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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1998)
Page b 2 ______________ (fije ^Jortlanò I I Northwest P assage Oregon “Northwest Passage" JAN. 14, 1998 -------------- or four c e n tu rie s, ex p lo r ers sought the N orthw est P assage as a way to the P acific O cean and the fu tu re ; for 27 years, the m em bers o f O regon have ex p lo re d the fro n tie rs o f m usic, and on this album have found th e ir ow n passage to the future. "T his recording re p re se n ts a n o ther m ajor m ile sto n e in our e f forts to produce m usic that w e 're ex cited to he a part of. T hrough the y ears, there have been in ev itab le c ro ssro a d s that have req u ired us to re-ex am in e our course. T hese m ajor e v e n ts seem to crop up every three to four years, and often reveal the need for new d ire c tio n s, o v e r-h a u ls, or ju s t a general sh ak e-u p in ap p roach. We fell that for this album we needed to re k in d le our love ot p la y in g w ith p e rc u s s io n , and found tw o e x c e p tio n a lly w orthy F f. m usicians, M ark W alker and A rto T u n c b o y a c iy a n , w ho m et our re q u ire m e n ts ot v e rsa tility , m a tu rity , and m u sic ia n sh ip ,” w rote R alph T o w n er N orthw est p a s sage o f co urse featu res three ot the founding m em bers ot O regon, g u ita rist, p ia n ist and k ey b o ard ist R alph T o w n e r, reed and horn p la y e r M cC an d less, and bassist G len M oore. It w as p ro d u c e d by S te v e R o d b y . w ho " b ro u g h t in te lli gence, c la rity , d ilig e n c e , and a rt istry to ev ery aspect ot this re co rd in g . T he se ssio n s w ere a totally m usical e x p e rie n c e in large part due to S te v e ’s fo re sig h t, and to the tru st we are able to place in his o v e rv ie w . T he band was able to c o n c e n trate so lely on playing the m u s ic ,” said M cC andless. T he four o rig in al m em bers of O regon met when they w ere play- mg w ith the Paul W in te r c o n c e rt in New Y ork in 1970; p ercu s- s i o n i s t / s i t a r p la y e r C o l l i n W alcott was rep la c e d by T rilo k G urtu after a trag ic bus a c c id e n t took W a lc o tt’s life d u rin g a E u ropean tour in 1984. For the past five y e a rs, O r egon has been p e rfo rm in g and recording as a trio, w ithout drum s and p e rc u ssio n ; T ro ik a (a lso tin In tu itio n M usic) was the first r e c o rd ed re p re se n ta tio n o f the O r egon trio, and was fo llo w e d by B eyond W ords. N orthw est Passage re ta in s the intim acy of th e ir w ork as a trio, w hile e x p an d in g it w ith the s e n sitive and e x c itin g m u sic ia n sh ip o f W alker and T u n c b o y a c iy a n . As can be p erc e iv e d by lis te n ing to any one of O re g o n s tw e n ty - p lu s r e c o r d in g s as a g ro u p , they have th ro u g h the years lound fresh n ess th ro u g h th e ir c o n sta n t e x p lo ra tio n . Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds Entertainer of the Year Kweisi M fume, President and CEO ot the National Association lor the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and Charles Whitehead, Chairman of the NAACP Image Awards Committee announced dur ing a special press conference that Kenneth “ Babyface’’ Edmonds was selected to be the 29th NAACP Im age Awards Entertainer of the Year. Hall of Fame Awards will be pre sented to sultry song stylist, Nancy Wilson and the legendary R&B group The Isley Brothers. The President’s Award will be presented lo United States Secretary of Labor Alexis Herman. The 29th NAACP Image Awards is an exciting, star studded salute to the best in Black entertainment. Hon orees, presenters and performers have included almost every major Afri can-American celebrity in America. There are 40 competitive categories in the fields of motion pictures, tele vision, music, and literature, and spe cial aw ards including the Image Award Hall of Fame and Entertainer of the Year. The two-hour television special is actually an edited version of the high lights of a three-hour live event. The result is a fast paced, program full of emotion, suspense, humor, and ex citing performances by today's hot test stars. Founded almost thirty years ago a meeting in the home of Sammy Davis Jr (a m ember of the Beverly H ills/H ollyw ood Branch o f our nation s oldest civil rights org an i zation ). the NAACP Image Awards honor projects and individuals por traying "positive images o f A fri can A m erican.” The 29th N AACP Image Awards will tape February 14. 1998, and air T hursday, March 5th. TICKETS AT ALL TICKETMASTER OUTLETS OR CHARGE BY PHONE- 2 2 4 -4 4 0 0 . SUBJECT TO SERVICE FEE. SATURDAY, JANUARY 31 a t 7 p.m. FRIDAY, JANUARY 9 a t 7 p.m. SATURDAY, JANUARY 10 a t 5 p.m. THE NORTHWEST FILM CENTER PORTLAND PREMIERE - VISITING ARTIST PRESENTS Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underaog (1997) Reel Music "I im Charles Mingus, half black man, half yellow man 1 play |azz, lam a Negro." declares the volatile, uncompromising genius at the start o f Don McGlynn’s riveting look at the tortured musical life o f the great composer and bass player Featuring wide ranging interviews with musicians and critics who were close to Mingus, along with the insights of his wives Celia and Susan, an extraordinary portrait emerges o f an artist o f unparalleled talent and complex, paradoxical temperament Over the course of nine years o f digging, McGlynn has also surfaced treasured film and television dips from the 1960s and 1970s, radio broadcasts, interviews and vintage photographs, many unknown, tocapture the joy and rage of his life, and the legacy of musical genius that he left behind (78 mins.) Preceded by Mark Mills' Ornette Coleman: Harmolodiscs (1996), a pithy examination of |izz saxophonist Ornette Coleman's theory of music (and life), which is to "remove the caste system from sound " (10 m in s) Director Don McGlynn will introduce his film FRIDAY, JANUARY 16 a t 7 p.m. SATURDAY, JANUARY 17 a t 5 p.m. PORTLAND PREMIERE Can’t You Hear the Wind Howl? The Life & Music o f Robert Johnson (1 9 9 7 ) A CELEBRATION OF MUSIC ON FILM Jazz, blues, rock, folk, punk, Tex-Mex, soul, reggae, klezmer, classical, Brazilian, H ollywood musicals., th ere is som ething for every taste. For th e full REEL MUSIC schedule, pick up th e Film C enter's Jan/ Feb calendar or W illa m e tt e W e e k , He never gave an interview or wrote any o f his compositionsdown on paper, and only recorded SUNDAY JANUARY 18 a t 7 p.m. 29 songs He claimed he sold his soul to the devil SUNDAY, JANUARY 25 a t 4:30 p.m. at the crossroads for a diabolical tuning o f his PORTLAND PREMIERE guitar, constantly roamed, and was murdered under still mysterious circumstances at the age of 2 7 Robert Johnson, the most influential arust (G erm any, 1996) in the history of blues music, is both a legend One of the great jazz labels. Blue Note Records and an enigma Peter Meyer's imaginatively crafted portrait reveals the power o f music to was founded in 1939 by Alfred Lion and Francis shape our culture as it presents a vivid picture of Wolfe, |azz fans from Germany who came to New Johnson and the circumstances that gave rise to York to escape Nazism By the 1950s,the fledgling his brilliant music Danny Glover narrates company came into its own, documenting the portions o f the story and bluesman Keb'Mo rich currents of modem |azz with little regard to portrays Johnson in new footage, which Meyer commercialism as well as amassing a legacy of blends with rare photographs, stock footage, recordings that provide the backbone lor any in sig h tfu l in terv ie w s w ith Johnson senous |azz record collection Recordings of Charlie contemporaries such as Johnn y Shines and Robert Parker. Bud Powell, Thelonius Monk, Miles Davis, Jr Lockwood, and appearances by Eric Clapton, John Coltrane. Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Ornette Robert Cray, John Hammond, Keith Richards Coleman, Herbie Hancock and hundreds more, among many others (77 m in s) With Third past and present, are essential documents of Ward Blues (1997) Anentertaimngexaminauon America's greatest art form Julian Benedikt's o f the personal and professional relationships of hom age is full o f great clips, photographs, Albert Collins, Clarence "Gatemouth “ Brown, interviews and history o f the music and the two JohnnyQydeCopeland and Joe "Guitar" Hughes men with the rare dedication and vision to preserve it. (120 mins ) Sponsored by Bravo (29 m in s) Blue Note: A Story of Modem Jazz N O R T H W E S T F IL M C E N T E R , 1 2 1 9 S .W » PORTLAND PREMIERE Dexter Gordon: More Than You Know (t997) Don McGlynn's (Charles Mingus: Triumph of the Underdog, Art Pepper Notes From A Jazz Survivor) newest jazz biography celebrates the life and career of the great saxophonist Dexter Gordon At seventeen Gordon joined the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, soon graduated to the Billy Eckstein Band and then went on to be one of the great players o f the m odem era Full o f superb performances by Gordon and some of those who inspired him — Lester Young, Charlie Parker. Ben Webster. Coleman Hawkins. Dizzy Gillespie and Bud Powell—as well as clips from the screen tests for Gordon's role (for which he received an Academy nomination) in Bertrand Tavernier's Round Midnight and other rare treats. McGlynn's portrait most o f all captures the beautiful expressiveness- in personality and music— o f this musical treasure (52 mins ) Preceded by Jules At Eight ( 1996), Mark Becker's portrait of Santa Rosa, California eight-year old Julian Lage, who. except for the tnals of the second grade, has spent his time taking jazz, blues and classical music lessons You will be impressed (24 mins ) And The Spitball Story (1997), Matthew Seig's recounting ot how trum peter Dizzy Gillespie, playing in Cab Calloway's band in 1941 with fellow musicians Jonah Jones and Milt Hinton, got his start down the path to modem jazz history (20 mins.) “AN EXCELLENT AND ABSORBING SUPERNATURAL THRILLER.” -K e n n e th T u ran , LOS ANGELES TIMES Detective John Hobbes is searching for a criminal WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 4 at 7 p.m PORTLAND PREMIERE Gilberto Gil: Tempo Rei (Brazil, 1997) "Gilberto Gil is one of the legends o f Brazilian music In this intimate, beautifully photographed documentary he returns to Ituacu, his childhood home and to the rivers o f Salvador, where he wrote the first song that gained him attention. Talking with his family and fnends, musician and writers Jorge Amando, Caetano Veloso, Paulinho Camafcu, Carlinhus Brown and others, Gil explores the rich musical tradition of Bahia and Africa Gil, a mulatto, reveals the ideological importance he placed on integrating questions of race in his art, and the central influence of the Candomble tradition The many performances captured in the film range from improvisations in village squares toconcerts in hugeauditoriums Wherever he goes, people know his songs, and jubilantly sing along He is their king "— Kathy Gerritz, Pacific Film Archive (107 m ins) Reel M usic is sp o n s o re d by Willamette Week, Music Millenium, McMenamtns Theaters and Pubs, and KINK 102 FM PARK A V E N U E , P O R TL A N D . OR 9 7 2 0 5 (5 0 3 ) 2 2 1 -1 1 5 6 he’s already met... already caught... and already killed. FALLEN Don’t trust a soul. in news - .ms tunnu am hi . hi ■ hi ■ ■■ mu sin nur mm mih « iimiii iiinns '■stimi sinun sun iihbii ; niisin imi «ui him ' tdimii -am biiiiíii . diiiiiisiiíi _ “tHHIMII STARTS FRIDAY JANUARY 16™ AT A THEATRE NEAR YOU I f
