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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 13, 1982)
V P o rtlan d O b server, O c to b e r 13, 1962 P ag e 7 A Ron Steen: Jazzman of jazz by Dick Bogle »IW0 EQUirWXT UTMtK Mil sm » gute» a r "///y Mow»» It* am »B Spiri VHS & ft BETA BLANK TAPE SALE Fug T -1 2 0 ’s M »14« And L 7 5 0 ’s GET 1 FREE -LU E Exoirss x ^ ra , 10/ 10/19/82 ,9 /ffi_ ASK ABOUT THE V I D E O M A N I A MOVIE PLAN •2» Monies VIDEO MANIA 287-5023 * N ot on now reloaaos f> P fN 1 0 -6 p m Mon S it Now Open Sunday 1 2-b Don Johnson Production« z.z. HILL 'Cheatin ’ In The N ext R oom ” "Down H om e Blues ” plus com edian Le Roy Daniels RON STEEN AT THE DRUM S participate in it. Now that more arc participating and it ’s being expand ed to a wider audience, you have to bring it down to their level and something is lo s t,” Steen says. He says a price is paid in that some mu sicians who reach the top are not what jazz is all about. He refused to be pinned down on any specific ex amples but we all know of some mu sicians who became known as fine jazz players and who later turned poppish. Stern says he has never concerned himself with making a lot of money and (hat philosophy fits right 12 with his early role models like Char lie Parker, M onk, etal. When asked what his goals are, Steen laughs and says, “ This is a cliche but i t ’ s what I really feel. I want peace o f mind and happiness and I really mean that. I love play ing music and I d o n ’ t know if I would enjoy it any more if I had a contract w ith C o lu m b ia Records. Now if that were to happen I hope I would be able to deal with that and still be happy. A lot o f times you might be able to get just what you think you want but it doesn’t make you happy.” H e's c ertain ly not against re cording. He recorded two albums in the N etherlands in 1976 on the “ Tim eless” lab el. One was titled “ M y s tifie d “ and the other “ Soft Focus.” Both album s were p ro duced by tenorman Joe Henderson and featured Portland's Tom Grant on keyboards and bassist Rick Laird. A third album on the " M ile stone" label was cut in ,975 with or ganist Johhny Hammond. He says he would record now but m ainly to keep his present trio o f pianist Peter Boe and bassist Phil Baker together. He also uses bassist Rob Thomas when Baker, who tra vels in the Diana Ross Orchestra, is out o f town. Steen says an album is an inducem ent fo r musicians to stick together and that he would be hard pressed to replace either Baker or Boe. So, here’s a 33-year-old musician, young in the music business, who plays today’s music but who is firm ly entrenched in the philosophy o f purity o f jazz believed in by his early heroes. And th a t’s P o rtlan d ’s R o n ’ Steen. _________________George Page - M . C. FRI. OCT. 15 Lung Fung 8 pm & 11:15 pm 8001 S.E. Division Tickets on sale: L U N G F U N G and at H O U S E O F S O U N D $12°° Com ing Soon Sir a LADY AVA rr •5 Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap opened recently in a promising pro duction at Portland Civic Theatre. I say promising because it has all the ingredients o f a fine funny evening’s entertainment but to paraphrase the commercial, " I t ain’t soup yet.” v> - I M I M I MOV I I , IV IIM A N . V I , M j . f H . l l by Lucretia Gardner Yes the ingredients arc all there: a cast o f odd English characters placed in isolation in charming old Mankswell M an o r, a stormy night, a murderer at large, a foreigner to add spice and a policeman to bring it all to a nice boil with his penetrat ing questions. But the classic m ix ture, which has run successfully for th irty years on the London stage, failed to jell on opening night. The actors were uneasy in their roles, their tim ing was o ff and everyone seemed to be shouting at the same level w ith exactly the same accent much o f the time. D ire cto r Jacqueline W illis has Rent 1 movie et regular price . — - "The Mousetrap I HOME VIDEO EQUIPMENT LOWEST PRICES IN TOWN! ■ * * * * * . C O U P O N » * * * * — - P o rtla n d ja zz dru m m er Ron Steen is a purist. He plays the kind o f ja zz he wants to play w ith o u t m aking any kind o f com m ercial compromises. It's easy to understand w hy, if you know even just a little about his background. His first jazz influence was that of local jazz trumpeter and pianist Evan P o rter, a nephew o f the late great pianist Sid Porter, a Portland mainstay for many years. Evan P o rter lived at the Steen home for about 12 years between R o n ’s fo u rth and sixteenth years. Porter had a large collection o f jazz albums featuring the purists o f that day including: T h elo n iu s M o n k , Bud Powell, Fats Navarro and Miles Davis. I t ’s doubtful that any mem bers o f that prestigious group ever made a com m ercial consideration when it came to what they were going to play. Ron says he first learned drumming by using a pair o f brush es on cardboard. And to this day he says he can get a better sound with brushes on cardboard than he can on a snare drum. A nother pow erful influence was the ja zz-o rie n te d C o tto n C lu b , which was directly across the street from the young drum m er’ s home. He says it was not unusual for him and tenorist Dennis Springer, both in their teens, to listen to the jazz in side the club anyway they could. His first job for pay came at the Cotton Club one night when the reg ular drum m er d id n 't show up to back singer Patience V a le n tin e . Ow ner Paul Knauls and Patience took a quick look around and there was 16-year-old Ronnie eager to ac cept the challenge. Ron recalls the expression on Valentine’s face when she knew if she was to have any drummer that night, it would have to be a 16-year-old on his first job. Steen must have acquitted himself quite well because from then on he sat in and worked with many good local musicians. Now 33 years o ld , Steen says Portland is like a lot o f other cities when it comes to jazz. "W hen jazz was just for the musi cians and for the art o f it and fewer people were aware o f it, it was a lot more pure. So it was a great art form but not everyone was able to I A VIDEO MANIA X Female Impersonator M r. P aravlclnl. played by Q rsgory N aahlf, aurprlaas M ra. Boyla (Lorraine Steward, and M ollia Ralston (Ollilan Burll In Agatha Chris tie ’s "T h e M ouse T ra p .” playing at the Civic Th eatre thru October (Photo: Dan Long, 231________________ certainly assembled a perfect look ing cast. G illian Burl is young and pretty as M ollie Ralston, the young wife at Mankswell M anor trying to keep up the place as a guest home without any help while continually calming a suspicious David Finks as Oiles Ralston. This Prince Charles look-alike can’ t help wondering if his guests aren’t going to cheat him, or worse. Lorraine Stewart is sharp o f face and tongue as Mrs. Boyle, a definitely unsatisfied customer. Don Burns is so swish as C hristopher Wren his wrists appear broken. Dick Turn er is a properly stout fellow as M a jo r M e tc a lf. C heryl Cranston strides about in a no-non sense spinster way as Miss Casewell. Gregory Nashif oils his way around the very British group, always the foreign outsider. George M arrow is the terrib ly humorless Sergeant Trotter, a man with a limitless sup ply o f questions, perseverance, and third degrees. The set by Jeff Seats is marvelous down to the last detail (a little cob web on the ceiling beams). Margaret Louise Heatheringta’s costumes are carefully crafted to evoke the Eng lish countryside in the fifties. The lighting by Robert Dubuy sets the moods well. I ’ m not going to tell you who done it or even who gets done in. If you want to know th a t, the play runs on M ainstage Thursdays through Saturdays through October 30th. I'm sure by now with an extra week’s seasoning it’ s a hearty mys tery soup. Enjoy. Fri. O ct 15 Sat. Oct. 16 2 Shows 9 & 11 p.m Tickets $7.00 Call for more info. Geneva ’s 4228 N. W illiam s 282-6363