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Reviews of Volume 1 and its Companion CD

Book Reviews: (Go directly to reviews of the CD.)

The Portland Collection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest (1)

David Kaynor (posted to rec.folk-dancing June 1997)

I just have to tell you about browsing through The Portland Collection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest which I acquired in Seattle in the woozy afterglow of Folklife.

My first impressions: The cover is cheerfully engaging; the spiral binding is reassuringly beefy; and at 6 3/4" by 8 1/2" and nearly 3/4" thick, it has a solid, promising heft. Then, flipping it open at random: Uncluttered, thoroughly-readable transcriptions of jigs and reels both old and new.

At the front end and back: Well-set-up text, in which the book's creators eloquently discuss its focus, purpose, and content. Notes on the individual tunes. Appendices covering Discography, Bibliography, Mail Order Resources, a List of Tunes by Key (subdivided into reel and jigs) (who gets thanked for this nice feature?) an Alphabetical List of Titles and Alternate Titles, and ordering information and forms. Scattered throughout: Enjoyable remarks on contra dancing and its music collected from dancers at a Portland dance.

And tunes. How many? "Abe's Retreat" is on page 17; "The Young Widow" is on page 213; and the pages in between contain either two average-length tunes or a single longer one. There are chord suggestions for each.

At $25, buying two copies hits a working musician hard, but I think we deserve to treat ourselves and our friends. And why two? Well, one copy to be open on the piano at all times, poised for great work and great play, and the other...

...The other copy of The Portland Collection is for your bathroom. I kid you not. It makes extraordinarily great bathroom reading. The moment it was published, contra dance musicians' lavatorial libraries became incomplete without it. Increasingly dog-eared and handworn, it will prevail for months and more atop the glitziest catalogue and magazine stack you can compile, and you will see undreamed-of dimensions of satisfaction on the faces of all who emerge from cheerfully prolonged and frequent Ensconcements in a facility thus endowed.

Kerry Blech (Victory Review, September 1997)

This mammoth 308-page, spiral-bound book accounts for years of work in notating and documenting the music that is played for contra dances down Portland, Oregon way. It runs the gamut of New England chestnuts, hot new compositions, Southern barn-burners, and a number of imports from Europe. In addition to the clear and clean transcriptions are enjoyable commentaries on each piece by Clyde Curley, presenting the milieu in which the tunes found their ways in the repertories of Oregon's dance musicians (and others), but also noting sources, origins and other pith and ephemera. Ramrod for this project was Sue Songer, who must be commended for her bulldog-like tenacity in tracking down origins of tunes, especially those that were recently composed or had copyrights, as she wanted to assure that everyone should get proper credit (and royalties). Hurrah! It's an impressive and welcome tome, one that should prove useful to various dance scenes and in a way provides a snapshot album of several years worth of dance music in the Northwest. Next though, I'd like to see an accompanying project of audio material, for style is one thing that is not well-indicated by transcription. But that's another project. Meanwhile, enjoy this one.

Bob Buckingham (Fiddler Magazine, Spring 1999)

This is an important piece of work if for no other reason than that it documents the contra dance scene in the 1990's. But with more than three hundred tunes, it is much more than that. This is one of the best throughout collections of fiddle tunes to come across this desk in a long time. It focuses on one aspect of fiddling and guides the user in what constitutes a good contra dance tune. There are copious notes, alternate versions, and the message that these are the skeletons of these tunes is brought to the fore. This collection of tunes is described as a bed of flowers, each ready to be picked and played and enjoyed.

The tunes are in a lead sheet format, complete with chords. They are easy to read with no bowing noted. For folk fiddling, one must find one's own path. Regional and personal styles determine something so unique. The authors are wise in knowing this truth.

The spiral binding, the compact size and the thorough attention to detail make this an important collection. The wealth of diversity in the tunes makes this an essential for the reading fiddler. Marry this book with a good book of waltzes and you will have the beginning of a solid library.

Brian Peters (Folkroots), April, 2002

Contra is a North American style of social dancing not dissimilar to what goes on at "ceilidhs" in England. The dances are walked, many of the moves are the same, but the set runs the length of the room and you are likely to finish the night having danced with everyone there. Having experienced it from both sides of the orchestra pit, I can tell you it's a lot of fun. Contra originated in New England and utilised music from that area, chiefly reels and jigs from the Anglo-Celtic and French traditions. These days the form has become popular across the breadth of the country - witness this publication from Oregon - and the repertoire is eclectic, drawing on American old-time tunes as well as music played in Quebec, Ireland and Cape Breton. Bands are usually fiddle-based, often with piano supplying the rhythm. The Portland Collection is a clearly laid-out, ring-bound book containing an extremely generous 318 tunes in the repertoire of Songer and Curley's band, ranging from Playford to Southern mountain fiddle tunes (some crackers here), with fine compositions by the likes of Bertram Levy, Jay Ungar and Marcel Messervier. Although some of the ground is well-trodden (100 Pipers, Jamie Allen, Mason's Apron), the unfamiliar greatly outnumber the old chestnuts, and superb melodies like Two Wide Nickels or Rodney Miller's Asher demand exploration. The authors also provide lengthy notes on the tunes and hints on how they should be played for contra. The Portland Collection is already the Bible for several American contradance bands I've met. For British musicians with a non-purist approach to repertoire it contains rich pickings and is excellent value. Even better news is that a CD containing 36 of the tunes is also available and it's a splendid recording in its own right. With George Penk leading the line on high-class fiddle, and accompanied by the two authors on piano and mandolin or banjo, it provides an object listen in how to play dance music with lift and rhythm, and subtle, unpretentious arrangements. It's also supremely listenable, and has established squatter's rights on my player. The book is available in some of the specialist outlets; to order book or CD direct, go to www.theportlandcollection.com.

www.frootsmag.com.

CD Reviews:

A Portland Selection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest

Listen To A Portland Selection on NPR's "All Songs Considered."

Bill Spence (Andy's Front Hall, Spring 2001)

Sue and Clyde published a book The Portland Collection in 1997. It's a tunebook of favorite tunes of dance bands in the Portland, Oregon area and they decided it needed a CD to bring the tunes off the printed page and into the ear where they belong. The tune selection is a cross-section of fast tunes, slow tunes. old tunes, and new tunes of every type from jigs and reels to hoedowns and a waltz. George Penk is a fiddler with a wonderful bounce in this playing that obviously comes from years of propelling dancers down the center with style. Sue's piano is creative without getting in the way, and Clyde Curley adds mandolin and banjo in perfect sync with it all. Here and there you'll hear Creighton Lindsay on guitar and dumbek. This is simply a very listenable and eclectic group of 36 tunes that stands alone as a listening album. More important, perhaps, is its function as a companion piece to The Portland Collection book, enabling learning musicians to hear what this wonderful bunch of tunes sounds like.

Bob Buckingham (Fiddler Magazine, Summer 2001)

This CD is intended as a companion to The Portland Collection, a fine book of contra dance tunes that has sold over 5000 copies. George Penk is the fiddler and a fine one he is. Contra dance music tends to lean toward the Celtic side and George is in full control. When he tackles a southern piece like "Liza Jane" or "Sally Ann Johnson,' he is equally at home. He is joined by the musicians whose names appeared on the book. Clyde Curley plays mandolin as well as octave mandolin and 4-string banjo. He tastefully switches between playing the melody and counterpoint or a harmony line, adding a subtle complexity to each dance set. Susan Songer is a piano accompanist par excellence. Her pulsing chord work with its fluid syncopation is the groundwork upon which George and Clyde work. The recording quality is top notch, as are the interesting arrangements. The medleys give us examples of how these tunes can be linked for a dance. Those who are book-bound should take note that these musicians have taken the music beyond the limits of the written page as all good folk musicians are apt to do. If you have been enjoying the book, it is time now to hear the tunes and the authors playing them.

Bobbi Shearn Nickles (Strings Magazine, August/September 2001)

This pleasing, straightforward recording is a companion to a book of more than 300 popular contra dance tunes played in the Pacific Northwest, called The Portland Collection, published in 1997. The newly issued CD includes a lovely selection of tunes reflecting French Canadian, Scottish, Cape Breton, Irish, New England, and Southern fiddle traditions. Together, the CD and book make a superb reference for anyone interested in this repertoire. Along with 20 melodies played in North America for centuries are 16 "new tunes composed in the last 30 years. The players are Clyde Curley (mandolin, banjo), Susan Songer (piano), George Penk (fiddle), and Creighton Lindsay (guitar, percussion).

Bruce E. Baker (Dirty Linen, February/March, 2002)

Most folks interested in contra dance music or in fiddling in general have come to know The Portland Collection, a wonderful tune book published in 1997. Now the creators of that collection, Susan Songer and Clyde Curley, have come out with a CD featuring 36 of the tunes from that book. Leading the way on most tunes is fiddler George Penk, who has the sort of precise rhythm and snap to his playing one expects from a good dance fiddler. Songer's piano provides a strong rhythmic base for nearly all the tracks, leaving Clyde Curley to augment either melody on mandolin or four-string banjo, or rhythm on octave mandolin. The music is well played throughout, adapting the peculiarities of various traditions (Irish, Appalachian, Quebecois) to the clean, smooth style demanded by contra dancers. As with the printed collection, this recording features a number of the most popular recently composed tunes that have found their way into the tradition. The notes on the tunes are extensive and interesting.

Brian Peters (Living Tradition), April, 2002

I undertake this review out of enthusiasm rather than duty. When I was sent the excellent contradance tune book The Portland Collection for review in another magazine, I became so entranced by the CD that arrived with it, that I resolved to review it in its own right for LT. It's a defiantly home-produced release, with no named label or catalogue number, and the three musicians - from Portland, Oregon - are so unassuming they don't even have a band name. What they have produced, though, is as good an example of unpretentious, beautifully -played dance music as you could ever wish to hear. Leading the line is George Penk, a terrific fiddler with precision, great rhythmic attack, and enviable sweetness in the upper register, standing comparison with far more celebrated players. Contradance musicians are notoriously eclectic, and the selection contains tunes from New England, Quebec, the Appalachians, Ireland and Scotland, together with recent compositions, but rather than approach them with some homogenised, catch-all technique, Penk handles each in its appropriate style, executing lovely triplets and rolls for the Irish pieces and driving ahead of the beat for the old-timey material. The support is no less accomplished: Clyde Curley, on mandolin, mandola and tenor banjo, supplies a subtle mixture of chording, unison melody and delicate harmony lines, while Sue Songer's piano invests the rhythm with irresistible lift, resisting the excessive syncopation that's all too common these days. As an ensemble the three are very, very tight. The tunes themselves are great, too. Marcel Messervier's Hommage À Edmond Parizeau is as joyous an opening track as I've heard in years, Damon's Winder and Two Wide Nickels are fine old-timey fiddle workouts, Shetland's Millbrae is kicked along by banjo and particularly crunchy fiddle, while Father Kelly's Reel is slowed down to produce a fine air. Dammit, they even make The Mason's Apron sound fresh and exciting. This CD has hardly been out of my player these past few months!. Contra is beginning to catch on in England these days, and some musicians here are already trying out tunes from the Portland Collection (which Songer and Curley produced). If you want an outstanding role model for playing this, or indeed any other, kind of dance music, go to www.theportlandcollection.com and they'll tell you how to order a copy. Trust me on this one!