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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (May 5, 1977)
DO NALD RYKD A ' : BLACKI had aspim m a r the Mäsaiaafeei D uka tratad when he - s a fea r, he fe» Donald Byrd aad i m Blae first gofa album X R y L ife’ lfe lS years < ® , - h a a » M m hkc Rock aad RolL Pop. B fas m et her pasead away by waritfeg . A t fao r tosa ha «smramaltod w ffe fa a i, Fd like to cuagratulato the Black i turnad gofa a smash ago strietly gatagoriaad to oses e v o laax or Country aad W estern then le f t h e lR a a a s m d R t i R Jaxx. aad trurspst players ia yaa had to ateatioa the hooey weights tike Doaald Berd, Milos D aria, dibard. Dus? Gdfeapea aad a few at hors. A ll of these | I «ritti Jan i world far th eir ceutributsaes to aeusae. Along with this according to one of the famous feur. DoaaM Byrd hat emerged to " mix J a » aad R t i B tike m other j a a m u s a a n to date. When Byrd Vniveraity a the aotsoa's capital w 1966. (by the w ay. Donald Byrd bold» a Ph.D .) many jam buffs wore shocked induding a t . But when I asked Byrd about it at the after p m ty hold a fas honor. be commented. “I just felt that I wanted to share ssy while teeefaagbeeame lo o re a to x trie " ;« c o n fin in g . Besides I like to party, be myself, Riley his own i allowed to play at horns, ha quickly haram i as a at the I earn what aeaassd a t tbs tim e to ba vaat nmnar the atreetearuars of neighboring towns. b ^ kch-fahad nertkjto JK am nh ia to five w ith fas it h a l tke only muste ba e Bukka W hite. ladiaaola ha was able to obtain a job parfarm iag five nights a weak a t the 16th Street G rill. The management of W IM A . the local Black radio statma. war ea iaqpreaaad w ith did well enough to be promoted in abort order to tbe position of Boy." If t e r tbs e iu ix re w d e d street « T r i d X he n X did moat of h u live be far real and tra rfaa g don't allow you the freedoms to da sa." Whoa Donald Byrd ■sa t fljia g bis own twin engine plane from bis homes in Hollywood and D.C. he's domg what he does best aad that is generally w hatever ho decades to do. Byrd's new album “Caricatures* is sa the shelves now. Y e u l enjoy every a s os i t N C C t - T H E V R E S O M E T H IN G E L S E e about N C C V prior to the co m e n was ña name N C CU. I it stood far “N orth Carolina Central V niveraity." A ll nine members d N C C V and majored m masse and graduated. It's no wander aad ( why they collectively went off into show business. They offer sa sm start to B ank T heir showmanship is definitely first rate. Actually, the only thing that surprised aw about the group was the fact that 1 bad never heard s f thorn befare’ But you know uw. T w peeked winners m the past befare sad N C C V is no exception-they re « » » « I» » » »*«»" table in Portland in al tw o He made fas first record, fa r the R P M label in 1969. The I O Cfeck Blues' attained tbe au m b arm m peaftioa oa the national R A B charts, and ha left W D IA to accept bookings aU over th e country. L ittle could he have imagined th at he'd play some WO cfathBi nearly eighteen years before achieving tb e stature to 1 entitled fam: not until the lato W a . when such rock guitar heroes as Eric I M ike Bloomfield acknowledged fas enormous inflaence would a tru ly ma W hen the pep audience feacovared fam. though, it was w ith a 1966 he was invited to perform at virtu ally saury m ajor college ia the cc as at a number of important pap festivals all over N o rth America. The I he travelled to Europe, where he performed ia France. Denm ark, aad Sweden after an aartsticuA applauded tour-opening concert at Landon's Royal A lb ert Hail. Plumbing Repairs D R A IN S V N B L O C K E D W IT H E L E C T R IC R O O TER »12.95 P ER H O V R , Sioh*. lavs, bathtubs, showers, toilets, laundry facilities, floor drains, rain drains. A L S O A V A IL A B L E P L U M B IN G R E P A IR S « 1 6 .» A N H O UR . Toilet A faucet repairs. Hot w ater heater sales A service. Kitchen A bathroom THE BLACK BYRDS-THEY DID IT! SERV IN G A L L O F P O R T L A N D 7 D A Y S A W E E K . 24 HOC RS A D A Y to find th at out bow . They ra re brought over here as slaves, that w e w ere the only r , hut th ey are faarniag today th t many people of different people to catch hell < hell ton. One thing I th in k th a t made it stand fa r young H a rk s is th at whenever they walked into a place, they w ars identified only by color. I have never been ia a country th a t at one tim e o r another I wasn't reminded th a t I was a Black man. M aybe not discriminatory the tim e. I usually try to defend the fat about young Blacks When I was starting out about IS. there w ere always kids m y age and older. Those older people are still w ith me and w e are gaining a few. T h e young Hacks are h «ginning to appro rin tr th eir heritage. They are now rsaliriag th a t the music that ia theirs today, didn't a ta ri w ith them. Janes: D a yen think Blues ia g ritm g its proper recognition mteruatiansBy aa it Donald Byrd introduced the Black Byrds to the world a couple of years then. The H ack Byrds have bees racognmad as one of the top musical gro aatton h 's rare that y o u ! find a new group who's firm album turns gold 1 A ~ has. T heir new one “Vnfinisbed Business" is destined to do the same unique quahty about the Black Byrds is th e fact that th ey're ail consists of Orv ille Saunders on g uitar. Kevin Toney on keyboards. Wesley I Bute. Joe Hall on bass and Keith KiUgo sa drums. Thai five i the sound and the group known as The Black Byrds, ekeod at the Paramount was everything I thought it would be: sd thoroughly enjoyable. They performed all of the aelectioa Unfinished Business- like T im e Is Moving." " la Life." smaena' aad others. By the way. they w rote ail of the tum The Black Byrds this it to yomaetf. you catch they P L E A S V K E -W H A T A P L E A S U R E * to play at a social function oar sodai d a b was having at mr the Hfltoo Hotel down aad they did. Even though I , I know they woe ere a little me of the moat demanding musical groups in the business. There are no i to deal w ith anymore, only a smooth, polished, professional group of t that can an audience's mood at «rilL Sherman Davis heads up the group I background vocals along «nth Marion T h e M a g id a a * McCatiu on guitar, I Michael Hepburn are on keyboards aad background vocals. Daa 1 Dennis Springer tennor and soprano saxaphone. Nathaniel Phi bass. Bruce C arter, drums. Bruce Smith, tambourine, bell tree, cowbefl. congas, qi Flexitone and background vocafa. Thev did a number of selections from their album T l i m u r i . " like “Joyous." “Only You." "Sassafras G nL " T u n e Is " and m AU the selections w ere w ritten by members of the band. T heir "Live" from start to finish. I think it goes w ithout saying th at F exerting aad suc c ess f u l hand to come out of the N orthw est. T h e ir | with Donald Byrd. The Black Byrds. N C C V all recording far Fantasy was one of the most enjoyable concerts Fve ever seen" ill King: N o-1 think it s starting. R they P ^ y othe r t ypea of music. TT^ .T V i It h e i JHfy fc S a n rfta of Oregot 2 8 6 -2 8 9 0 ROZfLL’S playing it tike m as that d e a l Something New They play it because, speaking cufturally. they wm w hat a going cm. But the A M stations aad the F M stations th at dap and heavily on commercials, they jnat daa 1 play an th a t much. The company I w ork for (A B O is a fag and powerful company (I'v e been w ith them far 16 years) and they have people oa the road ail the tim e tryin g to gut Bfaes records played aU the time. They wifl be able to get erhars pfaged. B u t they are nat abfe t a get th e Bhma played aa easily. I am aaare Breakfast Served AB Day O F E N 8 .0 0 a .m to M ID N IG H T FO R Y O l R C O S V E M E M T mmne. meaning I play'ithe WneaTl pfay R B . King, but I was able to ^ o rd c r an hard rack. jaxx. aad anal and Gospel The avenue is very «ride, fast Fm still B B King. 1 think that by domg this over the rears is ana thine that ban kept ma abve aa aa entertainer. People m y that a let of guys le a n from you. T ru e. But Fve learned from thorn. Tve learned the music that's being played is played by th em . All the guys th at th at la a raad from ase are the moat popular oa the radio oa in order fa r my music to gat played I have to do the same thing but Fm still doing me over again. W ben 1 do that Fm able to talk about it. Now 1 can aay that a lot of my buddies aren't getting played. I think 1 wouldn t ba here if I had not started to diversify my muasc. Ja n a « Do you think this is a sacrifice?' King: Yea. but it's a sacrifice I can live w ith. 1 think in life everybody gives a tittle. T H L S C L PO N W O R T H 50c ON A N Y B R E A K F A S T O R D E R O F «1 JO O R M O R E N E . U N IO N A T A IN S W O R T H The bread Things have gat to open up far Bhea. I t can't be done just by the madia itself. T h a n has to be community involvement. They have ta lot th e D J . know they w ant to hear the P u ce. There have been a cfatteriing. Wack peas and cornbread stigma attached ta the Blues, but this isn't true. There are many Blues singer» aad listeners th a t don't ant The doors started ta open more «rhea young whites started ta play aad talk about the Blues. Aad Fm one they happened ta baton ta . pattern afte r aad talk about. Janes: Does it strike you aa runic th a t Rock aad Roil ia founded oa Blues, but is so much more popular? King: I t ia easily understood. It's because the young whites started ta do it. The young whites are the D J . ’a aad th eir parents own the radio stations and the Ja n e « la it difficult bring ap to the reputation as K ing of the Bhms? King; W hea they m y yea are a king, it ’a libs saying you a r t bettor than aoaaaaae rise. I think of ia aa kno«riag asy job. aad «rhea I perform . I da m y beat. People ask «ray are you a t ii playing the same aid atuO. but a shady over says aaythuig about Beethoven or Bach «rfaeh is mack alder than th e atuff we do. They don't m y anything about old guapal. They don't any aaythings about aa old Rolls Royce which is bettor than tbe new ones. Today a lot of performers are loaing their idantitg aad are Bounding tike »rhoever circumstances call far. aad this really bothers me. James; W hat do you think of the young eatartm aars coming ap? King; I think we have some great talent Aad it «riti gat bettor beeauae they are more aware. I can be in my hotel room watching people 1 Goeb. I would have given my life far th at type of exposure. W hen I was a boy I heard of T V . Moat people didn't have radios. If yon had a radio, you I think Hues ia dying though. Bees u s e we doa't have enough people wanting to keep it tike it really is. I think that aa long aa there are people there «rill be asaaabady singing tbe H ues, but not as are are singing it now. Unless there ia a drastic change soon. Because what's happening b that some of tb e young whites th at helped open tbe door, are now going into other muaieal fields We believe strongly that the blues ia like the m other tree to the mueic you bear today. Many branches have eprouted out from the H u es and we feel th at it deserves preserving and should be preserved. Jamee; Do you have to have lived the Hues to play tbe Hu*s? K ia *; No. It's just a m atter of wanting to do R AH men are talented if ha wants to be. Jemer W hat does B.B. King do when he’s n at oa the road? King: I w ork oa the average of 360 days a year. Flying, readiag. talking to people, sports, I really like everyday simple life. Janas; Do you think that Jaxx and H ues sre ia the same field? K ti« : No. la a a r. W hat type of music da you eejoy? K l n r I tike music and I listen to ail types. NO PRESERVATIVES ADDED MADE W ITH PURE LJQUD VEGETABLE SH O R TEM N G Baked just right for you! Cel To YOU MIGHT B€ SURPRISED whol your property could »ell for on the present real e»to»e morket. Coll Cal or Bob for a m orivi value update. No obligation, of course. Still serviag the conmeiiity AS THE HOME FOLKS FOR W h a fa l A R .C . Ea m uti«« ha Sc e ttri M ay 13th Andre Crouch in coucari at the Paramount N o rtb w ert M ay 22nd Allan Jonas presento "Aa Evening of Noatalgia" featuring the Big Band of W alter Bridges at Jrwatia'a. June 16th Northwest Releasing presento Ella R tag erald at the. Q v ie f. fi. Stassens, Inc. Realtoi Hollywood OHica 288-8871
