In 1973, Portland, Oregon was a wonderful place to be. The natural beauty alongside the junction of the Columbia and Willamette rivers, with Mount Hood and Mount St. Helens in the distance climbing into the skies, is a setting that few cities in America can match. It was also a place where the beauty lent itself to some rather remarkable music, so good that it became the only American band to ever be signed to the Moody Blues Threshold Records label. That group was Providence (band), who had no drummer but were a classical string ensemble with a wonderful keyboardist, a great classical guitarist and a monster bass player. The string ensemble was so good that one of the guys, Jim Cockey, is today a composer of renown and the violist, Tom Tompkins, is the first chair violist for the Boise Symphony Orchestra. The cellist, Toms brother Tim, is also a composer. Their harmony vocals were incredible. Driving it all was their bassist, Bob Barriatua, who is today a physician but when he was in Providence he was an incredible bassist. Guitarist, Andy Guzie, was like adding lace to the music -- gorgeous stuff. They were sweet people, very gracious and kind, as you might hope. There is only one song on YouTube that I could find but its a great one, one of my favorites from Providences only album, Ever Sense the Dawn -- the song, The Stream. Such a beautiful piece of music. Catch it before it is pulled from YouTube. I have never before seen any of Providences music on YouTube. It likely wont be there long.
Posted on: Thu, 09 Oct 2014 03:08:08 +0000
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