"Dogs and Angels" is a CD made up of vocal tunes done by the
mostly instrumental improvising group, Portland's "GONE Orchestra". The songs are original tunes by Ron Long mostly, or classic jazz songs sung by the then-18-yr-old Jamie Price. Here is more on the GONE Orchestra:
The Gone Orchestra is an eleven member performance art group from Portland, Oregon made up of
some of the area's finest improvising musicians. While most of their performance consists of music
improvised on the spot, each show also includes their own unique treatment of thirties-era jazz and blues
songs, featuring vocalist Jamie Price.
The list of instruments played during a Gone show is quite long: guitar, electric and acoustic bass,
electronic keyboards of all description, traps, bells, djembe, dumbeks, theramin, sample players, trumpet,
trombone, bassoon, flute, vibraband (basically a strip of surgical latex played as a melodic wind
instrument), lap steel guitar, tinwhistle, optagon, voice; basically anything that can make a sound is fair
game.
There is a great variety among the players in age, background, and instrumentation. The players range in
age from nineteen to seventy; some are classically trained, some are self-taught, some are currently
working in rock bands, some are signed to record labels. What they share is a love for improvised music
and a sense of humor.
What makes the Gone Orchestra interesting to watch is the obvious fact that the band has absolutely no
plan for what it will do; this gives the performance an incredible amount of tension, which translates into
energy. The audience is watching a new piece unfold before its very eyes, and no two shows are ever
alike. One person starts playing a note, then other notes follow; pretty soon you have a thick orchestral
section, or a fast walking jazz melee, or six people playing a tight drum beat while one horn, or flute,
takes the lead. Then something magic happens; the whole band turns on a dime and goes into some other
place, as if following some invisible conductor.
The episodic nature of the improvised music is what keeps it interesting. Within the band, there is a full
rock band, a cadre of unschooled & experienced noise artists, a jazz combo, several world-beat
drummers, a wind ensemble, and a contingent of abstract electronic music artists. The band moves easily
through all of these genres as it works its magic on the audience; then Jamie Price sashays up to the mike
in a tango dress, and the band is transported to some speakeasy from the thirties- but one where the
theramin and the vibraband play the blues along with the usual rhythm section. The room begins to sway,
the rhythm swings along; this is good time music at its best.
Duke Ellington once said, "There are only two kinds of music - good music, and bad music". The Gone
Orchestra plays good music.
THE GONE ORCHESTRA is...
Jamie Price - vocals, inspiration, ruination
Mike Mahaffay - drums, waterphone
Ron Long - bass, guitar, vocals
Bill Larimer - keyboards, supervised mania
Mike Lastra - sampling unit, theramin, duck calls
Erik Stewart - trumpet, lap steel, shenai, percussion, low tech electronics
Scott Steele - guitar, vocals
John Jenson - trumpet, peckhorn, cacaphone
Kevin LeBarron - tenor sax
Leon Rockey - violin, tym-tom, zen
Stan Wood - vibraband, percussion
Michael Walsh - bassoon
Travis McAllister - trombone
Joe Niski - bass; guitar
Ali Al Hashishar - zoot suit
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