Oregon Music News

I did this interview just before fhe world shut down in March of 2020 This is in lieu of having a real Mardi Gras Day. They’ve called Davell Crawford the “Piano Prince of New Orleans.” He has had long and diverse career playing all kinds of music, New Orleans R&B, Gospel, Rock n Roll, Blues, and Jazz but he was trained as a classical musician too. His grandfather, James “Sugar Boy” Crawford wrote and recorded “Jock-a-Mo” which you know as “Iko Iko” for Chess records in 1954. And when he was young he hung out with Fats Domino. He never moved back to New Orleans after the flood but New Orleans never left his soul. No longer a prodigy but now a musician with a long string of great albums who tours the world, he’s now in New York which is where I called him on a day when the whole world seemed to be self-quarantined. That would be Monday, March 16, 2020. Meet Davell Crawford

It used to be more difficult to catch up in person with guitarist John Stowell. That’s because he used to spend so much of his life on the road, playing and teaching. Since we’re currently Skyping instead, it’s not so hard.. There’s not been a lot of travelling or live playing going on as you may have heard. Fortunately John had been teaching online for years before the current tribulation, so he was prepared when it happened. He has a new album with Don Dean called Rain Painting…you can hear the title tune at the end of our conversation. John has a huge body of work over a long period of time but he has never stopped growing as an artist. He’s got a couple of gigs coming up, we’ll hear about that and many other things in the world of John Stowell.

If it matters to you…and it matters to me…in a few weeks we’ll be back in the Café at Artichoke Music. As soon as I get jabbed, to be honest with you. Doing it on Skype works fine but it’s not like being in the same room. Therefore…….Bassist Jeff Langston is on the Skype with me. After a great run with Antony and the Johnsons , touring the world and playing before tens of thousands, he decided to come bac home to Oregon. You’ve heard him with Rachel Taylor Brown, Bre Greg and a lot of others. Got you interested? Let’s meet Jeff Langston.

We’re Skyping again today. Hopefully just a few more weeks and I can get jabbed and we’ll be back in the Artichoke Music Café. Communicating online is a way of life now. So is playing music and streaming it. Moses Barrett who leads the band the Junebugs is also one of the founders of Left Door Streaming, one of Portland’s most active presenters of music online. How did it happen? What’s involved in doing it? How does it effect his band? What does the future hold? I guess nobody really knows the answer to that one. But Moses has some ideas. My guess is that live-streaming will be an option for years to come. But who knows? Let’s meet Moses Barrett.

It’s another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation, this time another Skyper. Hoping to be back at Artichoke Music soon. Very happy to have composer, singer, keyboardist and the only international star I ever heard of who grew up in Mollala. Jarrod Lawson has a new album with a lot of Oregon stars and also including the great percussionist Sammy Figueroa and Amber Navran and her Moonchild band. It’s called Be the Change and it’s about as relevant as relevant gets. It’s got that Jarrod Lawson sound, layered vocals, funky keys and something to say. Let’s talk to Jarrod.

We’re Skyping again this week. We’ll be back in the Artichoke Café soon. Ben Landsverk is with me today. He’s a composer, singer, multi-instrumentalist and one-half of Wonderly with Jim Brunberg. They make music for other people’s films and have begun releasing their own films with their own music. There’s one on DB Cooper on this page and a new song at the end of our conversation. Ben has also transformed the Low Brow Chorale into an online Chorale. Let’s meet Ben Landsverk.

We’re not at Artichoke Music this week or next. The store is open and doing well, but since I have all the right things wrong with me, I’m going to wait for the vaccine to arrive before I start recording there again. This is a week I’ve been waiting for...literally, years. Composer Andrew Durkin and Mary-Sue Tobin are Skyping with me because after a four-year wait, Five Pointed Star, the collaboration between Andrew and the Quadraphonnes, Oregon’s all-female saxophone quartet, is about to be released…and it’s very special. It’s unique, as you might expect, reflecting the unique personalities and talents of all involved.

This is another OMN Coffeshop Conversation at Artichoke Music. The final one for 2020. The next two weeks you’ll find our best two conversations of what has been an awful year. I’d like to thank everyone who as been a guest on the podcast. It hasn’t been easy, but it sure has been worth it. January we will return with a couple of interesting episodes including Ben Landsverk and Andrew Durkin. But to wrap up the year I wanted to sit down with a guy who has helped facilitate every episode we’ve recorded here, Artichoke’s store manager Jason Alberger. He’s also a guitarist and composer and I don’t know what we’d do without him.

There are two more new episodes of Coffeeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music before we run our two best of the year. This is one of the new ones. Next week, we’ll wrap up the year with Artichoke store manager, guitarst and teacher Jason Alburger, someone who has made producing these things at Artichoke a lot easier given the times. Today, however I’m psyched to be able to meet and talk with Jana Cushman who leads the band Darkswoon, which makes music that sounds like it’s name. They played a live-streaming set last spring as part of the OMN Live series, and our publisher Ana Amman wrote about her in a story celebrating World Goth Day. What’s it like writing dark songs in a dark time when your partner is part of the band. Let’s meet Jana Cushman

Given the givens looking forward to 2021 is a happy activity. One thing we can count on in 2021 is that there will be a Portland Jazz Festival in February. And as we always do, the executive director is here to tell us about all the performers, how they will perform and how PDX Jazz has been plowing through the muck of the past year. Chris Doss came on for 2020’s festival in his first year on the job, and he’s in Café Artichoke with me to run down everything you’ll hear and see in 2021 from top to bottom. Believe me, it’s a pleasure to actually talk about music and musicians and festivals again.

Hi there. Next week Chris Doss, Executive Director of PDX Jazz and the Portland Jazz Festival will be here to give us our annual rundown of the performers, virtual as they may be this time around. The last week of December and the first week of January we’ll have my two favorite Coffeeshop Conversations episodes of the year. That’s going to be fun. But today, this is one of those times when I get to meet and talk for the first time with someone I should have met years ago. Dunno why we never did but today in the Artichoke Music Café I’ll be talking with Catón Lyles, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist in a wide variety of genres…and he’s an actor too. He’s involved with an ongoing series of performances called Walk A Mile In Our Shoes….and we’ll get to that first. Meet Catón Lyles

The holidays officially begin next week, so best wishes from all of us at OMN and Artichoke Music. I know some of youse guys are already engaged in finding gifts and that is why, sitting across from me, at a safe distance, and masked, is Oregon’s premiere music poster artist, Gary Houston of Voodoo Catbox. I know you’ve seen his work. Twenty years of Waterfront Blues Festival posters for instance. Did you know his signature style even has a name? This is a very busy time of year for Gary. He’ll be having a big show and sale at Music Millennium November 27-December 24 and also at the Aladdin Theatre which has a large trove of his signed work which you can buy here. He did posters for shows there for decades. He’s done posters for concerts all over the country for decades. And he’s here to talk about them. You’ve seen his work, now you get to meet Gary Houston

Happy to be back with you again in the Artichoke Music Café. And after several years, Amy Maxwell is back on the podcast. She runs Ticket Tomato, the Oregon-based concert and venue ticketing company, trying to keep their head above water, like the rest of us. What does the present look like? And what does the future hold? The first part we know, but the second is speculation, at best an educated guess. Amy is an expert and that’s why she’s here. She also has a fun new company we’ll be finding out about. She’s wearing one of her items in the picture. Here’s Amy Maxwell.

Because OMN just turned eleven last week. I thought I’d take a break on Coffeeshop Conversations from talking to folks in the music industry and talk to myself….and you. I helped found OMN in 2009, Later, I’ll tell you why in case you’ve never heard that story before. What else are we going to talk about besides of course the future? I dunno. Let’s just find out. Oh, and by the way, next week we’ll be talking with Ticket Tomato’s Amy Maxwell, no stranger to the podcast, about the future of concerts. And the following week to percussionist and actor Caton Lyles. Our eternal thanks to Keith Schreiner and Derek Sims, recording as Jazztronica for our theme music, called Ghost Jazz.

In Café Artichoke with another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. Upcoming episodes? Amy Maxwell from Ticket Tomato on the future of concerts, immediate and otherwise. Also percussionist, actor and all around interesting guy Caton Lyles, and next week, since we just had OMN’s eleventh anniversary….I’ll be doing the podcast solo. Something for you to either look forward to or run from screaming. Today one of our best guitarists, Jon Neufeld is here. You know him from a lot of bands, as that smooth, supple jaw-dropping player. Kung Pao Chickens is one of them. He’s also known as a master masterer. I know we talked about that with Ramsey Embick last week but nobody ever talks about mastering. Let’s talk to Jon Neufeld about a lot of things and then listen to him play a tune.

Welcome to the Café at Artichoke Music for another…267th, to be exact, OMN Coffeeshop Conversations at Artichoke Music podcast. Next week, the virtuoso guitarist and Master of Mastering Jon Neufeld. The week after that my guest will be me. The election will be over, I hope, and I’m going to take center stage. Anything might happen. But today a unique individual, a pianist who can play anything. Jazz, funk, Latin, he’s done it all. He put in time as a producer and engineer in Los Angeles, helping the Pointer Sisters make a couple of albums and lots of other people, too. He has a soul/funk band these days called Bridge City Soul. He masters albums too. Welcome back to the podcast Ramsey Embick

Welcome back to the Café at Artichoke Music for Coffeeshop Conversation number two hundred and sixty six. Can you believe it? Portland has a world famous choral ensemble. Its name is Cappella Romana. They’ve been around since 1991 giving the world early and contemporary sacred classical music in the Christian traditions of East and West. These days, the replication of sounds from an ancient Byzantine cathedral in Turkey has put them on the charts! And I’m betting they’ll be up for a Grammy. Executive Director Mark Powell is here with me. They’re doing so well they now have their own label and this week are releasing Benedict Sheehan: Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom by The Saint Tikhon Choir, a non-Cappella Romana album. a non-Cappella Romana album this week. Excerpt at the end of our conversation courtesy Cappella Romana. Let’s talk to Mark Powell

You know It’s one of those times when we say that there’s a musician who has stepped up and been recognized as that one young cat who is what? I’m not handing out trophies here, but for me, I’d like to think of Charlie Brown III as someone who deserves to be known as the top young keyboard player around here. I know that might sound archaic but at least it’s not a list for us to harvest clicks. Anyway, Charlie is in a lot of ensembles including a band called greaterkind…lower case G. They recently streamed on OMN Live. Let’s meet Charlie Brown III

Vicki Green intro Welcome back to the Café at Artichoke Music for another OMN Coffeshop Conversation. I’m Tom D’Antoni, as you may know. Do you need a coach? Think about it. Wouldn’t that be nice? To have someone on your side who wants to help you improve your work….and can’t fire you? With me is Vicki Green who is a Performing Artist Coach. What’s that? That’s what we’re here to find out. In addition to musicians and bands, she coaches actors, writers, directors and playwrights. Let’s meet Vicki Green.

I always like it when I Have someone in the Artichoke Music Café who I’ve enjoyed and admired but have neve met. One of those people is Sarah Clare who is here in the Café with me. I’ve known about her for years for her singing with Dirty Revival. They were getting ready for a tour with Galactic when we all got smacked down with the virus. That has not stopped her. She’s been doing a lot of live-streaming, she is headimg up the Musicians in Solidarity organization and is involved with a new label, People Music. We’ll talk about all those things. I was great to finally meeting Sarah Clarke.