Oregon Music News has a line on its masthead listing the categories the online publication covers:
CLASSICAL, JAZZ/BLUES, ROCK/ROOTS, ACOUSTIC, INDIE, DJ/ELECTRO, SOUL/HIP-HOP, MELTING POT, FAMILY, MUSICALS
I don’t spend much time with two-thirds of those genres and although I found it enlightening to rummage through the OMN sections about them, I doubt that I will be delving deeply into, say, DJ/Electro. I’m glad it’s there for those who need it. The current lead story in the jazz section is Jack Berry’s “Saga of the not-so-lost Oregon Jazz treasure trove (part 2).” Berry updates questions about the fate of a cache of reel-to-reel audio tapes and videos recorded over the years by the late sound man Bob Thompson.
Among the musicians Thompson captured were Art Pepper, Jim Pepper, David Friesen, Dave Frishberg, Floyd Standifer, Nancy King and a few dozen other musicians better known in the Pacific Northwest than they are nationally. The recordings now belong to the Jazz Institute of Los Angeles, where they are stored with no apparent plan for their
permanent preservation or eventual release. If there is other music of the quality of a clip of the late tenor saxophonist Jim Pepper, bassist David Friesen and drummer Ron Steen in a basement session, let’s hope that the institute has something in mind. To read Berry’s story and hear Friesen, Pepper and Steen play “My One and Only Love” (mistitled “Bolivar Blues”), click here.
Other Places: Preservation Haul
December 30, 2010 by
The nonagenarian pianist presented de Barros with every biographer’s hope, unrestricted access to his subject’s personal papers and nearly unrestricted access to her private thoughts. He made the most of it, turning exhaustive research and hundreds of hours of interviews into a true story with the sweep of a novel. From the early discovery of McPartland’s musical gift through her wartime service, her ecstatic and stormy marriage to Jimmy McPartland, her growth as a pianist, her deep affair with Joe Morello, and the radio show that made her a national figure, she has had a fascinating life. It makes a splendid read.
Mulligan’s Concert Jazz Band had three fewer musicians than most big jazz outfits. Its size permitted precision, flexibility and subtlety, yet the band had the power of sprung steel. In this concert from a half century ago, the CJB is as fresh as yesterday. Arrangements by Mulligan, Bob Brookmeyer, Al Cohn and Johnny Mandel set standards to which big band writers still aspire. Bassist Buddy Clark and drummer Mel Lewis inspired Mulligan, Brookmeyer, Conte Candoli, Gene Quill and Zoot Sims to some of the best soloing of their careers. This beautifully produced issue of the complete concert is a basic repertoire item.
It is a shame such sessions lay hidden with no intention of issue. I learned that KNPR donated all of the old Four Queens Jazz Night From Las Vegas broadcast to UNLV’s music library, where they sit…
Thanks. I didn’t intend to criticize Ken Poston. He’s keeping the faith under difficult circumstances. Am kind of sad that Portland musicians didn’t (or haven’t) weighed in on the importance of the collection. Should have included Earle Minor in the list of players Thompson recorded. He’s almost certainly there.