Albina Music Trust Vinyl, CD & Tape 5 Items

In 1977, the Portland Trailblazers were at the peak of their game. Anticipating the team’s meteoric rise toward an NBA championship, songwriter Ron Stassens assembled his own dream team. Featuring members of Pleasure, Transport, and Slickaphonic, Stassens penned a theme song to amplify the team’s ascent and wound up with an album’s worth of soulful, disco-funk material.

Centering on Slickaphonic frontman, Milton Davis, the band was hopeful. But like the vast majority of Portland's musical output, the reels received a dose of regional airplay before being shelved. Davis left town. Stassens and the backing band moved on. Years later, we now this artifact, featuring a who's who in the Portland's musician community - banded together on this sole release.

But the album stretches beyond the confines of “Blazermania” with a deep connection to this era in Albina. "Let Me In" signifies Davis' yearning to be seen by his peers at a time when local musicians’ aspirations for fame and fortune were all too unlikely in Portland’s gatekept club scene - a quaint industry both culturally and geographically isolated from national access. Few musicians made it out. And Black musicians redlined in the city’s Albina district were disproportionately affected. Buried within a love song, Davis’ crooning on “All I Wanna Do” spells it out:

‘Some people want to drive a cadillac car / Some people want to be a Hollywood star / Oh no, not me / My poor heart just can’t break free / All I wanna do is think about you.’

Mystery surrounds Davis' background and why this tremendous suite of recordings has remained unreleased. In its time, the “Blazermania” single was successful enough that the band performed it on repeat during the team’s championship celebration (images of this can be seen on ESPN’s recent “30 For 30” featuring Bill Walton, as well as on the album’s back side jacket). What we do know is that Davis came of age in the Houston area where in high school he joined The Four Tempos - a soul group that would make their way to Los Angeles, cutting a few 45s for Rampart Records. When the group disbanded, he steadily worked his way up the West Coast Chitlin Circuit before landing in Portland. There he would fall in step with Albina's finest, fronting Slickaphonic for a short time. It is believed he would later front Doc Severinsen’s big band on European tours throughout the 1980s and produce R&B singles for major label artists throughout the 1990s. Davis passed in late 2020, having remained largely disconnected from Albina’s musician community since the time of this recording.

As with all releases in our catalog, listeners may now appreciate a piece of Albina’s legacy otherwise buried by selective history producers and the ensuing memory-making that has occurred in our region’s popular culture. These recordings document an important albeit buried moment. Its fleeting impact has been obscured in such a way that even Stassens, engineer Bob Stoutenburg, and the participating musicians on these takes can’t fully recall the entire cast of players on the three sessions that make up the record. Years of interviews and sleuthing the highest quality tape dub have produced the record we have here - a recording that all these years later demands, “Let me in.”

"There was no internet, no cell phones. We didn't have streaming services, cable television, or even VCRs. People in Portland were out to see music seven nights a week"

In 1982, it seemed club nightlife in downtown Portland had reached its zenith. Musicians could make a living in a multitude of clubs throughout the city. And they made music on their own terms. Calvin Walker's recollection above speaks to the sovereignty of an independent community devoid of the recording industry's bottom line.

Lights Out gained traction when Pleasure wasn't in the studio or on the road. They were led by Pleasure's trumpeter Tony Collins, whose agenda involved prodding his group with gnarled fusion covers, complex horn arrangements, and masterful wardrobe flexing. "We wanted to be better at what we did," claims Collins. "Everybody grew."

But even with platinum level players holding recording contracts a la Fantasy Records, Lights Out struggled to find bookings in Portland's white-owned club circuit. "There were rules to these things and you had to play by them," remembers Walker. "They had to push up against that."

"I remember it being tough to get this band booked on the West side of the Willamette River back then," remembers bassist John Mazzocco. "When Peter Mott at Last Hurrah called to book us on a Tuesday, I was elated."

Knee-deep in the jazz fusion sound made popular throughout the city, Lights Out soon evolved into a synthesizer-fueled funk group fronted by vocalist Andy Stokes and featuring guitarist Greg "Gee Mack" Dalton. It's this era of Lights Out that made converts of the haters and annihilated 800-capacity dancefloors. It’s this era of Lights Out that is being celebrated on this release.

Recorded in 1982 at Wave Sound Studios - a facility that housed local punk acts such as The Wipers and The Rats - the material on this LP was intended as a demo for Solar Records. As a touring trumpeter for The Whispers, Collins was to pass the reel up the chain. When Solar fumbled it, Collins and Dalton left Portland for Los Angeles signaling the end of the group.

Forty years later, the legacy of this canonical Stumptown act has been remembered in devastating detail. The vinyl package includes a 12-page booklet of the band's oral history and deluxe archival photography. With tape restoration and mastering by Gus Elg, this painfully obscure recording has been waxed and buffed by one of the reissue industry's greatest.

Lights Out personnel have since made waves beyond the Pacific Northwest. Collins founded NDN Records in Atlanta. Andy Stokes has received the Grammy nod, releasing singles with Snoop Dogg and Battlecat. John Mazzocco toured with John Lee Hooker and was recently inducted into the Oregon Music Hall Of Fame. Damian Dillon went on to a successful radio career in Germany. And Greg Dalton has sessioned relentlessly, working with everyone from Patrice Rushen to Kamasi Washington to Tupac.

As Stokes puts it, "Being in this band gave me the strength to branch out. You don’t just do that by yourself. You have a family. This a family.” credits released July 15, 2022

In the summer of 1979, a Chicago DJ started a riot that killed disco overnight. Inciting fans to blow up disco records during a nationally televised major league baseball game, the cultural impact of Disco Demolition Night was felt globally. It even made waves in Portland, Oregon.

In the months to follow, clubs in the City of Roses were out to hire anything but disco. For Transport, hot nights as a stage-ready show band would fade to memory. First went the horns, then the vocalists, until all that remained was the rhythm section. The band's days were numbered or so it seemed.

But keyboardists Jimmy and Johnny Sanders were fiercely experimental. Freed from the disco formula, the brothers' exchange over synthesizers and other keyed instruments was electric. With drummer Towner Galaher, the group bore songs in homage to the fusion music ever present in Portland. Inspired by the national success of local groups like the Jeff Lorber Fusion, Tom Grant, and Dan Siegel, the band was reborn.

Months before signing a multi record deal with Geffen, Quarterflash's Marv and Rindy Ross offered Transport a shot at recording in their home studio. The group recorded over two sessions and soon shelved the tapes. Band members were summarily recruited by other acts shortly thereafter. The tapes have continued to sit.

Now over four decades later we hear this music. With tape restoration and mastering by Gus Elg, a calculated spitshine envelops the recording and positions listeners in the shag carpet-lined haze of a 1970s fusion session. With design by Eric W Mast, viewers can check out the aforementioned period upholstery through archival photography in the album's insert, depicting wall-to-wall shag gracing the booths at Mel Brown's Drum Shop.

Out of the gate, "Latin Summer" burns through with an urgency akin to The Gangsters - an album recorded by members of this band a decade prior. On the Funkadelic-fused "Chrome Dome," Jimmy Sanders continues to make use of the synthesizer, through squiggling tones and fried bursts, as well as on “Gospel Bridge,” a track that evokes Heavy Weather in its Pollock-like splashes of melody. Jeff Bruce's fretless bass brings a psych-propelled elasticity to the groove, adding a sinful undercurrent to “Time of My Life” - a languorous tune that could be a Head Hunters outtake - while giving “Song For Valerie” a playful Peaches & Herb-like wiggle.

Transport's output is staggering for a group entirely unreleased and but a drop in the bucket for Portland's cottage industry recording business of yesteryear. This installment in the group's catalog probes a layer deeper.

Albina Music Trust has served as a vital resource amplifying Portland’s musical past - most consistently through work with underrepresented soul musicians active in the 1950s-1990s. Another important element of the nonprofit’s work has been strengthening connections between these foundational artists and our current generation of regional musicians, especially those mentored by elders in the Albina musician community.

One such artist is drummer, composer, and educator Domo Branch. At twenty-three years old, Branch has come up through the ranks of the American Music Program - a crucial proving ground for Portland’s jazz musicians that includes Esperanza Spaulding and Charlie Brown III. Founded by Gangsters alum, Thara Memory, Branch received vital instruction through community-centered operations such as AMP and the Mel Brown Jazz Workshop. He now lives in Manhattan and performs with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. He has since formed a bi-coastal group, Branchin’ Out.

The Melodies of a Branch is a solo drum recording made in Riga, Latvia. This rare session followed Branch’s 2022 performance at the city’s annual jazz festival. Performing in an intimate setting at Latvian Radio Recording Studios, Branch’s range of motion is now on full display in this exploration of the many nuances of a drum set.

The record also keys into the emotional value of the Black experience through music. Whether it be the evolution of drumming ranging from tribal to contemporary forms or the sheer capacity of melodic phrasing on the drums, the album is expressive, free, and spiritually sound. Through its spare, minimalist genesis into the polyrhythmic power and beauty of its conclusion, the work evidenced here is consistent with the many iterations of Branch’s work with other ensembles. Except now we get him to ourselves.

On May 2, 1982 the Youthsound Choir and Stage Band performed at Portland’s Jefferson High School. With youth ranging from elementary through high school, this 100-voice mass choir under the direction of Ken Berry was poised to sing an array of uptempo spirituals. Their backing big band contained a who’s who of Albina’s adult musicians interspersed with youth. The feeling in the air was electric. An audience of 1,500 had awaited this moment - along with the city’s fire marshall, insisting that maximum capacity had been reached. The story of Youthsound is the story of resilience, mentorship, and mutual aid. With an approaching local bond measure that would increase Portland Public Schools’ investment in the arts, the Youthsound concert was made possible through efforts of recruitment, rehearsal, fundraising, and lobbying to demonstrate what this community was capable of with increased resources. According to band mentor Ronnye Harrison, “We didn’t wait around for the city or anyone else because we knew no one was coming. We just needed a place to rehearse that was safe for the kids and where their families felt safe.” This is also the story of The World Arts Foundation. Youthsound is one of many programs that comprise WAF’s legacy. Later evolving into the Cultural Recreation Band and then the American Music Program, Youthsound marks the beginning of a legacy that has produced musicians such as Esperanza Spaulding, Charlie Brown III, and Domo Branch. True to AMT’s release format, this vinyl package contains a 12-page booklet featuring archival photography and a detailed oral history of the group - executive produced by Ken Berry, and with design and art direction by Brian Mumford and Bobby Smith respectively. Originally broadcast on community radio and cable access, the recording by Thomas Robinson and Evan Shales (The Wipers, The Rats) has been masterfully preserved by Gus Elg from a variety of source tapes. The backing band here is heavy, featuring members of nearly every band released in AMT’s catalog - not to mention members of Pleasure, the pianist Janice Scroggins, and the Ghanaian master drummer Obo Addy. In the words of World Arts Foundation’s co-founder Michael ‘Chappie’ Grice, “We’re here to speak to you in a language that is universally understood throughout the world. It is called… music.”