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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
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