. Hood jazz festival and we only had 45 minutes. We wanted to show what we can do, why don’t we segue from one song to another, who needs to hear the end? So then other musicians would say, “Oh yeah that’s the band that doesn’t know how to end a song.” It started out of necessity. I had heard bands do that before. I saw Sun Ra segue for 3 hours and Art Blakey had done that. Mel really like it and he said let’s start.

Mel: I had been playing that way in soul and R&B bands for a long time.

How DO they play non-stop like that?:

Thara: This is an early James Brown concept. It’s how he pulls it off. I paid a price to learn how to do this. You can do it several ways.  All I know is that there are things that have to hook up for it to happen and if they don’t hook up, they don’t hook up, it ain’t happening. You’ve got different levels of things happening. You got your lower level, you’ve got your middle level and then you’ve got you highest level.

Gordon: The technical problem is all about how you join one song to another. Because we all were willing to put the time in we figured out ways to do it. Thara figured out ways. After we did it so many times and we got used to it, we could do it without rehearsing. For a long time, we tried out a bunch of different approaches in rehearsal until we found one that worked. Making a seamless show was very time consuming.

Warren Rand

Warren: We put in the necessary rehearsal time. If you get in with Thara Memory and you give him some time then he’ll  start sculpting. He’s a musical sculptor and a presenter like very few I’ve ever worked with. How do we present this music? What do we want them to see? How do we want them to see it? What the audience gets is something that he’s always been particularly good at sensing. How to we make the music our own? What do we need? We have six people in this band and every one of them needs to be featured. What is it each one of them is best at doing?

Stan: We have a two inch thick book that you see up there of 200 tunes. We don’t have any idea when we hit the stage of what we want to do. Thara would read the audience to see what the audience would like. He’s looking at the audience and seeing what they need. It’s a delicate ballet because he’s also seeing what the musicians on stage need and he’s trying to reconcile those two things.

Gordon: We learned a lot in the rehearsal process. Usually it’ll be one soloist who has a cadenza – an a capella solo – and they will set up the next song. But we started to bounce it around. Sometimes I might be piano or drums or one of the horns. Thara was getting more and more into his conducting thing and we got into the practice of not having a full count-off to get into the song and that meant we watched Thara to give the downbeat. That’s what classical orchestras do all the time. Eventually all of us would do that. These are basic conductor skills.

Thara: The only thing I will say is that I have a knack  for bringing the best out of any individual player. And I won’t tell you how. Once I find out how the cat thinks, I won’t tell you how I use it. That’s the whole thing. That’s what we do. I’ve seen other people try it, and they give it up real soon. You know why? Because it’s not a holistic approach.

They’re out there having fun and entertaining and tearing up the stuff. I want to play in a band like that. I want to play in a band where work doesn’t seem like work. When they get there, you just put it on them. Play till you can’t play no more

Getting from one tune to the next:

John: There’s a whole system of communication that goes on onstage.  The first and most obvious type is how the group communicates the choice of a song.  Sometimes this is just the musical director calling out the name.  Other times, it’s a hand signal.

Stan: If we’re doing Hammerhead, we make a fist and hit ourselves on the head with it. If you see somebody looking like their putting a big glove on hand, that’s Hand In Glove, a Cedar Walton tune.

Gordon: Moose the Mooche is a hand held up over the back of the head like moose antlers

Warren: Wayne Shorter’s tune called Tom Thumb is somebody’s thumb up in the air like you were hitchhiking. Two fingers behind my head is Gordon Lee’s song Sitting Bull.

Stan: Gordon is the master of the musical segue. He’ll take a cadenza that might last even ten minutes but we actually hear the tune in his cadenza. Mel Brown will take a drum solo and he’ll play the tune where we’re headed in his drum solo.

John: Sometimes, it’s left up to Gordon to play a segue on the piano.  If they’re looking for a quicker change, the next song might get counted in during the last couple of bars of the previous one, making the change more of a jolt when suddenly there’s a completely different song in a new tempo.  The audience seems to like that one in particular.  Mel will often play a drum into leading into the next song where the melody is hidden somewhere in his solo, often on the bass drum or snare.  Since the audience isn’t always listening, it feels like magic when the band knows where to come in without anyone counting it out-loud.

Besides calling tunes, there’s also the musical interaction.  There are a lot of little hooks and games that soloists will play – quoting songs, playing certain rhythms, etc.  Mel is always lightning-quick at picking those things up and responds on the drums almost instantly.  Watch Gordon and Mel specifically and you’ll see this go on all night, even when Gordon isn’t even soloing, but is just comping behind someone else.

Warren: If you’re playing a slow tune, you can subdivide it, double the tempo to get to another song. That takes care of one situation: the tempo change between the two. If it’s metrically related, it’s simple. Then all you have to do is be in the right key and play the right first few notes. Sometimes you just have to remember just how the band plays the song and even though it might have nothing to do with the previous composition in any way, you just sort of remember it and go there. You have to do that while the other song is still going.

Thara: I rehearse the next tune while we’re playing. I can be rehearsing something in the middle of playing and then go on to the next thing and rehearse the thing in the middle of it and go on. I actually don’t really know how I do it. I was just trained to do it. You have to find people who you can do it with.

I can look at Mel and he knows instantly he knows what tempo I’m going to. I have to signal the other people, but Mel already knows.

Taking solos:

Stan: This band couldn’t happen unless we had a lot of regard for each other. Any thinking musician can see that there are a lot of tunes that we all would like to solo on but that isn’t going to work. We all sacrifice. We haven’t heard from Renato in a half-an-hour. He really needs to play on this tune. Even though I want to, he needs to play on this tune. We need to hear him.

Every once in a while Thara will direct where the solo goes, but most of the time the band recognizes this guy needs to play now. It’s a no-ego band. Nobody feels like they have to hog the spotlight.

Gordon: There’s an unspoken protocol. We’re all equal here, we have different roles but everyone should get their own space to solo. I can’t think of any other kind of music that does that so blatantly. If you violate that, just stomp and play whatever you want regardless of what else is going on, it’s considered gross and offensive by the other musicians.

Sometimes we’ll be nice and say, “OK, you go next.” But there are times when Derek and Warren will cue me and Renato will suddenly start a solo. And if he gets in there too convincingly before I’ve started, I have to back out. Or I can just stomp in and fight it out with him, but there’s the risk of hurt feelings. It could be between any combination of us.

On Thara Memory and Mel Brown:

Gordon: He figured out his own sound early on plus he has so much experience directing groups. He can make some very astute observations listening to us play. He brings authority. We all defer to Thara in those ways. You might say that Mel is the first guy who saw that and understood that about Thara. Mel is a behind-the-scenes leader. He’s not out there waving his arms but he’s really controlling the strings because he knows that Thara is really good at this so let Thara do his thing.

John: When I started sitting in with the band, Thara had few reservations about teaching young players a serious lesson on the bandstand, often in the form of humiliation.  Keep in mind, I’m not saying that this was a bad thing.  He knew that if you were a serious player and you got your butt kicked on stage, you would spend the week shedding and doing your homework so that the next week you could have a chance to redeem yourself.  My clearest memory of this happening was when the band was playing Coltrane’s Moment’s Notice.  Thara gestured at me to solo, but I didn’t know the tune.  Thara shrugged as if to say, “Oh well, let’s see what happens.”  Since I didn’t know the changes, it ended up being just me and Carlton Jackson (who was subbing for Mel that night) during the solo.  It was a total disaster.  But, the next week, I knew the song.  I can’t even remember if I got a chance to play it again, but Thara knew that after an incident like that, I had learned an important lesson.

Warren: Thara is pure magic. He’s just magic. To be Thara Memory’s alto player is my idea of a good time. I’ve done it for years now and I’ve never been bored for a second. I’ve learned a lot of what I know about music from him. He’s past charismatic. It’s really difficult to keep your eyes off the guy and being musical director, you’re going to get more done when you have the band and the audience’s very close attention. But that wouldn’t mean anything if he didn’t have really good ideas, which he has. If you ask whether I would rather lead the band or play under the baton of Thara Memory, I get more satisfaction out of following his lead and trying to play my ass off as hard as I can when it’s my time.

Mel Brown is a little different from most people. You look at Mel Brown and you’d say, ‘There’s a man who’s done well for himself.” The thing about Mel Brown is that he does well for a LOT of people. He’s got seven people working for him every Tuesday night in little Puddle City. Nearly every night of the week he pays three to seven guys to play music.

Thara: The older Mel gets the fresher he sounds.

Mel wants to play. The other night we were playing and he got into it and the next thing Derek goes, “Now that’s the real Mel Brown, huh?” I said, “Yup.” The band needs to know that its purpose is to feature Mel Brown. You have all of these satellites around him, but it’s to feature Mel Brown and nobody doubts that.

]]> http://oregonmusicnews.com/blog/2010/07/13/mel-browns-tuesday-night-band/feed/ 4 http://oregonmusicnews.com/blog/2010/06/15/david-vest-listen-to-a-track-from-his-new-album/ http://oregonmusicnews.com/blog/2010/06/15/david-vest-listen-to-a-track-from-his-new-album/#comments Tue, 15 Jun 2010 22:30:23 +0000 Tom D'Antoni http://oregonmusicnews.com/?p=43313

The Boogie-Woogie Starchild

Pianist/singer/composer and the Original Boogie Woogie Starchild David Vest will bring the Howlin’Ra Horns and the rest of his band back to Jimmy Mak’s on Saturday, June 19, 8pm, $10.

He’ll also be bringing his new album Rock A While with him…available to the public for the first time. It features ten Vest originals, plus new versions of seldom-covered songs by John Lee Hooker, Fats Domino, Gene Vincent and Willie Dixon.

Playing with him are Peter Dammann on guitar, Jeff Minnick on drums, Albert Reda, Don Campbell and Dave Kahl on bass, Alan Hager on guitar, Jimi Bott on drums and Jim King on sax plus the Texas Horns on three tracks.

There are live tracks from the Triple Door in Seattle  and the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland as well as studio recordings.

Listen to the title track: “Rock A While”

Bobby Torres

Bobby Torres is Portland’s best known and most beloved percussionist. That’s not news. It’s also not news that he was in Joe Cocker’s band at Woodstock, or that he was a very busy session player in L.A., playing on lots of hits with lots of hit makers–from Jackson Browne to Tom Jones to The Captain & Tennille (he was actually on “Do It To Me One More Time” to Kenny Rogers and Gladys Knight among many others.

Torres has two of his children regularly playing in his band. Reinhardt Melz, the drummer and Juliana Torres,  a singer. Karla Harris also sings with him. His other son Carmelo Torres lives out of state, but visits and plays with Bobby when he can…as we shall see.

He has three gigs this week. A Nashville Relief Benefit on Tuesday, June 15, at the Heathman Hotel on Friday, June 18, and at the Brasserie Montmartre on Saturday, June 19.  Check here for details.

He’s playing at Jimmy Mak’s on Saturday, June 26, 8pm, $12. His special guest will be saxophonist Patrick Lamb who first played with Torres at age seventeen.

We met at The World Cup Coffee shop on NW Glisan (where, oddly enough, the World Cup soccer match was on a big screen TV). He had given me a CD with a couple of unreleased tracks on it. Here is one with his large ensemble from the 2005 Cathedral Park Jazz Festival. Listen to “Bepo Latinos.”

How many pieces did you have in that band and who were the soloists?

Thirteen. Five horns,three singers, bass, drums, piano and three percussionists. Fourteen. My son Carmelo on congas, Luis Conte on timbales, I was playing bongos, Reinhardt was on drums, Al Criado on bass.

Dick Titterington is the trumpet soloist on that. He starts off and sounds like a sax, he’s implying as he goes along…great musician.

What is it you like so much about that tune?

The way it came out. That one is almost perfect. Just the feeling of it.

Are you ever going to release that?

I don’t know. I should I guess. It was a good one.

Reinhardt Melz

Don’t you think people should hear it?

Reinhardt is such a perfectionist, he doesn’t want me to release anything.

Has he always been that way?

Yeah, always…since he was a kid. Everything had to be in order. Freaks him out. He’s so disciplined, amazingly disciplined. He can practice for days.

Are you like that?

No. (Laughs)

Are you the opposite of that?

I say yeah…compared to him, definitely He has high standards.

Do you believe in a lot of rehearsing?

I do but I believe that people don’t like to. Even when I get one rehearsal together it’s almost like painstaking. “I can’t make it till 7:30, can we start then?” They’ve got their own lives. Small groups are easier to maintain then five horns and…. They’re reading the parts right but there are some parts that the attacks or the stabs shouldn’t be as long as they are…you have to work that out.

I don’t tell them much. I don’t ask anybody to do anything stupid. If I hear something that doesn’t feel right I’ll say something. I mean how much can you say to a person? This is the way they interpret it. If you don’t like the interpretation, you can say try this or try that. That’s about it. That’s all you can say.

It’s different from producing a record. On a record, I’ll say more…a lot more.

I guess most of the work is in choosing who to play with.

Yeah, you have to get people who like your music. If you see people drifting, it takes away from the moment.

You’re playing with Patrick Lamb at Jimmy Mak’s on Saturday. How did you find him?

I know him thirty years now. I used him on a record I produced when he was 17 years old. I met him through Reinhardt.  Both of them went to Mt. Hood together. Patrick was very open then. He had the tone. I asked him to do something and he did it.

He’ll be sitting in with my band. I’ll have eleven pieces. We’ll play my songs and his songs. We’re doing “I Wish” by Stevie Wonder in 9. A keyboard player Reinhardt is playing with…Mike Prigodich wrote a song about Reinhardt called “The Wizard of Odd.” It’s in 11. I’m going to start calling him “Woo,” the Wizard of Odd…Reinhardt “Woo” Melz. It’s because of all the odd meters he plays in.

One of the other tracks he gave me is called, “Bobby Torres/Jimmy Mak!”

Listen:

What’s that about?

Luis Conte, Carmelo Torres, Karla Harris and Bobby Torres.

It was December 20, 2008. We had a gig…I flew Luis Conte from L.A., Carmelo was here from Austin. We rehearsed and it started snowing the day we were supposed to play. We did drum clinic and hardly anyone showed up. We were constantly on the phone with J.D. (Stubenberg) from Jimmy Mak’s. “Isn’t looking good, Bobby.”

By six-thirty we had a hundred cancellations on the reservations. I said, “We’ll can it. We’ll have more people in the band than in the audience. We’re hanging around at home wondering what to do, drinking wine. Carmelo played piano, bass drums, everything… He starts playing piano, Luis says “Hey, that’s great! Let’s make up a song with that.” We started adding.

“Bobby Torres/ Jimmy Mak, that’s it!” We started making up stuff. Reinhardt was saying, “Please cancel my reservation,” it was hilarious. You can hear me laughing my ass off. Reinhardt and Carmelo were laughing the way I was laughing. It was a great night, I’m glad we captured it on tape.

Reinhardt is saying, “Jimmy, open the door, Jimmy!” Carmelo’s saying, “I got my skis, let’s go!” We worked on it till four in the morning. I kept falling asleep. Luis is going to put it on his CD.

Your sons and Juliana your daughter are in your band. Is it easier or harder to work with your kids?

(Pause) Trick question. It’s both. I always want my kids around. So it’s a fulfilling feeling to have them there when you’re playing…I get choked up thinking about that stuff. I mean, when they can’t play…it took me a long time to get over that. I take it personally. At the same time when they’re there and I hear them…especially Reinhardt, Jesus. Just makes it night and day with any other. Carmelo, another freak. It’s amazing what they do. I can’t do what they do. Not even close.

Juliana Torres

And your daughter Juliana pretty much fronts the band.

Yeah. It took me a while to get over hearing her do ballads so well. There aren’t enough napkins in places sometimes. My daughter…(pretends to cry). I’m a sentimental slut anyway.

Sometimes I embarrass her. “You crying? What’s wrong with you?” “Can’t help it (pretends to cry again and then laughs).”

What brought you to Portland?

The kids. Reinhardt was having a hard time in L.A. and his mother was from here. So we came back here. It was good for the kids because this place is paradise to me. I was born in New York City…Bronx…Nuyorican. Been here since 81. People here are receptive and happy.

Are you teaching?

Not as much as I used to. People don’t realize how hard it is to play the congas. Really hard. The technique…learning how to hit it correctly. People start off this way (holding his arms up and bringing them down) but it’s all in the wrists. You have to practice a lot of wrist action to get it fluid.

How much do you practice?

As much as I can. As you get older, you get creakier, so I have to practice more. I listen more. Amazing instrument though. It’s skin on skin.

I  started when I was sixteen.

That’s pretty old.

A friend of mine, my neighbor used to come over and play bongos. That was it…immediately. In those days they didn’t have tunable bongos, you had to heat them over the stove. The tight skin would just get flabby. I must have gone through fifty bongos just to get them right…

I had to wait for my parents to leave before I could play. They hated it. It was struggle, mainly playing in the streets and the projects. Formed an African group, four drummers, four dancers…convention halls, places like that.

Do you wish you had had more formal training?

I don’t know because everything I learned was by ear and I got secure in it. Even when I was playing Rock n Roll. I can read. I read for Tom Jones and I found it boring.

Your L.A. thing was pretty good for you. Do you miss it?

Yes and no. Some of it was great, some wasn’t. Just part of the experience.

How did you hook up with Joe Cocker?

He was playing the Fillmore East in New York…opened for Rod Stewart. His first album had come out and “Feeling Alright” was on it. The guy who played percussion was named Rebop from England, but he wasn’t with him. He was also playing at a club called Unganos to pay their hotel bill. I went there and asked if I could sit in on “Feeling Alright.” He said yeah. I said,”Don’t you want to hear me play?” He said OK. I played a little, he said, “Fine.” I went back every night and played that one song.

He went back to England. He came back and played the Fillmore East headlining. Saw him, asked if I could sit in on one song. He said sure. He introduced me and said, “Let’s have a hand for Bobby, please.” So everybody thought my name was Bobby Please…for a long time.

He went back again. Next gig he played the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. I saved up my pennies and carried my drums on my back and flew to Chicago. They were so surprised to see me that they made me a permanent member. We toured the United States and played Woodstock. He flew me out to Cannes, too.

How was Woodstock?

We played in the afternoon. It was wild. After we played, “With a Little Help from My Friends,”…thunder and lightening…started raining like unbelievably. That was our last song.

OMN Webmaster John Nastos plays saxophone in the Torres Ensemble.

The new club

Jimmy Mak’s is a music club but it’s also a top of the line restaurant, although not one with bar food. For that reason, owner Jimmy Makarounis is mostly dealing with vendors when he unlocks the place at 1pm.

He moved across the street in 2006 when he built the new club. Standing in the unfinished club, at the time, he said, “For 27 years it was Downtown Auto, an old auto body shop. In 98 or 99 it was an art gallery. The Pearl Gallery.”

There was a lot of developer talk about tearing down the old place across the street in the few years before he took the plunge and moved. “For about 3 or 4 years. I felt we were losing control of our own destiny. We didn’t own that building and the developer was telling me one thing and the landlord was telling me something else and I was caught in the middle wondering what’s going to happen. Are they going to tear down this building? At that point in time, fortunately, our business had been strong enough that we started looking around in the neighborhood for buildings to buy. We had an opportunity to buy this building. From the time we first seriously started looking, to now, it’s been four years. We were in and out of escrow four times before we were able to close on this building.”

But it was difficult, emotionally to leave the old place, “Our family started that business. So my wife and I, my sister, my brother-in-law, my mom and my dad. Just a lot of memories, especially of my mom. She passed away six years ago. Used to be that I’d walk in in the morning and my mom would be baking bread. I still have strong memories of my mom over there. I’ll be honest with you, I cried the last three days we were there.”

Makarounis grew up in Portland, learning the saxophone at David Douglas. “I don’t (play) any more. Mel (Brown) used to bug the shit out of me, but I told him, “You’ve got Renato Caranto on stage. You want me to stand up there next Renato? That ain’t gonna happen.”

1:13pm

The club is empty. Light is streaming in through the windows. Jimmy is on the phone patiently  taking a reservation for tonight’s show. A

Quiet and empty at 1:30pm

vendor has just wheeled in boxes and taken them into the kitchen.

This may look like the start of the day for the club. “The day really starts about 6:30 in the morning,” he says. “I do all my paperwork, pay my bills, get contracts out, follow-up with phone calls, emails…all the office work. And then if we have repairs or we have a vendor who has to get in early, sometimes I’ll be here ten or eleven o’clock. But our official office hours start at one o’clock.”

He breaks open the “banks” from the night before. The cash that the wait staff has taken in during the previous night is the “bank.” “It’s not only what they started with but what they took in.”

Vendors come in and out bringing supplies…food, paper towels, booze, rubber gloves…whatever. Sometimes I’ll get here at one and there’ll be trucks waiting outside to get in.

He checks the journal kept by the staff to see if they noted anything that broke the night before or an issue that needs to be addressed. He orders supplies. He checks voice mail but doesn’t have to return any at the moment.

Booking the music, “has turned more and more into an email thing. Musicians and bar owners keep some crazy hours, so it’s not unusual for me to get an email at 3 in the morning. But between one and three pm I’ll be reaching out to those people by phone or they’ll be calling me. All of our business meetings take place between one and four.”

Why is that?

“I’ve got to control the schedule to a certain degree. Otherwise I’d be having meetings from seven in the morning till ten at night. It’s great for the vendor or the band because they know when I’m accessible. From my standpoint, it helps take some of the craziness out of it.”

John Miller, the kitchen manager is also in the building, making prep schedule and getting things ready.

A vendor walks in. Think running a club is a glamorous business?

Jimmy: How are we looking?

Vendor: Probably next week you got four paper towels, six rolls of toilet paper.

Jimmy: So probably just a case of paper towels on Tuesday?

Vendor: That’s what I’m thinking. Then maybe toilet paper on Thursday.

Jimmy: OK

Vendor: I’ll check Tuesday.

He hands him a check, and that’s part of the fascinating world of running a music club.

3pmI

Not what you think! It's a "business marriage" only.

Bar managers J.D. (John David) Stubenberg and Lisa Brandon-Boyle arrive. Anyone who has come near the bar here has seen them. They both came with Jimmy from the old place. Lisa started in 1997 and J.D. a year before. “She ran the basement bar,” he says, “and I ran the the bar upstairs. Now we split the duties.”

They talk with Jimmy about what needs to be done. Lisa handles the wait staff and J.D. the music, Facebook  and other web stuff. But at 3pm (sometimes 2pm), they’re putting away liquor, and preparing the bar.”

They set up the bar. “Getting the ice, the booze, cutting the fruit…, you know, answer the phone, answer the phone, answer the phone. Oh, and did I say answer the phone?” she says. “That takes about two hours.”

Jimmy leaves to run errands. He’ll come back in a couple of hours and take care of whatever needs to be taken care of. Today he has to go up on the roof and unclog a downspout.

J.D. was a customer in the old bar and was bartending at Jake’s. Lisa was already working there. Jimmy was getting busier and busier and J.D. was looking for more hours. Jimmy hired him and it’s J.D. who everyone associates with the club. “He’s one of those personable, likable, easy to hang out with kind of persons. It wouldn’t be Jimmy Mak’s without J.D. I didn’t want Jimmy Mak’s to be about me but about the scene at Jimmy Mak’s, not about coming down and seeing Jimmy.”

Sometimes Jimmy leaves not long after he comes back from running errands. Sometimes he stays a few hours, depends on the size of the crowd and what his kids are up to. There are soccer games, you know.

4:15

Mark Davis of Aloha Sound, who does a lot of the sound reinforcement, is helping the Mike Phillips band set up. Trumpeter Farnell Newton is bringing a few things in from the truck parked out front. J.D. is at the bandstand talking with the band and messing with table settings. DJ Og One has set up and is spinning. The keyboard player is sitting at the drum kit and fooling around. Lisa is in the back making out a form that puts which diner where at each table.

J.D. moves behind the bar and is joined by Lisa who is, “Filling my face full of Cheetos, my favorite junk food.”

Eric Hailstone, the guitar player comes up to the bar to kibbitz. Noticing that I have a tape machine and am talking to J.D. he tells a story about getting on national TV about a seminar on synthesizers he was giving and that the only reason it got on national TV was because the videographer was a former student of his.

4:35

As DJ Og one spins, doorman Jamahl Fitz walks in and orders some food. He’s also Mel Brown’s stepson. He’s been with Jimmy for eight years.

The bar is set up by now. Members of the band are standing around the DJ bopping to the music.

I wonder if J.D. gets too busy to hear the music. “Sometimes when we’re really busy I’ll get tuned out but I try to keep an ear,” he says. “Even with the bands I’ve heard a hundred times, three’s always something new. I got the best job benefit in the world. I get paid to listen to world-class music. Life is very good.” The DJ stops and the keyboard player is pounding on the drums.

Lisa stops long enough to talk. “J.D. and I have a business marriage,” she says with a smile. “The division of responsibilities has been very natural.” She is putting the reservation cards on each table. This is a ticketed event and it’s more complicated. “Our first reservation is at six,” she says. “We open the doors at five. We might do some more things before the first customer arrives, but we’re ready to go at 5. If the bus stops, come on in.

“We work on tips. We get paid pouring drinks. We get paid x-amount per hour but we work off of our tips.”

6:55

Mike Phillips

The band is still doing a sound check and running over a tune. J.D. and Lisa are not happy. The bandstand is supposed to be empty for the 6 o’clock dinner hour. Jamahl is at his post in the lobby. I asked him if it didn’t take a certain temperament to have his job. “You have to be very patient, that’s all I’ve got to say. Answer some very dumb questions.” he says. “Like walking past the window, looking in and then coming in and asking, ‘Is there a band playing?’”

“And you just have to smile and say, ‘Yeah,’” I say.

“Exactly. I don’t want to make them feel stupid. ‘Why yes, there is.’”

“And you can hear the music out here?”

“It’s the best gig. You get paid to listen to music,” he replies.

7:30

A band member comes over and orders food for the break. Farnell is carrying around his trumpet. The room is three-quarters full and very well-dressed. Mike Phillips has played in Stevie Wonder’s and Prince’s bands and he is a dynamic entertainer as well as a good singer and saxophonist. He is a ball of fire and has been since he directed the band at the end of the sound check, running through ideas for the end of a tune until he got something he liked.

8:00

Show time but the band is not onstage. The bartenders are not happy.

8:20

Phillips informs J.D. that the band will be ready to go, “In 15.” That will make them forty minutes late for their set. Looks are exchanged between J.D. and Lisa.

8:34

J.D. rounds up the band. Phillips had asked him to introduce Larry Miller, President of the Trail Blazers, who will introduce the band. J.D. does the honor with no waste of words.

8:41

After a too-long intro by Miller, including a story about how Phillips became the first non-athlete to represent Nike’s Jordan brand, the music finally begins with a blast and a half and continues that way until 10:05.

10:01

The ice machine breaks down at the wrong time, at the set break when there are dozens of drink orders. Re-starting it makes it start making ice again, but they have to bring all the ice from the back bar to the main bar. “Always fun,” Lisa says.  “It’s always fun,” J.D. echoes. “It’s pretty rare that you have a night here when everything runs perfectly.” They both laugh.

Midnight

The show is over. People are mostly leaving, but some are still drinking. This gives J.D. and Lisa a chance to start the cleanup process. The DJ continues to spin for another fifteen minutes.

12:15

The band is quickly breaking down some of their gear. Most of it will stay up because they are playing here tomorrow also. Sound man Mark Davis makes arrangements with J.D. to pick up his gear after tomorrow’s show.

12:30

The cleanup is in full swing. The money is being counted and put into the banks that Jimmy will open at 1pm tomorrow.

12:43

A member of the wait staff is on one knee cleaning the ketchup she spilled on the wall opposite the bar. I ask J.D. and Lisa when they think they’ll be able to go home. They both say in about fifteen minutes.

1:05

The door is locked. The night is over. They’ll do it all again tomorrow.

Hasheem Assadullahi, Justin Morell, Ron Miles and Josh Tower

Hashem Assadullahi and associates play difficult jazz – the kind you try to explain to your friends. Unlike dance music, Assadullahi insists that we appreciate the band, rather than some catchy riff. The band is listening to each other – and the listener needs to share that awareness. Seems like work instead of enjoyment – so why bother? Why not just catch the latest Iron Man and call it a night?

Hashem Assadullahi – sax, Ron Miles – G Trumpet, Justin Morell – Guitar, Josh Tower – Acoustic bass, drums - Ryan Biesack, Piano - James Miley

Why? Because unlike Iron Man, you’re going to experience an “a-ha!” moment that opens up your appreciation for all types of music. It might take a few songs to get into the necessary headspace – but its worth it. Kind of like staring at one of those crazy three-dee paintings that suddenly snap into focus when you learn how to cross your eyes just right.

At the risk of opening up a session on music theory, here’s how to cross your eyes when you look at music from the Assadullahi Quintet/Sextext. First, play a few moments of “The Strange Neighbor” in the following mp3…

It probably sounds, well, strange.But here’s the secret – listen to this set of notes…

What you hear is the score for “The Strange Neighbor.” Yep – that’s it. At the bottom of the written music is a note: “Using the pitches above, at any octave, play two note phrases. Focus on tone, space and the layers created.” (By the way, special bonus points awarded to the first music major who can add a comment with the correct scale.)

Now play “Strange Neighbor” again, listening for the two note phrases, tone, space and layers. Does it start to make sense?

“This sort of music is very collective and everyone has an equal responsibility to the music at any particular moment,” says Assadullahi. “If I ever feel nerves I try to just listen to the band, and I forget to do anything but participate.”

Don’t despair if it still sounds like spaghetti. Assadullahi plays more mainstream music as well – even comedic at times. One of my favorites is his “Hypothesis D – The Gossip.” (Listen for the donkey…)

“A band is a collection of different voices and its refreshing as a player and I think as an audience member to hear from those different voices be it in the form of a solo or song,” says Assadullahi. “It’s fun. You get to create new things with your friends all the time.”

Assadullahi lists his influences as Wayne Shorter, Ornette, and Tim Berne – but also the members of his band. “I really do stand by that the members of the band are huge influences.  In addition to listening to a lot of Ron’s records over the last several years, I’ve been playing with mostly the same band for three or four years,” says Assadullahi. “Playing with guys for that long, they’re ideas and concepts are bound to rub of on each other.”

Surprisingly, there’s a lot of pop influence behind the band. “I was a huge Michael Jackson fan while I was really young.  My parents always had the radio on in the house.  I’ve also was a big fan of TV theme songs like Taxi, Andy Griffith, and CHiPs,” says Assadullahi. “While the bulk of my music doesn’t have a topical pop aesthetic, much of it is born from pop sensibilities be it form, groove, textures, harmony, counterpoint, or melody.”

Unfortunately, Assadullahi is moving to New York for a time, so his West Coast performances may be sparse in the near future. But we’ll look forward to seeing him on tour, and hearing more from his collection of musicians.

Hashem Assadullahi Quintet

Normally fronting a quintet, saxophonist and composer Hashem Assadullahi will be leading a sextet Monday, May 24, 8pm, $5 at Jimmy Mak’s featuring Ron Miles on his custom low G trumpet.

Hailing from Eugene where he earned his Masters in Jazz Studies at the U of O, Hashem Assadullahi will be performing original compositions from his 2009 release Strange Neighbor also featuring Ron Miles. Assadullahi’s music ranges from the big band repertoire of the swing era, to straight-ahead styles, to contemporary experimentation. In recent years he has had the privilege to perform with Ron Miles, Ben Monder, Tatsuya Nakatani, and Motown’s The Platters. He began his collaboration with Miles while studying at the U of O and continued to work with him after taking a position as a Professor of Jazz Studies at Mahidol University outside Bangkok, Thailand.

Ron Miles

Ron Miles is known for playing his signature low G trumpet, called a “SATTVA,” custom-made by Portland’s David  Monette. He is quickly becoming a living Jazz legend and has played with such groups as the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Bill Frisell, and Don Byron just to name a few.

Their sound covers a variety of styles and moods but always keeps melody at its core. Compositions are thoughtful and complex without being unpalatable. Assadullahi and Miles play off each others ideas very well and show their skill while respecting the space at the same time.

The Sextet has a rock-solid rhythm section consisting of bassist Josh Tower, drummer Ryan Biesack, and guitarist Justin Morell. A recent addition to the group is James Miley on Piano player and Director of Jazz Studies at Willamette University.

The show is sure to please even those new to progressive Jazz. The melodies are memorable and the solos will satisfy the hardest of Jazz fans while still convincing newbies that they’re staying withing the box.

Hailey Niswanger

Someday real soon, we won’t have to tell you how to pronounce her name. Hailey Niswanger pronounces it (Nice-wanger). Make a note.

She came home to Portland during the break between semesters at Boston’s Berklee College of Music where she is in her second year. After a May 4 gig with the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, she came home to play the Silverton Wine & Jazz Festival and a few gigs with Ron Steen. On Wednesday, May 19 at Jimmy Mak’s she winds up her homecoming with a special quartet with a 6:30-8pm show, $5, all ages. She’ll be playing with Oregon heavyweights Randy Porter on piano, Alan Jones on drums and Tom Wakeling on bass.

Her website has a summary of her meteoric career.

She had a few minutes on the phone before running out to sit in on a rehearsal with her mentor Thara Memory and his American Music Program:

Have you done much rehearsing for the Jimmy Mak’s gig?

No. I don’t usually. We just kind of go early and figure it out there. I haven’t played with Tom before. We’ll do a couple of originals and other tunes that I really like.

How is the second year at Berklee different from the first year?

I got into this program called the Berklee Global Jazz Institute and it’s run by Danilo Perez. Different artists come in every week…we had Joe Lovano, Dave Liebman…there’s a long list. It’s fourteen kids right now and it’s a lot of energy focused on us…we get really personal with artists. It’s a lot more intense now than last year.

In general it’s great connections to have. Just being able to play with them. It’s a lesson itself when Joe Lovano is playing one seat next to me…watching them play and talking to them about their lives and experiences.

Are you learning technique from them?

There are overtone exercises, mouthpiece exercises when we work with the mouthpiece, or playing low register with the octave key off and weird saxophone things. Working on your throat muscles…a lot happens in there.

When you go back and listen to Confeddie, how does it sound to you?

I sound very different.

How?

I don’t know…better. I’m still myself. I’ve just learned more.

Listen to the title track from Confeddie

Will there be a new album any time soon?

If soon is like a year and a half, two years, yes. I’m concentrating on my studies. I’m trying to accelerate. I’m going to be done a year early…next August. I want to write more originals. Writing is hard for me. Takes me a long time.

I start playing stuff on my saxophone and start writing down shorter ideas. Or I’ll get on the piano and start figuring out some ideas and then start combining them into one composition. That’s how one of my recent ones turned out…a compilation of three different attempts at writing.

How is your work with the Either/Orchestra coming?

We have a rehearsal next Monday. It’s a ten-piece group and we play the founder’s original compositions…Russ Gershon…it’s been around for quite a while. I’m new to the group. We went to Milan in January.

I’m the only girl and they are a lot older than me but we work really well together.

How is that working?

I’m used to it by now. I’m not saying I’m a guy but I take on more of those qualities. There’s no room for any more divas. There’s enough of them already. I’m not trying to be that kind of a girl with a big ego and the diva quality that you often find in Jazz musicians.

A matter of confidence?

Some people think I’m shy, but I don’t feel that way. I play what I want to play…I’m a person who goes with the flow, it’s just how I am.

Are you concentrating solely on alto?

I play soprano a lot, mostly alto.

Is Thara Memory your biggest Portland influence?

Thara and Randy Porter. Norman Leyden has been one of my close friends for many years.

Have you ever been able to put into words what you got from Thara?

I mean….gosh…one of the main things is that you can’t keep it unless you give it away. I also learned to give back in order to learn about myself. Just being an open person and an open musician willing to give back. He really pressed that on us.

Like today I’m going in to sub for his rehearsal. I have to leave pretty soon because I overslept. Just always being there, being willing to fill in when you’re needed and help out.

Is he as hard on you now as he was then?

I haven’t talked to him in a really long time, so it should be interesting today. (Said with a smile of anticipation in her voice.) I’m really excited.

Watch her perform with Dee Dee Bridgewater at the Mary Lou Williams Jazz Festival After Party – May 15, 2009. A year ago. She’s gotten better!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ed Bennett will pair up with Hank Hirsh at the Silverton Jazz Festival.

Bennett, one of Oregon’s premier bass players (and the state has many good ones), sticks to the string bass. “I’m a green player. I’m saving a couple of watts for PGE.”

Though the California-born musician typically plays in larger groups, he is anticipating good chemistry with Chicago-honed big band alto player Hirsh. “It  gives the bass more opportunity and leeway to accompany. We’ll both do more soloing and blowing.”

Expect to hear standards and both musicians’ originals.

Speaking of originals, Bennett is recording a CD due out in September with all Bennett tunes. He plays with Paul Mazzio, Scott Hall, Dan Gaynor and Todd Strait.

Bennett has a milelong resume  accompanying such big names as Dizzy Gillespie, Terell Stafford, Joe Henderson, Sonny Stitt, Frank Morgan, Richie Cole, Pete Christlieb, Bud Shank, Charles McPherson, Pete Jolly, Joe Albany, James Williams, Mike Wofford, Pete Malinverni, Bill Mays, Dick Berk, Larance Marable, Joey Baron, Bill Henderson, Anita O’Day, Ernestine Anderson, Marlena Shaw, Nancy King, Karrin Allyson, Mary Stallings, Dee Daniels, The Modernaires and the Gerald Wilson Orchestra. From 1976 to 1979 he backed Carmen McRae, making his recording debut on Carmen McRae at the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1977. In 1981, he worked with the Toshiko Akiyoshi-Lew Tabackin Big Band, recording the Grammy- nominated Tanuki’s Night Out.

You can find Bennett at Jimmy Mak’s every Wednesday with the Mel Brown Quartet that includes drummer Brown, pianist Tony Pacini and guitarist Dan Balmer. He also plays at Salty’s on the Columbia on Saturdays and at Wilf’s a couple of Fridays a month.

Expect more Bennetts on the music scene. Milo, 13, plays the drums and Theo, 8, is testing out the trombone. “Someone said he has the disposition to be a ‘bone player,” Bennett said. “But his arms aren’t quite long enough yet.”

Watch Ed Bennett with the Tony Pacini Trio play “Tiny Capers:”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the Silverton Wine and Jazz Festival.

If Mr. Jones has been waiting for the bones, he should find is way to Jimmy Mak’s because Fred Wesley is in town along with two other trombonists, Ed Early (from Elvin Bishop’s bands) and Seattle’s Randy Oxford. The performance is Monday, May 3.  First show at 7:00pm, second show at 9:30pm $25 in advance (reserved), $20 in advance (general admission). Advance tickets through TicketsWest.

Fred Wesley is the best known trombonist in the world. Trombone Shorty is next but that’s because Trombone is  his first name. (Technically that’s not true, his real name is Troy Andrews.) Wesley has provided the irreplaceable bone sound in James Brown’s band, with Parliament/Funkadelic, with Maceo Parker and many more, including Count Basie.

It’s not exaggerating to say that Wesley is an originator, not an imitator, the flower and the root.

Randy Oxford is a Seattle musician who regularly wins Blues and Soul awards in that part of the world.

You’re pretty much guaranteed a funky good time.

Here’s one funky and very odd video which includes Wesley, George Clinton and Bootsie Collins explaining Funk:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Lamb and Caldwell

The Portland Jazz Orchestra plays with singer Bobby Caldwell with saxophonist Patrick Lamb at Jimmy Mak’s,  Friday, April 30, 7:30pm & 10pm,  $35 Reserved & $25 General Admission, Tickets.

Lamb regularly tours with Caldwell who is best known for “What You Won’t Do For Love,”

Watch Lamb and Caldwell on CBS:

The Portland Jazz Orchestra is led by Lars Campbell and Charley Gray Watch them at the 2009 Portland Jazz Festival. Trumpet solo is Farnell Newton

Click here to view the embedded video.

Photos by Kevin Tomanka

Maddy was watching her grandfather tonight. She was enamored as he regally took his place behind the Hammond B3 organ as part of the Soul’d Out Music Festival. Maddy’s grandfather is Dr. Lonnie Smith, and I hope she’s proud, because her grandfather put on one fine show.

With Matt Jorgensen from Seattle on drums and Jonathan Kreisberg on guitar, Dr. Smith exercised the voices of the B3. Kreisberg and Dr. Smith have performed together for about a year, this was Jorgensen’s first performance with the trio. Yep – his first. Dr. Smith doesn’t believe in rehearsals – says it makes you stiff. Dr. Smith doesn’t even like sound checks!

But they knew what they were doing. Here’s an interesting trivia piece – Dr. Smith sings along with his organ. Actually, lots of musicians sing along with their instruments. What surprised me was Dr. Lonnie Smith singing along with Kriesberg’s guitar solos. That’s a neat trick – one you can only pull off if you are REALLY listening and in tune with your fellow musicians. Impressive stuff.

Jorgensen, who also manages the Ballard Jazz Festival, plays an efficient drum line. I appreciate that the beats he plays are the ones that are necessary, and accentuate, rather than obscure Dr. Smith’s sweeping B3 lines. The energy is still there – but the volume and voicing is where it needs to be, instead of in your face.

Kreisberg belongs to the Dan Balmer school of Facial Jazz Guitar. When I’m old and deaf, I’ll be able to enjoy the music just as much because I can see what he’s playing. What he’s playing is in sync with Dr. Smith.

“Sometimes it’s hard to read Lonnie,” says Kreisberg. “He’s very understated. A small motion can mean ‘go crazy.’ I’m learning about him.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Dr. Smith’s music is funky, sweeping, bounce in your seat, funk. Not overstated, but definitely on a swing. And he’s absolutely into what he’s playing – at one point, getting down – literally – to play a jiving bass run on the footpedals with his hands.

“This place could be totally empty and I’d still be having fun,” says Smith. The B3 suits his style. Sometimes he’s playing gospel, sometimes Roller Rink, sometimes R&B. Always in the groove, always enough to make groove along.

Maddy didn’t make the second show (past her bedtime) but I’m told she has a drum set at home. Sounds loud – but probably can’t compare to the six Hammond B3’s residing in Dr. Smith’s home. If talent like Dr. Smith’s runs through the family veins, we’ll be hearing more from her soon.

(Liv Warfield was a no-show, in spite of advertising, as she had a previous gig with Prince.)

Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.

Oregon Music News received an e-mail from Golson on Saturday. He was in Helsinki and considered the gig at Jimmy Mak’s as part of the Soul’d Out Music Festival quite unlikely. But hallelujah! He sent me an email this morning:

By some FLUKE (a real fluke) I got out of Helsinki. I will be playing in Portland Wednesday night. I am currently in New York trying to get some sleep at the moment after arriving from Europe. This I must do before heading out to Portland later. I will be in Portland around 11:00 P.M. Tuesday night.

I don’t know what we can do in the way of an interview of any kind. Time and circumstances has not been very kind to me lately. But what can I do?

Golson has had two very distinguished careers in music, as a player with Art Blakey’s “Jazz Messages” and many other groups and as a leader of the “Jazztet” with Art Farmer.. Then there were the 12 years as a studio writer, arranger and performer. His music was featured in many television productions including “Ironsides” and “MASH.”

For a time in the late 1960s and early 70s his compositions – “Stable Mates,” “Killer Joe,” “Whisper Not,” “Along Came Betty” and, particularly, “I Remember Clifford,” were broadcast wall to wall on jazz radio.

Watch “I Remember Clifford” peformed by Golson and the Cedar Walton Quartet:

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Soul’d Out Music Festival and Portland are extremely fortunate in hosting one of the few musical figures that can legitimately be called a legend. He will be playing with the Mel Brown Quartet and it will be memorable.

Thank you fluke. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.

Omar Sosa

OK. Dr. Lonnie Smith and Gil Scott-Heron, even Nicholas Payton, reaped the lion’s share of publicity for the Soul’d Out Music Festival continuing through this week in Portland.

But Cuban-born pianist and composer Omar Sosa, making his Portland debut, proved to be  as worthy of the buzz when he and his high-voltage Afreecanos played  two sets April 19 at Jimmy Mak’s. In a red dashiki, faded red elf-like shoes, small green spectacles, beads and bells, Sosa was  priest, magician and unorthodox musician, often playing two keyboards and singing at the same time. Sosa is a masterful impressionistic pianist who travels from one-note beauty to eye-popping Oscar Peterson keyboard speed, but he is always himself and forever a performer.

Don’t think about pinning this guy down to anything, including a set list or a style. Critics like to fit him into the World Music category, and he resists, saying his music “is from the earth. We play from moment to moment. In the moment.”

With irrepressible energy, he jumped up  from the keyboards, persuaded the audience to sing along with “YeYe Moro,” let out a yelp, then later sat down to perform a beautiful ballad like “Iyawo” from the album, “Mulatos.” His free-flowing style epitomizes “jazz is freedom,” his credo since he’s been pounding the marimba as a kid growing up in Cuba (the piano is his second instrument). He  didn’t bring his marimba and mallets …”too expensive!” he said in an interview earlier this month from Barcelona, Spain, his residence.

The Afreecanos, whose music is rooted in African influences, including those of  Brazil, the Americas and Cuba,  improvised their way through “Mes Tres Notas,” cuts on the 2008 CD “Afreecanos” and a 20-minute opening Yoruba chant-like piece that added one instrument after another until, with all musicians on high, reached a kind of exotic frenzy.

Forget even counting the instruments once the three other Afreecanos arrived on stage in similarly dramatic manners to Sosa’s. Saxophonist,  bell guy and reed master Peter Apfelbaum picked through his dozen flutes, horns and hand-held percussion, holding the group together as seriously as Sosa did with a bemused half-smile.

The towering Mozambiquan Childo Tomas, on bass and a dozen other unfamiliar (to me) ancient percussive instruments, not to mention an electric hose which he pulled out of his grab bag of goodies, was as dynamic as drummer Marque Gilmore. These guys laughed together, ending and beginning precisely and tightly though you had no idea where each piece would lead. There was no time to drink your beer if you were tuned in as one tune faded into another, one sound layered on top of another, yet another instrument jumped in here — and then there.

The Hang:

Jimmy Mak’s attracted its usual loyal set of grey hairs and hipsters. Adding to the mix were two kids from Eugene who traveled up the valley with their parents for an exciting dose of music they had never heard before. The place wasn’t sold out but it filled up for the first set, pretty good for a drizzling Monday night.

Reedman and composer Peter Apfelbaum worked the crowd between sets, explaining some of his percussive instruments to the naive, while the other  Afreecanos took a well-earned dinner break. “We wanted more,” I told Sosa backstage after the first hour set plus one encore. “We have another show!” Sosa said, and with the energy these guys put into their music, an hour full of surprises was enough. For some of us. Maybe.

Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.

"Music comes from deep inside of me. It's like electricity from my toes to my head."

“I play by ear. I don’t read music, it’s good and bad,” admits Dr. Smith, who will be performing at the  Soul’d Out Festival at Jimmy Mak’s. “Everyone I play with just has to be open to the music. I don’t like rehearsals. I don’t like sound checks. If you spend too much time rehearsing, you start to sound stiff.”

Before every high-school music teacher dies of an apoplexy, Dr. Smith elaborates that it is important to know your craft. “You should practice scales so you’ll be ready when the time comes.”

Then he continues: “But if we’re in school together, and we studied scales, then we’d have all studied the same things, and we’re all going to play the same things. That’s not what we’re supposed to play. I want to hear that one note that’s in your heart.”

Dr. Lonnie Smith has a new CD coming out in May titled “Spiral.”

“I like it,” says Smith about the new CD. “We recorded Sweet and Lovely, I didn’t know what time it was, and some originals. Then there’s another big band recording we did in Harlem – we’ll see if that gets released.”

Getting his start

Dr. Lonnie Smith actually got his start singing, and provided vocals for a group with his brothers. It wasn’t until he was about twenty years old that Art Kubera gave Smith a B3 organ. The condition being that he had to move it out of the back room of the music store – it weighed about 423 pounds. His father fixed cars, so he had access to an old pick-up, and his brothers helped him move it. We can only imagine what his mother must have said when he brought it home.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Even before the organ, Smith had a natural talent for music. In high school, he played trumpet, tuba and french horn. At one point, his band teacher told him to simply fill in for whatever instrument happened to be vacant that day.

“I always wanted to be a bass player,” says Smith. “But every time I picked it up, it shocked me. It was an electric bass, and we were wearing those army boots with nails in the soles. After a while, I said OK – not the bass. I suppose if I had an upright, I would have been playing that instead of an organ.”

“I made $2 playing trumpet in a big band. At one point, I was making $6 a night.” Smith says. “I had a job in a kitchen. I went there after singing with my brothers. The kitchen was hard, and I decided that I don’t care how much I make, I have to play music – I have to do what I want to do. That kitchen was the only job I ever had.”

Dr. Smith is an advocate for The Jazz Foundation of America. “They’re doing a great thing,” says Smith. “They provide all kinds of assistance for older jazz musicians. It’s like a family.”

“Music comes from deep inside of me,” says Smith. “Music is travel for your mind. You’re not there to teach them something. Your job as a musician is to bring people along with you.”

Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the Soul’d Out Music Festival

Dr. Lonnie Smith appears at Jimmy Mak’s, 221 NW 10th Ave, Portland. Tickets are $28.50. Showtimes are 6:30 and 9pm .

Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponosor of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.

"You done hired the hitmaker, Bernard 'Pretty' Purdie!"

Bernard Lee “Pretty” Purdie is said to be the World’s Most Recorded Drummer. Which means you’ve heard some of his beats, have them on your iPod, and probably recall some of them in back of your head. Need a refresher course on Mr. Purdie? He’ll be here, with sticks, at the Soul’d Out Festival on April 16th at Jimmy Mak’s.

“I never looked at myself as famous,” Purdie mentions.

For a minute, let’s play “Stereo of the mind.” First – recall Steely Dan’s “Babylon Sisters.” Do you hear that half-time shuffle? That’s Bernard. Now – Aretha Franklin’s “Rock Steady.” Yep – Beats supplied by Bernard. Next – any song from James Brown’s “Cold Sweat.” Bernard “Pretty” Purdie supplies Mr. Brown with more funk than you can shake a stick at. We could play this game for a long, long time.

Purdie started playing drums on his mother’s pots and pans when he was three years old. “My mother finally got a new set of pots, and told me not to drum on them.” says Purdie. “I was so hurt – there was a brand new set and I couldn’t touch them.” With all sympathy to Purdie’s mother, his early start provided him with a metronomic sense of rhythm.

Good drummers keep a band safely in the rhythm pocket. Great drummers have a sense of time bordering on inhuman. Need an example? Check out this clip from YouTube, where Purdie gives us a lesson on the 16th Note Shuffle. He narrates what he’s doing, almost in third person, while the beat sticks to the groove.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Learning to play Reggae was a novel experience for Purdie. “I learned Reggae from Bob Marley.” Purdie points out. “Reggae requires five drummers – timbale, cowbell, bongos, claves, shakers, wood block. I had to learn that rhythm on the kit. I could cover four, and learned the fifth was the resulting feel.”

After 4,000 albums, who would Purdie like to perform with next? “Madonna.” he says without hesitation. “She knows the business. I’m looking forward to her call.”

April 16th. Jimmy Mak’s. (Doubtful that Madonna will be there.) The Hitmaker pounds the skins and demonstrates why he is the antecedent of all drum goodness. And that’s why Oregon Music News is happy to be a sponsor of the Soul’d Out Music Festival.

Ben Darwish Group

From his new EP I Don’t Want To Live On the Moon.

Ben Darwish on piano, Tim Willcox on sax, Bill Athens on bass, Randy Rollofson on drums.

EP release show at Jimmy Mak’s, 8pm, $12 including the EP.

Also appearing: Andrew Oliver Kora Band.

Bassist Damian Erskine releases his first solo CD, "So to Speak" At Jimmy Mak's, Friday April 9.

For an inaugural effort, bassist Damian Erskine’s new CD, So to Speak, is a supremely inspired effort, rendered by some of Portland’s best jazz, funk, Latin and soul musicians. His compositions are a master class in groovology, ridiculously strong meter, inventive melodies and a solid underlayment of chordal modes and contrapuntal interplay.

The production itself, done on a shoestring budget at Supernatural Sound by Nick Moon in Oregon City, is built on inspired musicianship, well-captured performances, and sonic quality.

But topping the feat? It’s Erskine’s first effort as a composer.

Erskine has spent the last six years building a reputation in Portland. He’s copped gigs with banjoist Tony Furtado, Ramsey Embick (who also mixed the new CD), Intervision, Bobby Torres, Miriam’s Well, Mike Pardew, and scores of others who’ve found in him a bassist with a drummer’s heart, and a skilled and schooled musician with huge ears.

But as pop songwriting legend Jimmy Webb said, “If songwriting is easy for you, you’re doing it wrong.” It’s among the most vulnerable ways to expose oneself and one of the most difficult pursuits in music. Undaunted Erskine, the sideman’s sideman, sat down to write these eight tunes, after spending time jamming in his basement with Portland drummer Reinhardt Melz, in whom he’s found truly rhythmic kindred spirit. And by Webb’s standard, he is apparently doing it right.

Click here to view the embedded video.

“So to Speak” features eight groove-heavy songs, fleshed out with the play of pianist Embick, Chris Mosley on guitar, Rafael Trujillo on percussion, and Melz on drums. Adding tasty layers were saxman and horn arranger (and Oregon Music News Webmaster) John Nastos on tenor, Jason Dumars on soprano sax, Paul Mazzio on trumpet and additional percussion by Derek Reith.

Every song, with the exception of the beautiful ballad “Light,” begins with a scene-setting groove between Erskine and Melz. Odd times and stinky-cheese funk mark most of the grooves, to great effect. Listeners are never allowed to get lazy, but that doesn’t mean the cuts are inaccessible. On the contrary, listeners are captured instantly by the sheer force of the rhythm section, held by the monstrous underlying harmonies (most often in the deft hands of Embick) and gilded by melodies and solos by Mosley and Embick as well.

Portland churns out some amazing recordings in any given year but this one is infused with rare juju. And it lies squarely with Erskine’s bottom-heavy foundation and sense of rhythm. Erskine’s not only found his groove as a songwriter, hard as it may be, it looks like he’s found a home.

From Whence He Came

Erskine, an East Coast transplant, and nephew of famed session drummer Peter Erskine, grew up around music, hearing firsthand sets by uncle Peter, John Scofield,  Jaco Pastorius, the Brecker brothers, and others from an early age. He attended an arts high school in the East, and wanted to be a drummer, like his uncle, but moved to the bass, partly because he’d fallen in love with it (and yes, it was partly Jaco’s fault, plus a serious Victor Wooten phase), and partly because, with drums, “There are too many stairs. Playing drums is a pain in the butt.”

A couple of stints at Boston’s Berkelee College of Music got him nowhere.  “Berkelee did me more harm than good,” the 36-year-old bassist says with a chuckle, “I could never do things the Berkelee way.” It was their “real specific melodic approach,” he says, “I could never absorb that information. I had to do things my own. I was so used to doing things rhythmically. I barely passed. I had a horrible GPA. When I left I felt so inadequate as a player, I nearly left music.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

Music, however, was the thing that came most naturally to him, and he didn’t quit. Every time he thought about throwing in the towel, he couldn’t think of anything he’d rather be doing. Seeking greener musical pastures he moved to LA and toured with a pop-funk band. After a stint in San Francisco, he and his wife decided to move back to the East Coast, but after six months decided their hearts belonged in the West. He stayed with a musician friend in Eugene to check out the Northwest, and stayed.

“I thought I was heading for Seattle,” he says. “I was sort of running out of places to move. We moved around a lot. But we just sort of fell in love with Portland. We realized it was more vibrant, the music scene seemed a little healthier than Seattle. We just loved it. I played here once on tour, but I thought Portland was more like a truck stop. I didn’t realize it was a cool city.”

The A-Ha Moment

And it was here that he had his true musical a-ha moment, at a small gig in Lake Oswego with pianist Ramsey Embick playing standards. “My bass playing is fine,” he understates, “but I’ve always been super hyper-critical of my soloing. I’ve actually never been a fan of bass solos. I was hyper-critical, my bass solos sounded stupid. So I’m sitting on a set break, kind of sulking, reevaluating my worth as a human being, and I had this epiphany. I’m sitting in this little restaurant in Lake Oswego, Oregon, playing for a bunch of people who are trying to talk over the music. And it was the grain of sand on the beach thing. And I thought, ‘It doesn’t matter.’ This has no universal bearing on anything. There’s no cosmic importance here. Just relax and have some fun. Man, that next set was smoking. It sounded great. I got my brain out of the way.”

Erskine with his Skjold custom six-string bass

Erksine, who sports a braided goatee that reaches down to about where the top of his bass starts, has been in town for six years, and has made a name as a player’s player (as well as making a full-time living as a musician). By his reckoning he did some 200 dates last year, everything from rock to jazz to Latin to blues. “Everything but reggae,” he says. “I just don’t feel comfortable in that form.” He’s worked to get himself into the scene, playing , writing for various bass and music publications, and shooting YouTube performance and instructional videos.

But this next step, his first solo CD, has elevated him to a new level. He took a simple, organic approach to this creation. Every tune was written on the bass (often with rhythmic inspiration from Melz ) and he’d do simple bass demos at home. Once he had the tunes, he took them to the band in rough chord-chart-and-melody form, and let the interpretation of each player inform the final sound, making tweaks and changes along the way.

It wasn’t without its Jimmy-Webb misery in the process. “Since I write everything on the bass,” he says, “everything sounded stupid. But my uncle [Peter Erskine] had some great advice. He said keep it simple, and play with amazing musicians. Keep it simple and let the musicians interpret it.”

And that helped, but Erskine adds, “Whenever I’d try and write, I would just look at this big blank canvas, and think about the cool things people had put on it before and think to myself, ‘I just don’t have anything to add.’”

With this project, he proved himself wrong. Even though writing and arranging did not come easy. Overcoming what he calls “fear-based playing” was a big part of his push to compose “So to Speak.” In the end, it was all part of the learning process as a musician. “The key for me is to just not care, and have some fun,” he says. “Let the music dictate what’s going to happen.”

With his music, what’s going to happen we’ll wager are only good things.

Erskine officially releases his new CD, “So to Speak,” Friday night, April 9, 2010, at Jimmy Mak’s, 221 NW 10th Ave., Portland. Tickets are $12. Showtime is 9:30 p.m.

Photos by Kevin Tomanka

Jimmy Mak’s was full by eight o’clock on Saturday and there was a hum of excitement when Acoustic Minds took the stage to unveil their new album to Portland. People filled the aisles and walkways as the staff patiently waded through the masses to help guests.

The twin-sister duo (Jenni and Amanda Price) and their well-rehearsed band played their new album almost in its entirety for their fist set. Amanda put down her acoustic guitar after the opening song to sing “One Look” and followed that up with “New York,” a punchy upbeat tune featuring a cameo by Eugene hip-hop artist Marv Ellis.

Trying not to get too emotional during the dedication, they sang a heartfelt “A Part of Me” to their mother who was in the crowd.  Then Keegan Smith of Keegan Smith and the Fam helped wrap up the first set playing on the catchy tune “Local Artist.” During their second set they combined their voices with Chris Worth from NIAYH on several tunes, blending harmonies so true it sent tingles down your spine.

With polished solos and a grooving rhythm section, Acoustic Minds has found a very mature sound that can be somewhat less acoustic at times. Admitting from the stage that their sound has changed since their last studio album in 2005, they have bravely explored hip-hop, rock, and soul genres through collaboration with other great Northwest musicians.

AM Radio is the third full length release for the Acoustic Minds. The album was recorded at Mississippi Studios and produced by Jim Brunberg. It features a few studio versions of songs from Live at Mississippi Studios and several new tracks.

Acoustic Minds will be playing next with Keegan Smith and the Fam on Saturday April 3rd at 8 PM at Portland’s Spring Beer & Wine Festival in the Convention Center.

As a family band, raised touring the county fair circuit, L’Angelus certainly knew how to work a room.  Not only did they a run sibling shtick, but they played their Southern charm with “Swamp Pop” songs and familiar tunes like “What a Wonderful World,” and an Isley Brothers’ flashback, “Shout.”

By their second song, the crowd was two stepping across the dance floor.  But, they weren’t the only ones dancing.  Bass player, Paige Rees, river danced when she got into the groove.  Rees’s enthusiastic bass was not only the motor behind L’Angelus, but she was a driving force for the Paperboys, filling in for their usual bass player.  With her skills and smiles, she might have been a substitute, but she definitely stole the show.

Paperboys’ band leader, Tom Landa, helped Paige along while she learned the band’s repertoire.  His support, not only for their substitute band member, but for the whole squad was emblematic of the easy-going vibe he has going for him.  Landa’s musical achievements have tallied over the last twenty years of his career as a recording artist, but you would never know it by his stage presence – constantly cheering on the efforts of his band.  During Kalissa Hernandez’s Celtic fiddle solo jam, Landa almost knocked the bow out of her hand because he was dancing so close.

The Paperboys eclectic sound combined ska, Celtic jams, and American roots music ending in an “All Along the Watchtower” breakdown displaying the improv talents of trumpet player, Greg Lyons, and trombone player, Nick LaRiviere.  With seven players on stage, their music was a little loose, but a joyful way to spend the evening.

The Paperboys’ tour is taking them out of the US for awhile, but they should be back by June so keep your eyes peeled for another show.

The Paperboys are widely referred to as Celtic.  But, lead singer Tom Landa, has a Latin edge he cultivated during his childhood in Mexico City.  The band’s additional lineup includes trumpet, trombone, fiddle, banjo, flute, and drums, which often come together in bluegrass, country, and zydeco.   The group also fuses reggae, African rhythms, and ska into the mix.

The last Paperboys performance at Jimmy Mak’s had the sold out crowd wanting to push the tables aside to dance.  This performance will surely be as exciting as the last.  Especially in the wake of St. Patrick’s Day, anything with an Irish undertone has the momentum to rock.

The show is this Saturday at Jimmy Mak’s, 8:00 PM.  Tickets are $13 in advance and $15 at the door.

The CD release is March 12 at Jimmy Mak’s. A profile of Sam will be an OMN Top Story on Tuesday, March 9.

Listen to: Ain’t No Catfish Worth Dyin’ For

Here’s a video from the album: Exponential Critters

Click here to view the embedded video.

Monday night at Jimmy Mak's with Phil Baker

Chris Mosley, back for a visit from Austin, played in Portland Saturday night. Monday night Dan Faehnle performed at Jimmy Mak’s and demonstrated why we still miss him.

Read our preview from last week.

He dazzled. He soothed. He brought Grant Green back to life. He made us feel sorry he has to go back to Cincinnati at the end of the week.

After starting off with “Old Devil Moon” to get the band rolling, he announced that, “We’re not going to do any of the songs we rehearsed.” He may or may not have been kidding. Then he said, “Here’s something from the Grant Green songbook,” and ripped into a tune from Green, one of his biggest influences.

He didn’t stop there. He spun stories about B-3 player Bill Hyde, who Faehnle knew in Detroit and who made both a musical and personal mark on the guitarist. Calling him, “strange”, he explained as how Hyde must have set the world record for most baseball games attended and also for miles hitchhiking. The band would pick him up for a gig, not at his home, but at, say Exit 41 of the Interstate.

Hyde was also famous for inventing words. Switties were licks, for instance. Faehnle played one of Hyde’s tunes, inspired by Grant Green (coming full-circle) called “Grantacious.” It was that tune that stood everyone on their heads as Faehnle’s fingers were a blur on the fretboard pumping out “switties” in a dizzying array of runs and ideas.

Dan Faehnle, Phil Baker, Dick Berk (photo by John Nastos)

This is why we’re here at Jimmy Mak’s.

He followed with just a heart-wrenching ballad, playing as tenderly as a human possibly could. And he played an up-tempo boppish piece that proved once-and-for-all that he is still taking major chances.

Dan Faehnle's group at Jimmy Mak's (photo by John Nastos)

The band of Phil Baker on bass, Dan Gaynor on piano and Dick Berk on drums was supportive in all the right ways, but the star of the show was clearly Dan Faehnle.

Between sets he indicated that he’d love to return to Portland to live at some point. We’re ready for ya, Dan.