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P o rtlan d O b server, O c to b e r 13, 1962 P ag e 7
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Ron Steen: Jazzman of jazz
by Dick Bogle
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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
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•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