Reviews of The Portland Collection, Volume 2

Alex Monaghan (Living Tradition, Issue 70)

I’m impressed. This book of tunes manages to collect dance music from an enormous range of sources; gets nearly all the names and dots right, and gives notes on every single tune. It even indexes by key and form, as well as an alphabetical list. The musical score is printed large and clear, and suggested chord sequences are shown for every piece. I can’t think of any other tune book which is so well put together. There are 324 pages, and 300+ tunes.

Subtitled “Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest”, “The Portland Collection, Volume 2” mixes American and European reels and jigs, including a large number of top quality tunes which I haven’t seen written down before. “Frank’s Reel”, “Alice’s Reel”, “Dedicado a Jos”, “Iggie and Squiggie”, “The Road to Glountane” and “Stan Chapman’s Jig” are all correctly attributed. “Andy De Jarlis”, “The Tar Road to Sligo”, “Paddy’s Trip to Scotland” and many more are by unknown composers, but none the worse for that. Well-known reels such as “The Otter’s Holt” or “Da Tushkar” are often thought to be traditional: here they carry the composer’s name, and even notes on the origin of the title.

Not surprisingly, there are a lot of North American tunes here. Some have already crossed the Atlantic: compositions by Liz Carroll and Jerry Holland, for instance. Others are less well known but immediately appealing: “Stone’s Rag”, “Le 24 Juin”, “Pete’s Breakdown”, and “Equinox” are just aching to be played. Still others are puzzling at first glance, but the companion CD reveals their character: “Hey Little Girl” and “Walk Up Georgia Row” come alive to the mandolin and fiddle of Susan and Clyde, joined by jobbing fiddler George Penk. There are bags of great North American names too: “The Sewage Reel”, “The Long Hot Shower” to go after it, French Canadian titles like “La Peteuse or La Claqueuse”, and even “Swingin’ in a Leisure Suit”. Go figure.

It’s worth noting that this is Volume 2. There was of course a Volume 1. Its contents are a little less contemporary, as it was published in 1997, but just looking at the C section there are still plenty of eye-catchers: “Catharsis”, “Calliope House”, “The Convenience Reel” and others. Same price, same website. Well worth a look, I’d say. www.theportlandcollection.com.

Tom Druckenmiller (Sing Out!, Fall 2006, Vol. 50 #3)

This duet of releases from Susan Songer et. al. exists due to the popularity of the first volume, “The Portland Collection: Contra Dance Music in the Pacific Northwest”. Another reason for the continuation of this fine collection was the discovery of so many tunes omitted from the initial publication. That first volume was published eight years ago. The tunes are selected from the repertoires of many of the musicians who regularly play for dances in and around Portland, Oregon.

Included among the over 300 tunes are standards such as “Big Scioty,” “Magpie,” “Washington’s March,” and “Pigeon on the Gate.” Some surprises are also included: “Lost Girl,” “Cotton Eyed Joe,” “Stone’s Rag,” and “Shady Grove” are part of the collection and it appears as though the players in the Northwest tend toward more of an old-time repertoire as opposed to Northeastern players. Incorporated are many of the classic tunes played for contra dances in general and the handy summary of each tune’s origin is a great addition for us amateur musicologists.

The book includes lead sheets in easy-to-read standard notation, with clear chordal accompaniment indicated. The spiral binding makes it very easy to use, so there really isn’t any reason not to start playing these great dance tunes, unless you are not a paper trained musician. But Susan and her friends have that covered as well (on the companion CD, A Portland Selection 2)

Vic Smith (fRoots July 2006 No. 277)

Carrying on from where Volume 1 (1997) left off, with over 300 clearly notated tunes, presented in an expensively produced ring binder book. It has the same design with a different coloured cover. There has been great attention to detail and to musicians’ needs in this production.

The tunes are well chosen and have been taken from a great variety of sources: old-timey, Scots, Irish, Cape Breton, English, Québécois, bluegrass etc. It includes many written tunes. Like traditional dance musicians the world over they have taken the tunes and adapted them for the function that they are needed for, so that many are presented in changed rhythms from the ones that musicians will be used to, and that brings us to the book’s only drawback.

Despite a rich variety of keys, all the tunes are notated in one of three rhythms: common time, alla breve and 6/8 time; in other words reels or jigs, and it looks like the dances require them to be played at a pretty nifty pace though nowhere in the book is there reference to the particular contra dances that the tunes might suit. The Notes On The Tunes section has certainly not been stinted and runs to over 70 pages! It makes fascinating reading itself, even though it contains the following comment on Jacky Tar: “Didn’t like it much at first because I thought you had to play it as an English-Clog-style hornpipe (yuck).” Hmm – they just happen to be talking about my favourite rhythm and tune.

The accompanying CD shows the compilers to be fine, fiery musicians attacking the tunes with a great lift and a steady rhythm. This is real functional dance music rather than session music or fancy, arty arrangements. However, it is almost all reels so one finds oneself longing for a waltz, a slip-jig, a polka or even (whisper it) a nice steppy hornpipe.

Country Dance and Song Society News (Issue 186 September/October 2005)

“The Portland Collection, Vol. 1” published in 1997 has been phenomenally successful and therefore is a great book for building a commonly-known repertoire of contra dance tunes. The day after it was published, Susan Songer made a list of tunes that didn’t make it into the book. To her surprise there were 50 titles that had arrived too late for inclusion. She then knew that there was another book of contra dance music in the making. Eight years later here it is. Once again the tunes were drawn from the repertoires of musicians who play for dances in the Portland, Oregon area. With over 470 tunes to choose from, the editors selected 322, making their final decision by maintaining a balance of genres and key signatures, and between “classic”-sounding tunes and ones which sound more modern. They published the versions of the tune, with chords, played by Portland-area musicians. However, sometimes the tunes’ composers wanted the original version printed and in that case, alternate versions are made available. Along with the well-designed layout and tune transcription, there are extensive notes on each tune, a discography and bibliography.