Albert Reda

"Albert is an all round player and he really fits into whatever the concept is. I always look forward to playing with him, because he's always right there and we both have the same interest in music; what music's about and how it should sound. And he's just a great guy to be around!" --- Terry Robb

"Albert is a very versatile and dependable performer His execution, his vocal talents and his steadiness are a positive reflection on his professionalism. He's a great guy to play next to and reliable every time he takes the stage." --- Carlton Jackson

Local fans have recognized the quality in Albert Reda's performances and have found him to be an integral part of the groups he performs with. In 1996, 1997,1998, and again in 2000, the members of the Cascade Blues Association have honored Albert with the CBA's "Muddy Award" for "Best Bass Player." A fitting tribute to his talent and ability as a Blues musician here in the Northwest. And, by winning the award three years consecutively in the same category, Albert qualified and has been inducted into the CBA "Muddy Award Hall of Fame."

"It really surprised me winning the Muddy for the third year in a row, considering all the great bass players here in town," states Albert. "I just think it's a reflection of all the great musicians I get to play with really." Albert is one rhythm man that, because of his talents, has risen to the top playing with some of the finest Blues talents around. Most recently he's been splitting time between two projects: playing bass fiddle with Lily Wilde, and with a septet known as The Woolies which includes some fine locals including Gavin Bondy of Pink Martini, Dan Steuber of the Trail Band, and Tim Ellis. Over the years, he's played and/or recorded with Terry Robb, Alan Hager, Jim Mesi, Jim Wallace, Paul de Lay, Chris Miller, Paulette Davis, Lee Blake, Sheila Wilcoxson, and with the "Muddy Award" winning Bill Rhoades & The Party Kings, among others. Albert relates, "It's great fun to be able to do all these things and play with all this award winning talent - I love it!"

Albert started playing bass about 25 years ago when he was in his mid-20s. Prior to that, he played electric piano, guitar and sang. He grew up in Philadelphia and moved to San Francisco in 1973, shortly after high school. He played in garage Rock bands and different groups in Philly, but when he came out to San Francisco he eventually got into playing Rhythm & Blues and Soul music. Albert continues, "The R&B band was called MVP, and we pretty much ran the gamut, from Stax and Motown, to the more obscure. Before that, I was in a '50s group, a show-band called Cruisin'. That was about 1980 through the mid-80's. We traveled a lot; it was the "Happy Days" era stuff. We got all greased up and leathered up and played car shows, trade shows, conventions and parties, stuff like that. Before that, in 1978-79, my very first bass gig was with the punk/art rock band Mutants. That was really a trip. In 2001 a compilation CD of their work was released on White Noise Records. I'm on the live stuff. When Cruisin' burned out, I moved on to the R&B band MVP and played with them until 1988."

While in San Francisco, Albert met his wife, April, and they had their first son there. Albert, April and their son moved to Portland in 1988. Portland is where April was from. Albert recalls, "I wasn't really looking to get back into playing music up here. I was in my mid-30s and I didn't know if I really wanted to play clubs and knock around like that. I was looking for work as a wallpaper hanger (the old family trade). Then I kind of fell into the Blues scene in town. There were a lot of jams going on around then and I'd just go out to them for fun. I happened to be out at the old Cactus Club in North Portland for one of their Sunday afternoon Blues jams. I played and sang a couple of tunes and Jim Mesi came up to me and introduced himself and told me he really liked my singing and playing. He had just hired a new bass player, but he said he'd tell a couple of people about me. A few weeks after that, Chris Miller of the old Rockin' Razorbacks and Terraplanes fame, called me for his new group The Channel Cats. Jeff Minnick was on drums and Jim Wallace was on harp and vocals. That was a good band. We even won The "Muddy Award" that year for "Best New Act." That was 1992, but the band only lasted for about a year because Chris left to play music in Austin, Texas and eventually Jeff followed.

After that I played with Steamy Windows for a while, and I got to play with Paulette Davis for a short time while they were in between bass players. Paulette was great to work with, and Sonny (Hess) was, too, and I would have loved to have kept that gig except for the fact that Terry Robb had called me to play some gigs with him. Playing with Terry looked like it might be a better fit for me and it was. It turned out to be a great thing for me, and an education too because up to that point I was hip to Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf and people like that, but through Terry, and Alan too, they turned me on to the "art form" of Blues. It was fun for me and working with Terry as an acoustic duo turned me on to a lot of great Blues artists like Bukka White, Big Bill Broonzy, Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Lightin' Hopkins and a whole host of other legendary bluesmen. A lot of the music those guys played, there was no bass on it. I tried to figure a way to fit it into that vintage stuff we covered."

Albert plays both electric bass and acoustic upright bass, but he didn't start playing the upright until 1992 when he joined The Channel Cats. He took a lesson from a fantastic player here in town, Phil Baker. Then he just kind of took it from there, developing his own style. He enjoys all types of music and many different performers. He explains, "It's all over the place at my house, 'cause I've got two sons, 16 and 11. I hear a lot of Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Nine Inch Nails, The Vandals, Local H, Ben Folds (my younger one plays piano and loves him), Parliament and Funkadelic (the 11 year old again), and all the other stuff that they're into. My older boy's got a band called No Heroes, and they put out their own 6 song CD last year. On the strength of that, they were selected to be on the new CD being put together by the Classroom Music Project/Band Project, in conjunction with Arts Alive. I hear a lot of the contemporary and alternative stuff through him. I listen to a lot of Delta Blues because I'm still really learning that music. I'm trying to absorb as much of that as I can. Lately, I've been listening to a lot of classical music, especially sonatinas and Bach inventions that I'm learning. I teach piano to elementary school kids 4 days a week in my home, and that's been leading me more toward that stuff. I love Sinatra also. I've got most of Frank's stuff on CD.

When I was a little kid my dad would play the Big Band stuff around the house. Artie Shaw was his favorite, but he also liked Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey. He liked the singers too: Sinatra, Dinah Washington, Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Peggy Lee, and people like that. So, I was exposed to some of the really classic performers at an early age. The record player or the radio was always going at our house, but no one in my family actually played music except my grandfather. He played piano and guitar and lived with us until I was 14. He played a lot of Ragtime stuff. I was captivated and he taught me to play by ear. Basically, I love all kinds of music. I have a hard time understanding how someone could like only one kind of music. I'm trying to make sure my kids are exposed to many different styles of music like I was."

Albert has a track on the CBA "Hall Of Fame" Tribute CD. That recording contains one song from each of the 13 inductees in the CBA's "Hall Of Fame." The monies from the sale of that CD go towards the Christopher Mesi Scholarship Fund and the other projects the CBA supports.

He released his first solo CD in 2002, entitled Complicated Life, to great reviews in both the CBA's BluesNotes, and the Oregonian. It's a self-produced effort that features some of the musicians he's worked with over the years, and contains a mix of original songs written with his long time writing partner Donald Freda, and some of his favorite cover songs that he's performed over the years. It can be purchased at Music Millennium. A follow-up album is in the works.

Albert concludes, "I feel fortunate to get to play with the musicians I play with. Drummers like Tom Royer, who leads Lily's band, Dan Steuber and sometimes Donny Osborne with the Woolies, and of course Carlton (Jackson), is an incredible drummer. And Alan (Hager). He's such a generous musician that I've learned so much from. He's a music teacher by profession, and I trust my son's musical education to him. He's an incredible guitarist too. And, Terry what a genius he is; a multi-dimensional talent; a singer, songwriter, arranger and producer. These guys all make me a better musician!"

Updated notes from Albert in June 2006:
Since I updated this 1999 article in 2002, I've stayed pretty busy. I did a stint in both the Robbie Laws Band and the Lloyd Jones Struggle, and since 2004 I've been playing bass for the Duffy Bishop Band. I've got to say, playing in Duffy's band is a total gas and a real pleasure. For the last few years I've also played in John Bunzow's band. It's much different from what we play in Duffy's band -- more of a roots rock/Americana kind of thing.

The two boys mentioned earlier in the original article are now 21 and 16. The older, Tucker, has produced and released over a dozen records by Portland punk bands, mostly 7" vinyl, on Blind Spot Records, a label he started on his own a few years back to put out his own band's CD. The younger, Miller, is a gifted guitarist and has played on some of the sessions for his brother.

* Note: This article has been updated by Albert Reda in March of 2002 and June of 2006 to reflect his current reality. The original text as printed in the February 1999 BluesNotes is available here.

Albert Reda

Muddy Awards: