What do you do when you’re interviewing folks in Denver about the Organ Grinder, but one person you’d really like to talk with doesn’t live there anymore? Well – if you’re lucky – you just wait a bit and then they come to you!
In June, we interviewed Los Angeles-based performing artist John West while he was visiting Oregon. John was in the state to receive an honor from his alma mater, Willamette University, which awarded him a Distinguished Alumni Citation for Professional Achievement. And, on his free day in Portland, rather than have actual fun and relaxation, he instead agreed to sit in front of our cameras for a few hours and share his story – and we are grateful.
We filmed John at the venue where he once played, fresh out of college: First United Methodist Church – where the current, long-serving organist is none other than Jonas Nordwall of Organ Grinder fame.
John began his musical life early – Growing up in Oakland, California, he began taking piano lessons at age five. He was an adept pianist, but one day he became a pipe organ enthusiast:
“I do remember the moment I was enthralled by the organ, and that was when I was about 11 or 12 years old, and I was in the church, and all of a sudden I heard that sound, and I went, ‘what is that?’ Even though I had heard it for years before, there was that moment where it just kind of triggered everything, and I said, ‘oh, I want to do that.’ I didn’t stop playing piano, but fortunately my parents encouraged me and got me an organ teacher, and we kept going, and that was the beginning, and it hasn’t stopped.”
At thirteen, he started formal organ lessons, first with famed organist Newton Pashley in Oakland, and then with organ heavyweight Richard Purvis at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco. He came to Willamette University in Salem, Oregon for his undergraduate degree, and then went on to graduate school in Boston at New England Conservatory.
All that moving around fit in well with John’s philosophy:
“I believe that travel is the best educator. And people learn more about the world themselves and expand when they travel. So I love to travel as much as possible.”
While studying at Willamette, John would come to Portland for various church music jobs, and a few modeling gigs! Here’s a Portland-area newspaper ad featuring John:
John also had acting and singing chops – performing in plays and musicals, garnering critical acclaim in the role of Leading Player in the musical Pippin. He sang in studios and wrote and sang jingles for ad campaigns.
On one visit to Portland, John stopped by First United Methodist to meet Jonas. That’s when he got his surprise introduction to the Organ Grinder. Jonas wasn’t in the office that day, instead John was told:
“They had told me that, ‘well, there’s this organ grinder pizza parlor’, and I said, okay, great, I’m gonna go check it out. So I went, and I was just blown away that all this activity was happening. You could walk by the glass windows, and see the pipes and everything, and hear the sound, and I was really moved by the responsiveness of the instrument, whereas with pipe organs, there’s always more of a delay, but with theatre organs, boy, it’s right there, and you can play, and you can do your pop music, which even on classical organs, I would try out pop-type things.”
An invitation to try out the Portland instrument soon led to a job offer to fill a position at the new Denver location. John moved to Denver and found an apartment within walking distance of the restaurant.
“I really liked the organ in Denver – it was robust, it seemed like the room was better built for the sound of the organ, because they built it from scratch. I thought it was great absolutely great.”
John’s position in Denver, sadly, came to an end abruptly when he was let go – perhaps the first performer to be fired from the Organ Grinder. Why? Well, that story, is something we’re saving for the documentary!
But there was a silver lining to losing the Denver job. Or, should we say, a “tinseltown” lining. John wasted no time and in just a couple of weeks he was in Los Angeles, ready to kickstart his musical career.
And what the career it has been (and still is!) – One of John’s first L.A. jobs was as resident organist at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, performing on a giant five-manual M.P. Moller, which had once been a touring instrument (yes, a touring pipe organ!).
From there, John’s career expanded as he became not just an organist at several large churches, but also as a producer with Motown Records, and a singer and voice artist featured in multiple Hollywood soundtracks, including blockbusters such as Godzilla, The Lion King, The Sixth Sense, Jurassic Park III, Spiderman 1 and 2, and many more!
So, even if you didn’t have the opportunity to hear John play at the Organ Grinder, you’ve probably heard his voice in one of your favorite films! It’s a fascinating journey from playing an instrument meant to accompany silent films, to being a voice in a modern-day big screen blockbuster.
John, among the multiple roles he currently holds, is the organist for the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which performs regularly on the fantastic (and fantastical) Manuel Rosales organ in the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
John could’ve given up after Denver – moving to a new town only to lose the job you had been invited to move for. But instead he moved forward with deliberate speed – and that’s the advice he offers to young artists today:
“My advice to young people just wanting to do something big and special and unique is do it. Just do it.”
“I have had a career that has spanned multiple genres and enjoyed multiple levels of success at it. Emotionally and financially. And it was all because I wanted to do it. And I had the desire and the belief and the perseverance, the stick-to-it-ness to do it. You have to have the desire, you have to have the belief, because there’s gonna be times where the rug is gonna be pulled out from under you, and the desire and the belief are gonna be the only things that sustain you. It won’t be accolades, it won’t be money. It’s just your desire and belief.”
“But I can look back now and say, ‘I did it’. I played the Organ Grinder. I played at Disney Hall. I sang for Star Wars. I sang for Spider-Man movies. My voice has been heard all over the world. I’ve written at Motown Records, which was a dream. Just do it. It’s hard, but just do it.”
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