Oregon Music News

Happy to be back in the brand new grand newly re-decorated World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan for OMN Coffeeshop Conversation #156. You know, educating our kids is a big enough task but it doesn’t help things when schools don’t teach music as part of the regular curriculum. When that happens, private organizations have to step in. One of those is the Youth Music Project, which is much more than just a project, it’s a fully operating juggernaut with a big facility in West Linn. They’ve got classrooms, rehearsal spaces and performance areas…and a lot of kids, hundreds of them. With me in the Coffeeshop is Travis Magrane, who is Executive Director at Youth Music Project. It’s a big job with lots of responsibilities and great rewards. Let’s meet him and find out more.

Back at World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan in the world famous Cupping Room after a week in the OMN booth at the Waterfront Blues Festival. I’ve got composer/guitarist Ryan Meagher in here with me, continuing something that I find fascinating, that’s when we bring in the curator of one of Portland’s music festivals and have them talk about the performers they’ve booked into the festival. The Montavilla Jazz Festival returns this year on Saturday and Sunday August 18 and 19. It’s the most adventurous of all the festivals. Ryan will also be performing. We’ll hear at tune from his latest album Evil Twin at the end of our conversation. The festival is, if not a part of, at least very closely aligned with the Portland Jazz Composers Ensemble organization which is very active in bringing a special kind of Jazz to us on a regular basis. Ryan’s been in the coffeshop before, and he’s always welcome.

Welcome back to the newly redone World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan in Portland. You have stumbled across another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. Today in the cupping room with me is Amanda Stark, Executive Director of The Old Church which is now known as The Old Church Concert Hall, something she’s been working on since 2010 and is no longer a work-in-progress….although everything in life really is…but it’s about to be re-launched as one of Portland’s finest venues. Not that it hasn’t been all this time, but the improvements and restoration during Amanda’s time there, including a fabulous sound system, have made TOC (as they like to call it) a beautiful unique place to hear music. What’s been done? How did it get done? What’s coming up? Let’s find out.

The great Boogie-Woogie Blues pianist, vocalist and musical polemicist David Vest talks to OMN's Tom D'Antoni before coming to Portland to play at the 2018 Waterfront Blues Festival. Hear all about his new album.

We’re back in the World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. They’ve finished completely re-doing the place and it’s fabulous. You should stop in and check it out. With me today is Dylan Magierik who twenty years ago founded Badman Records. Over that time they’ve put out a whole lot of albums including Starfucker, My Morning Jacket and many others. They’re having a twenty-year anniversary celebration at Doug Fir Lounge on Saturday, June 30 featuring three Badman bands: The Builders and the Butchers, N. Lannon and TENTS. Dylan is also a recording engineer, among other things, and one of the partners in the Type Foundry recording studio. Did you think record labels were a thing of the past? Apparently not. What kind of person keeps a small record label alive? Let’s find out. The tune at the end is "Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second" from STRFKR's Badman album STRFKR.

We’re back in the World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. They’ve finished completely re-doing the place and it’s fabulous. You should stop in and check it out. With me today is Dylan Magierik who twenty years ago founded Badman Records. Over that time they’ve put out a whole lot of albums including Starfucker, My Morning Jacket and many others. They’re having a twenty-year anniversary celebration at Doug Fir Lounge on Saturday, June 30 featuring three Badman bands: The Builders and the Butchers, N. Lannon and TENTS. Dylan is also a recording engineer, among other things, and one of the partners in the Type Foundry recording studio. Did you think record labels were a thing of the past? Apparently not. What kind of person keeps a small record label alive? Let’s find out. The tune at the end is "Rawnald Gregory Erickson The Second" from STRFKR's Badman album STRFKR.

World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan has been closed for over a week for renovations, but by the time you hear this it’ll be open again. While they were closed I thought it would be a good idea to call upon OMN’s National Editor, Art Levine and find out what’s going on with him. He’s in Washington, D.C. so we’re Skyping this one. He hasn’t been writing for us very much lately because he has been working on his new book, Mental Health, Inc. “How corruption, lax oversight and failed reforms endanger our most vulnerable citizens.” Yeah, it’s not a book about music. It's called Mental Health, Inc.: How Corruption, Lax Oversight and Failed Reforms Endanger Our Most Vulnerable Citizens. But there is a music and an OMN connection. We’ll start with that. But with Art, you never know where things will go from there. We’ve been friends since 1970, so you know how that goes.

Back in World Cup Coffee and Tea’s world famous cupping room at NW 18th & Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. You know, the Waterfront Blues Festival is right around the corner, beginning on July 4. Stop in and say hi at the OMN booth in the Louisiana Pavilion. Performing again this year is an ensemble called Okropong, part of the Obo Addy Legacy Project. They’ll be at the festival on Friday, July 5 on the Front Porch Stage, near our booth. One of the leaders is one of Obo’s sons, Alex Addy. Obo has been gone since 2012, but his family has maintained his rich legacy with the Obo Addy Legacy Project. This includes a best-of album, released a little while back. Obo had settled in Oregon after moving from Ghana and had become a beloved part of Oregon’s music scene, and indeed the world’s.

The cupping room runeth over today because right here in World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan we’ve got the return of the great guitarist Eddie Martinez, who before he moved to Portland was THE in-demand studio guitarist in New York, having been in Robert Palmer’s band, among many others. And yes, that was his lick on “Addicted to Love.” Eddie is back. He did one of these in April of 2016. We talked about a lot of things including working on a new album. Well, he’s ready to release it. It drops on June 15 and it’s a blockbuster. We’ll hear all about it, but as happens when Eddie and I sit down to do one of these, the conversation has a tendency to deepen. So let’s catch up with Eddie Martinez.

Back at World Cup Coffee & Tea at NW 18th & Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. Today, Stephen Rutledge, a most engaging and entertaining fellow, and a spectacularly prolific writer is in the chair opposite me in the Cupping Room. It’s one of those episodes that I love to do, never having met him before, so much so that I asked him a stupid question right off the bat. We hit it off before I started rolling and continued after I shut off the recorder. He writes for an online publication from the vast RuPaul empire of media. And like I say, he’s more prolific than anyone has a right to be. We didn’t get to even half the stuff I wanted to talk to him about. Meet Stephen Rutledge.

Welcome back to World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. This is number one hundred 49. My name is Lisa Helfer, I’m filling in for Tom D’Atoni today and with me is Portland-based, virtuoso mandolinist, Tim Connell. Tim is a graduate of New England Conservatory who has created a sophisticated and original global mandolin style. Regarded as one of the top North American interpreters of Brazilian choro, Tim has also developed his own unique voice for the instrument through jazz, bluegrass, klezmer and classical music.

Welcome back to World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan for another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. This is number one hundred forty-eight. With me is a funky bass man, a Gospel bass man, a Blues bass man and one of those go-to guys that other musicians call when they need talent, versatility and reliability…and quality. It’s Ben Jones who’s here with me. He’s got his own band, is in bands, and pops up everywhere. That’s cause he’s good. But did you know that Ben was a member of the Neville Brothers for a while? He’s not even from New Orleans. We’re all mourning the death of Charles Neville a couple of weeks ago, so I think that’s a good place to start. Meet Ben Jones.

All set up and ready to go in World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan for OMN Coffeeshop Conversation number 147. In the coffeeshop with me is trumpeter Paul Mazzio, a mainstay in the Oregon Jazz world for a long time. He has his own ensembles but he’s also known as one of those go-to guys when fine players want to add a trumpet in their recordings or live performances. He’s versatile enough to have toured with Woody Herman and Delbert McLinton and has chops enough to play with Alan Jones. He’s from Portland…went to Sunset High even. He has Classical training but is known for his Jazz playing. Trumpet players are a singular breed. Even when they’re playing soft, there’s something about the instrument that says, “Look at me!” Is Paul like that? Let’s find out.

Sitting in World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan for OMN Coffeeshop Conversation number one-hundred forty-six. Buckle-up friends because Andrew Paul Woodworth, all three of them, is paying us another visit. He has a new album called Drinks To Sleep but I would have wanted him back even if he didn’t. His last visit was in February of 2015 but it was one of the most memorable…just seems to be that way when we sit down to talk. The album release gig is May 4 at Secret Society. I’ve got some questions about this album, mister! He’s a composer, singer, guitarist, actor, teacher and although I have no proof of his behavior outside of this room, a wild man…if only in his mind. A singular personality, this guy.

This delightful bit of cleverness took place at the Art Bar on Saturday, February 22, 2014 as part of the Portland Jazz Festival 2014's Jazz Conversations

OMN Coffeeshop Conversation number one hundred forty-five coming to you from the internet via World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan. I am still Tom D’Antoni, barely, and you know, we’re all dealing with current events the best we can. Robert Parrish and Teri Briggs took action in the best way they know. They call it “Musicians Rising Up.” They make videos of local talent who perform songs connected to the times in which we live? Or as they put it, “…live performances to heal and inspire a confused and angry nation." That’s quite a task but they’ve been at it for over a year and have no intention of stopping. We’ve broken the format for this. It’s always been one-on-one, but I got a taste of my own format-breaking history on this one. Meet Robert Parrish and Teri Briggs.

Hi there. This is OMN Coffeeshop Conversation number one-hundred forty-four. No kidding. And there are no signs of stopping. Back at World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th and Glisan. If you ask who makes the best trumpets in the world, a lot of folks will tell you it’s David Monette who makes his here in Portland. Both Jazz and Classical masters world-wide own Monettes. This is not news to trumpet players. Just this week they were putting the finishing touches on a decorated trumpet for Brazil’s Maestro Forro E Opbh and shipped a new trumpet to Avashai Cohen. Who is this guy? What’s his secret? Let’s meet. David Monette.

Welcome back to the Cupping room at World Cup Coffee and Tea, NW 18th & Glisan, for another in the endless series of OMN Coffeeshop Conversations. Last year we started what has become a sensational tradition of having the folks who book major festivals come in and tell us about the people they booked. Did it with Don Lucoff and the Portland Jazz Festival, We did one last time with Nicolas Harris of the Soul’d Out Festival and today for the second year in a row, Peter Dammann, Artistic Director of the Waterfront Blues Festival is in the coffeeshop to tell us all about the 2018 festival starting on the Fourth of July. There are some big internal changes this year, and of course, lots of great music. OMN will be in our booth in the Louisiana Pavilion, of course. Let’s get started and welcome back ace-Blues guitarist Peter Dammann.

In World Cup Coffee and Tea at NW 18th & Glisan, it’s another OMN Coffeeshop Conversation. Last year, I stumbled across the best way to preview a music festival. I had Waterfront Blues Festival Artistic Director Peter Dammann here and he just went day by day and talked about every performer. Who would know better? Did the same thing with Portland Jazz Festival’s Don Lucoff a few months ago and we’re doing it again to with Soul’d Out Festival’s Nicholas Harris. He’s been here before, around the time the club he books, Jack London Review opened about a year ago. This is the Soul’d Out Festival’s ninth year and it just keeps getting better. Let’s find out who’s playing from the guy who booked the players.

Our guest this week is Kendra Carpenter, a Portland-based musician and music instructor.