Soul Assembly by Various Artists - Compilation

Soul Assembly is a remix project connecting Portland’s contemporary beatmakers with Albina’s historic musician community. It is the first in a series of releases featuring music from Albina Music Trust’s archive: sampled, reimagined, and flipped.

Historically, Portland’s “Soul Assembly” was a 1968 program developed by the Black Student Union at Jefferson High School. In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination, the BSU responded to widespread racial tension in the community through a series of public presentations highlighting the cultural identity of Black Portlanders. These theatrical, music-driven assemblies toured in Portland Public Schools and public auditoriums in the City Of Portland, educating audiences with respect to the customs, pride, and creativity abounding in Albina’s Black community.

Now over half a century later, the assembly’s namesake takes on new meaning. Across this volume’s fourteen tracks, the historic music of Albina’s Black musicians is reinvigorated with a beat-based sensibility, connecting new audiences to this legendary epoch in Portland’s music history. One can hear Jonny Cool sampling The Gangsters - his father and uncle’s late 1960s symphonic soul group. Jumbo of The Lifesavas has polished up a stellar treatment of Shades Of Brown from the early 1970s. Tony Ozier stutters in 5/16 over multiple disco-era Transport tracks while TROX loops and refreshes a cross-section of AMT’s multi-decade label output. To boot, the addition of HOT16’s spirited re-touch of contemporary artists Be Present Art Group provides a unique ambience, setting the tone for the release.

All in all, it’s Tony Ozier’s production prowess that makes this inaugural volume well-seasoned. Straight from the mixing desk at Bodecker Foundation, tracks on the compilation have been molded with care by one of the best to ever do it in the City Of Roses. With the curatorial collaboration of Albina Music Trust and Liquid Beat Records, this compilation has been thoughtfully assembled for both the elders and the youth…it’s only the beginning. 

Albina Music Trust is the only community archive in the United States dedicated to the restoration of a Black community's historic musical culture.

albinamusictrust.com