November 14, 2018
Page 9
Mississippi
Alberta
North Portland
Vancouver
East County
Beaverton
photos Courtesy a lbina M usiC t rust
A celebration of the Albina community’s once prominent soul music scene will take place Friday evening during a special concert at the Alberta Rose Theater in north-
east Portland. Pictured are members of the soul radio station KBTS back in the 1970s and standing in front of the station’s broadcasting studio on North Knott Street.
Friday concert
to bring back
musicians from era
by D anny p eterson
t he p ortlanD o bserver
A celebration of Portland’s once
prominent soul music scene and featur-
ing many of the talented local musicians
who were active in the Albina communi-
ty of north and northeast Portland in the
1960s, 70s and 80s will be take place this
weekend at the Alberta Rose Theater.
The Albina Soul Revue will feature
original performance selections from a
lost era in Portland history when soul
music often went undocumented, and
sadly, rarely resulted in vinyl releases.
The showcase is the culmination of
archival work done through World Arts
Foundation, Inc., and the Albina Music
Trust initiative, which has worked to re-
cord the oral histories, photos, and unre-
leased music from Albina’s soul era for
future generations.
“There was a very rich and vibrant
culture, musically, as well as in the arts,
Soul Albina
of
in Albina,” Bobby Smith, a special proj-
ects coordinator for World Arts Founda-
tion told the Portland Observer. “This
is a musical culture that sort of existed
on its own terms. And it was somewhat
rare, especially in the earlier time-frame
of the 1960s for a lot of these musicians
of color to make it out of north Portland,
to perform downtown or in various other
parts of the city where the city’s predom-
inant entertainment district existed.”
Though many black soul bands strug-
gled to strike it big on the national scene,
they performed at many local clubs in
Portland that hosted nationally known
acts, like Cab Calloway, Sammy Davis
Jr., BB King, and the Temptations. Ven-
ues like the Cotton Club and Upstairs
Downstairs were some of the most active
Albina soul music venues, part of the na-
tional “Chitlin’ Circuit,” a designation of
clubs and venues that welcomed black
performers.
Artists such as Shirley Nanette, Gregg
Smith, and The Legendary Beyons will
perform for the special concert, under the
direction of band director Tony Ozier. A
C ontinueD on p age 16
J.W. Friday spins the tunes as the DJ at a teen dance in the 1970s.