Wall To Wall Soul
Wall To Wall Soul pays tribute to Portland's historic Black musician community, rooted in the Albina District during the mid-20th century. The exhibit provides access to archival media from the Albina Community Archive—much of which has been restored, recolored, and in some cases reconstructed from source materials. Photography, poster art, and newsprint featured in the show was selected from roughly 180 private collections in the care of Albina Music Trust.
We are proud partners with Clyde’s Prime Rib. where a permanent installation of Wall To Wall Soul has appeared since 2020. Clyde’s is one of Portland's few remaining venues regularly hosting performances by a variety of elders in Albina’s historic musician community. The show can be viewed on the restaurant side of the venue, and is concentrated in the venue’s North Room. We encourage you to make a reservation to visit and dine here.
More detail on the Clyde’s Prime Rib exhibit is available via Portland Design History. Wall To Wall Soul has also appeared in a variety of configurations at locations such as Portland Center Stage and 1803 Fund’s Black, Black History Month exhibit.
The Gangsters
The Gangsters were a late 1960s symphonic soul-jazz outfit based out of the Albina Art Center, a recreational center for Black youth and creatives in Northeast Portland. The group was led by trumpeter, Thara Memory. After gigging around the city for a few years, the band—who were mostly in their late teens—laid down tracks at Ripcord Studios. The tapes remained lost in obscurity until Albina Music Trust's discovery and reissue of the material in 2018. Listen here.
The Gangsters had all the punch and hip-swinging joy of fellow jazz-funk artists like The Blackbyrds, The Crusaders, and Weather Report. Their music touches on Latin grooves, post-bop, and psychedlia. Fun fact: The Gangsters were the only Black band to perform at the Vortex music festival in 1970, the nation's first and only state-sponsored rock festival. Watch the documentary here.
Members of The Gangsters went on to national acclaim. Thara Memory became a renowned educator, winning a Grammy with his pupil, Esperanza Spalding, in 2013. Jimmy and Johnny Sanders toured in B.B. King’s band throughout his final decade of performance. Bassist Lester McFarland would go on to play with jazz icons The Crusaders, The Jeff Lorber Fusion, and Tom Grant.
L-R: Johnny Sanders, Jimmy Sanders, Thara Memory, Rob Manning, Calvin Walker, Ronnie Young, Lester McFarland, and Melvin Vann.
Not pictured: Lester Cooke, Michael Cooper, Ural Thomas.
Ural Thomas
Ural Thomas aka “Portland’s Pillar Of Soul” came to Albina in the late 1940s. He is one of sixteen children and was raised singing gospel music with his family.
In the 1950s, Mr. Thomas’ vocal group The Monterays were the first Black doo-wop group in the Pacific Northwest to integrate with a white backing band.
In the 1960s, Ural Thomas scored the first National hit by a Black artist in the State Of Oregon with “Can You Dig It?” on Uni Records, a subsidiary of Buddah Records. In addition to performing at Paul Knauls’ Cotton Club, his accolades during this period include performing at the Apollo Theater with Otis Redding and The Bar-Kays, as well as songwriting for James Brown.
By the 1970s, Mr. Thomas had returned to Portland and established his “House Of Entertainment”—a community space for musicians of all ages, that later doubled as his family’s home. During this time, the City Of Portland and Multnomah County tried unsuccessfully to repossess the family’s property multiple times over, citing building code violations and unpaid back taxes (pictured here).
Six decades later, the Thomas family (nee Thompson) has retained ownership of the home Thomas built by hand. Mr. Thomas has continued to utilize the space for jam sessions, cultivating the musical abilities of neighbors, friends, strangers, and youth. His children and grandchildren retain access to the family’s generational home in Albina.
At 85 years old, Ural Thomas continues to perform and tour internationally with his group, Ural Thomas & The Pain. In 2024, Albina Music Trust and Mississippi Records released “Nat-Ural”, a suite of intimate archival recordings in which Ural Thomas is recorded singing and performing all instruments at home, for the first time on record.
Ural Thomas Day in the City Of Portland is recognized each year on December 21st.
Slickaphonic
Slickaphonic was a nine-piece powerhouse in Portland’s underdocumented funk scene. Active in the mid-1970s, the group connected members of soulful Albina mainstays such as Pleasure, Rated X, and the Flirt Band. They were a going concern performing in regional parks and Battle Of The Bands competitions.
Recorded in 1975 at Powell Blvd.'s Recording Associates, the music of Slickaphonic was never released in its time. In 2021, Albina Music Trust remedied this scenario working with bandleader Randy Smith (aka Randy "Starr") to preserve the master tapes of their only recorded session. An LP of the group's material would later see the light of day, and later in 2025 a 7" record became available on UK label, Jazzman. Listen here.
Slickaphonic members Randy Smith and Douglas Lewis are regular performers at Clyde's Prime Rib. These musicians can be seen and heard each month playing live with Bridge City Soul.
L-R: Ronnie Miller, Jimmy Washington, Andre Billingsley, Randy Smith, Milton Davis, Donnie Miller, Tom Tucker, Kit Garoutte
Ken Berry
Ken Berry is a retired teacher, administrator, arts advocate, entrepreneur, mentor, deacon, choir director, disc jockey, and musician. As a young man, Mr. Berry was mentored on piano and in choir throughout Albina’s churches. In his early musical career, he performed at Paul Knauls’ Cotton Club; joined the Shades Of Brown on organ; hosted radio programs for KGW, YSOL, KBTS, KQIV, and KBOO; and directed the Youthsound children’s choir.
In addition to serving as Albina Music Trust’s board president, Ken Berry has dedicated 48 years of service teaching in Portland Public Schools. He has been an enduring presence in Albina’s evangelical community, co-founded the World Arts Foundation, and has earned countless awards for public service.
Ken Berry has served on the board of directors for Oregon Education Association, Portland Association of Teachers, Metropolitan Arts Commission, Portland Community Media, and Oregon Alliance of Black School Educators.
Ken Berry is featured on Albina Music Trust’s releases Youthsound and Shades Of Brown.
Pleasure
Pleasure was Albina’s most commercially recorded act in the 1970s. The group came to life when members of the Soul Masters, a horn band from Jefferson High School, joined forces with Funky Franchise, a rhythm section of students from Grant High School.
Forging a unique blend of jazz-funk fusion, Pleasure’s earliest performances took place in parks throughout Albina, and the Upstairs Lounge, a neighborhood venue. That’s where they were discovered by internationally-acclaimed saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. in 1973. He was impressed with this young band, and recommended them to producer Wayne Henderson of the Jazz Crusaders. Pleasure soon signed a major label recording contract with Fantasy Records.
Pleasure would go on to release seven internationally distributed albums on Fantasy and RCA Records, in roughly eight years. During this time, Pleasure was the only group from Albina to release full length albums at this level. In addition, the group’s tour schedule included dates with industry heavyweights such as Kool & The Gang, Ohio Players, and Con Funk Shun.
In the early 1980s, Pleasure disbanded amid mounting pressures in the music industry. Multiple reunions have been attempted since this time by stakeholders in the band.
Members of Pleasure are featured on multiple historic Albina Music Trust releases including Slickaphonic, Lights Out, Youthsound, Milton Davis - Let Me In, and The Legendary Beyons.
Additional biographical information on Pleasure can be found here.
L-R: Ronnie Nate Phillips, Tony Collins, Dennis Springer, Donald Hepburn, Marlon McClain, Michael Hepburn, Bruce Smith, Bruce Carter.
The Legendary Beyons
The Legendary Beyons are Albina’s longest-running vocal soul ensemble. They are among the most enduring acts of this kind in the United States.
Formed in 1965 on the basketball court at Jefferson High School, members of The Beyons (they gained their “Legendary” status in the 2010s) began harmonizing in the school’s locker room after basketball practice. They gelled quickly; in part, because most of them had grown up singing in church choirs throughout Albina. Soon they were performing regularly for students, teachers and passersby on Jefferson’s B-floor hallway.
The Beyons started performing in music venues around the neighborhood in the late 1960s. Pleasure was their backing band and, together, this supergroup held court at the Upstairs Lounge. Acts touring along the nation’s Chitlin Circuit would routinely stop in and share concert bills with The Beyons. This included The Whispers, Bill Withers, Bloodstone, Blue Magic, The Delfonics, and others.
By the late 1970s, The Beyons had developed a devoted regional following and were faced with a difficult decision: pursue a life in the music industry or stick close to family, developing alternate careers while continuing to make music in community. The Beyons chose the latter and it’s likely why they’ve been together for so long.
60 years since the group’s inception, the Legendary Beyons are still a force to be reckoned with. Their music can be heard on Albina Music Trust’s record label, where a previously unreleased 1977 recording has been issued in conjunction with a comprehensive oral history of the band. In 2019, the group also released a collection of gospel recordings entitled, “Once I Get To Heaven”.
L-R: Denarvel Brazzle, Thurtis Channel, Jeddy Beasley, and James Tims.
Ron Steen
At age 15, Ron Steen played drums w/ Etta James at Portland's Cotton Club. At age 16, he was sitting in with Billy Larkin at Portland's Upstairs Lounge. At age 17, he was hosting his own jam sessions on the west side of the Willamette River – not an easy feat in 1968 Portland. Suffice to say, the rest is history.
Known to some as Portland's patron saint of the jam session, Ron Steen has been a supreme intergenerational connector in Portland's jazz community. With a multi-decade legacy hosting jazz jams in Portland, Ron Steen has developed aspiring musicians, students of jazz, as well as the pros who come out to play. He has sessioned on LPs by Johnny Hammond, Joe Henderson, and a litany of national heavyweights. Yet his commitment to creating space for local musicians remains.
Since 2004, Ron Steen has made Clyde’s the undisputed home for Portland’s jazz community each and every Sunday night.
Lights Out
Lights Out was led by Pleasure's trumpeter Tony Collins and gained traction in the early 1980s when Pleasure wasn't on the road. Collins prodded his group with gnarled fusion covers, complex horn arrangements, and masterful wardrobe flexing. During this period, it seemed club nightlife in downtown Portland had reached its zenith. Musicians could make a living in a multitude of clubs throughout the city. And they made music on their own terms.
Lights Out evolved into a synthesizer-fueled funk group fronted by vocalist Andy Stokes and featuring guitarist Greg "Gee Mack" Dalton. It's this era of Lights Out that annihilated 800-capacity dancefloors in downtown Portland. Listen here.
Recorded in 1982 at Wave Sound Studios - a facility that housed local punk acts such as The Wipers and The Rats - the music of Lights Out was never released in its time, but has since been recovered and given the LP treatment by Albina Music Trust. The group's demo was intended for Solar Records. As a touring trumpeter for The Whispers, Collins was to pass the reel up the chain. When Solar fumbled it, Collins and Dalton left Portland for Los Angeles signaling the end of the group.
Lights Out personnel have since made waves beyond the Pacific Northwest. Collins founded NDN Records in Atlanta. Andy Stokes has received the Grammy nod, releasing singles with Snoop Dogg and Battlecat. John Mazzocco toured with John Lee Hooker and was recently inducted into the Oregon Music Hall Of Fame. Damian Dillon went on to a successful radio career in Germany. And Greg Dalton has sessioned relentlessly, working with everyone from Patrice Rushen to Kamasi Washington to Tupac.
L-R: Andy Stokes, Damien Dillon, Greg Dalton, Kerry McCoy, John Mazzocco, Dennis Springer.
Kevin Berry
Kevin Berry is a regional disc jockey, producer, and photographer. Since the early 1980s Berry has produced concerts and fundraisers in Portland’s Black community, drawing national acts such as Charlie Wilson, Zapp, Midnite Star, Evelyn ‘Champagne’ King, among others. He has held a variety of residencies as a disc jockey in Portland’s nightclubs as well as a long standing radio program on KBOO. His “Old School” Show can currently be heard each Saturday evening from 7-8pm on Portland’s 107.1 XRAY FM.
Known to many as the “Portland Paparazzi,” Kevin Berry has been photographing weekend crowds at Clyde’s for decades. His photos can be found on Facebook.
Jim Pepper
More info coming!!