Albina Music Trust US Vinilo y CD

Review: Songwriter Ron Stassens assembled a team of musicians in 1977 in anticipation of local side the Portland Trailblazers taking an NBA championship title. Milton Davis was the chosen front man and the music made got regional plays but not more so the band went their separate ways. But not before recording the album that is now presented here via Albina Music Trust. It is a funk work of the highest order with six super tight grooves all laden with percussion, disco energy and big vocals. These will all do plenty of damage in the right setting and remind why Davis is such a cult figure.

Review: The Albina Music Trust aims to amplify Portland's musical past by working with underrepresented soul musicians, one such artist being 23-year-old drummer, composer and educator Domo Branch. Branch has come up through the ranks of the American Music Program - a crucial proving ground for Portland's jazz musicians - and now lives in Manhattan, performing with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra under the direction of Wynton Marsalis. Sparse and minimalist in its ingredients it may seem superficially, but closer investigation reveals there's polyrhythmic power and heaps of unpredictable expression in his free improvisation.

Review: The spirit of the lord is strong in this recording from May 2, 1982 when the Youthsound Choir and Stage Band performed at Portland's Jefferson High School, with the 100 strong choir ranging from elementary through to high school students. It's a lively, rowdy affair, where the drums power through and the brass lifts your mood and catapults it skywards. You'll certainly know some of the songs - there's a great version of 'The Greatest Love' that so much less sentimental than the original, for instance - but the performances are unique, as is the intimate live atmosphere, captured perfectly here on what was originally a community radio and cable access broadcast.