Oregon Music News

Yes it’s me with a smoky voice not because I want to sound like Barry White (which I actually do want to) but because of the smoke. When we recorded this conversation with Michael Quinby, leader of the Roseland Hunters (I ask if there’s a chance they’ll get back together), all we had to worry about was the pandemic and the election. Michael was the leader, vocalist and guitarist for the Roseland Hunters and I played the living hell out of their record on the radio. So what’s he been doing lately? Let’s find out.

Steve Berlin, long-time saxophonist with Los Lobos, and a Portlander for years is in the Artichoke Café. He’s here to talk about the work on a new Los Lobos album and how he has spent all of this damned time off re-learning how to play the saxophone. After decades of playing it one way, he’s spent months learning a different way to play it. We’ll hear about that and a lot of other things. Hey, if ya got, please donate to our GoFundMe campaign to keep OMN alive. We’re not kidding when we say that. If OMN has meant anything to you these ten years, now’s the time to step up and keep us going until the advertisers return. Having said that, let’s talk with Steve Berlin.

Bill Frisell tells us about a dream that changed his life.

I am with Tucker Martine, one of the world’s best producers and recording engineers. I could read you the list of the people he’s worked with but it would take the rest of the podcast, and that’s only slightly exaggerating. Here are just a few, Roseanne Cash, My Morning Jacket, The Decemberists, Sufjan Stevens, Don Henley, the Avett Brothers. I could go on but you get the picture. One of his most beloved collaborators is Bill Frisell who comes to Portland to record right here at Flora Recordings and Playback. He’s also a musician and like everyone else right now doing everything he can to keep afloat until we get back to something that resembles normal. Bill Frisell is one of my favorite musicians and so excuse me if I talk too much about him. It’s my podcast. Here’s Tucker Martine.

Lee Fields. came up in the 1960’s, did pretty well for himself, known as “Little JB” for James Brown because of his voice, his dancing abilities and because he was just downright funky. When disco hit, he wanted to remain true to his art, so he quit the business for a few years. He was a part of the great Soul music revival in the late 1990’s and hasn’t looked back since. He has a tight band he calls The Expressions and they travel the world. He has a new album out called. “It Rains Love.” We caught up with him on the road, the morning after a fabulous show at the Roseland in December of 2019. Remember when it was just normal to go to the Roseland, or any other place, be with people, dance and hear great music? I did this interview for a short-lived podcast I was doing but stopped doing after a bunch of episodes which I loved, but could't work out a deal to keep going.. He’s deep. Meet Lee Fields.

When you hear the start of this, you will notice that you're not hearing the Coffeeshop Conversations theme. Good catch. The regular theme doesn’t have men imitating birds and frogs. No, this is Martin Denny’s Quiet Village which ushered in a whole new thing when it was released in 1957…called Exotica. And it was. It was also a huge hit and so were the Martin Denny lp’s that followed. Well, today’s guest in the Artichoke Café is Isaac Sluseranko who runs Jackpot Records. Every year around Record Store Day, this year on Saturday, August 29, they reissue something that blows you away. This year it’s four Martin Denny records, including the one with Quiet Village, that one in original Mono. Martin Denny sold millions and millions of records. Let’s find out why from Issac Slusarenko.

The rather spectacular Lisa Lipton is in the Artichoke Café. She’s the Executive Director of Opera Theater Oregon and their principal clarinetist and so much more. She’s a very busy human. She has a live streamed event on her birthday, Tuesday August 25 at Polaris Hall which will feature Micah Hummel on drums, George Colligan on Piano, Mark Dubac on Clarinet, Camille Marie Sherman, Mezzo-Soprano, Daniel Mobbs, Bass-Baritone, Sequoia on Piano, and our friend Jim Brunberg on Guitar. All kinds of music featured. It’ll be quite an event. She absolutely loves the clarinet and related instruments. A lot. Let’s meet Lisa Lipton

After a visit to Falcon Recording Studio last time, we’re back at the Café at Artichoke Music for episode two-hundred and fifty-six in the endless podcast series Coffeeshop Conversations. With me is Darrell Grant composer, pianist, teacher and central to Jazz music in Oregon for decades. He’s the Associate Director of the School of Music at Portland State University which has fueled the development of our homegrown Jazz musicians. But he’s here today to talk about a new piece of music called Take Flight which is also now a music video. If you can see it on the page here, it has been debuted. If you can’t it will debut here on Thursday, August 6 at 6pm. Let’s here all about it from Darrell Grant.

Dennis Carter has been operating the Falcon Recording Studio on SE 15th Avenue for thirty-five years. He’s recorded much of the musical history of Portland. We’re in his studio because he has a client on the way over and that’s how our schedules fit. Like everyone in the music industry, including us, Dennis is looking for ways to keep the lights on. But when you sit here and think about the music that has been recorded here, it’s almost like a living museum, but one that continues to add to the art not on, but in its walls and which permeates the atmosphere in this room. Let’s meet Dennis Carter.

Recorded message by the animator/filmmaker/cartoonist on August 10, 2010 at cartoonist John Callahan's memorial at the Mission Theater in Portland.

August 10, 2010 at the Mission Theater in Portland Oregon. It was pre-recorded for the occasion.

Jim Brunberg on getting money to save Oregon's music venues by Oregon Music News

I’m six feet across the table in the Artichoke Cafe from composer, producer, singer, multi-instrumentalist, mentor and scenemaker…the man who introduced the Dookie Jam to Portland and who has just finished a run of releasing twenty songs in twenty consecutive weeks with “What Is Love” Featuring Rain Ezra… I’m talking about Tony Ozier…that tall, lean gentleman who has been an important part of music in Oregon for over a decade. It's people like Tony who have managed to keep busy even though live performances are off the table for the foreseeable future. Let’s find out how he does it.

We are back to the Skype machine this week but we’ll be back at Artichoke Music next week with a conversation with Tony Ozier. Right now we’re going to talk with Lady A. Not the band that used to call themselves lady Antebellum, but the Soul and Blues singer from Seattle who has been calling herself Lady A for decades, has made many appearances in Portland including many times at the Waterfront Blues Festival.. I’m sure you’ve heard about the dustup between them. Lady A will be filling in all the details along with her producer John Oliver (a non-British John Oliver). Lady Antebellum changed the name of their band after the massive anti-racist demonstrations after the murder of George Floyd. Antebellum being the period of time before the Civil War, when slavery was legal. You’ll have to ask them why they chose a name that celebrates that period of time. What happened when Lady A, the singer found out that Lady Antebellum decided to call themselves Lady A? Let’s find out.

One of the busiest, most productive and most versatile musicians around here is Farnell Newton. It’s been way too long since Farnell has visited the podcast…five years, even. Are we that old? I guess we are. He’s back as trumpeter, composer, producer and label owner. He had multiple working ensemble before the tribulations hit. Those tribulations have not stopped him from composing, playing and starting a new label…lofisouljazz….all one word. There’s a new compilation album just out featuring Farnell and lots of collaborators. Listen to a track at the end of our conversation. Let’s catch up with Farnell.

Karl Denson interview from 2013 / Waterfront Blues Festival by Oregon Music News

Today Portland Cello Project’s Skip vonKuske is in the Artichoke Music Café with me. That’s not the only ensemble he’s involved with. He has lots of projects and after we’re done talking you’ll hear a track from the latest album by Groovy Wallpaper, the duo he has with Don Henson. Skip has been pretty busy during the current tribulations. He’s been live-streaming, recording and writing but he misses us as much as we miss him. Face it, we miss being able to be in the same room with live music. Let’s talk with Skip vonKuske.

Today we’ve got the two sides of drummer/composer Tony Coleman…or TC as he is known. He was BB King’s drummer for 35 years. He’s here in the Artichoke Music Café, six feet away and masked. I did an interview with TC a few months go for another podcast I was doing at the time and it centered on music. When the Black Lives Matter protests spread world-wide I knew we had to ask TC to come in and give us his views, something he has never hesitated to do. So the first part of this is TC on Black Lives Matter and the second is on BB King and the music.

It’s our second week back in the Artichoke Music Café. Today we’ve got Andrea Algieri from the band Mbrascatu. He’ll be performing Sunday, June 14 at 6pm as part of the OMN Live streaming series. Our friend Denise Kowalczyk wrote in an OMN story in June of 2012, “From Calabria to Firenze to Portland, Andrea Algieri's Mbrascatu is a fusion of the cobbled streets and cafés of the Old World and the creative melting pot of Portland.” And that pretty much sums it up. They have a distinct sound, and not only because Andrea sings all of his songs in Italian. Let’s meet Andrea Algieri.

The last time we sat in the Café at Artichoke Music and recorded an episode of Coffeeshop Conversations was March 11th, nearly three months ago although it feels like another century ago. Well, guess what? Even though Artichoke isn’t fully open yet, here we are back in the Café and six feet away from Artichoke CEO Bob Howard who is full of news, not only about Artichoke but about the future of all the music venues in Oregon. Even though we’re masked…we’re here! When will it open? What will it be when it opens? What will anything be when anything opens? What will WE be when it opens? Bob may not have all the answers but he has a lot of ideas. That’s for sure.