Jake Oken-Berg profile picture

Jake Oken-Berg

About Me


Jake Oken-Berg was born and raised in Portland, Oregon. He's been playing piano, singing, and writing songs since age five and has performed in over 50 cities around the world. Jake’s music has been noted by The Oregonian, West Coast Performer Magazine, The Portland Mercury, Willamette Week and the Statesman Journal and critics have compared his songs to Ben Folds, The Fray and Coldplay.
In addition to his solo band, Jake is lead singer and pianist for the Portland, OR based band The Retrofits .
THE DEBUT ALBUM: FIND LOVE EP
Combining Jake’s powerful vocals and signature piano licks with an expansive use of slide and rhythm guitars, strings, and driving drums, the debut Find Love EP will please music fans looking for a new pop album to add to their collection.
A product of four years of songwriting, the EP was recorded at Portland’s 8 Ball Studio by a full cast of top west coast musicians including jazz drummer Jeff Anthony (Sheryl Crow) and violinist Jason Barlow (Joni Harms).
Just released at the beginning of 2009, Jake’s first album is already receiving praise from critics:
“Oken-Berg co-fronts lush popsters the Retrofits, and his solo EP, Find Love, expands on the Retrofits' vintage tunesmithing with an ear toward the future... Despite the sensitive-guy sheen of many of the songs, Find Love never becomes overwrought, and Oken-Berg never fails to sound unpresumptuous and heartfelt. It's emotional music, without a trace of irony.” -The Portland Mercury
Willamette Week adds that "Oken-Berg definitely knows how to play--anything from the five-song EP would sit well next to the Fray in an ABC promo."
The album was co-produced by critically acclaimed recording artist Scott Fisher and the first single, Far From Home, was mixed by Grammy winning engineer Jesus “Chuy” Flores.
The Find Love EP is available at CD Baby (mp3 and CD) and iTunes .

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 28/12/2007
Band Website: www.jakeokenberg.com
Band Members:
Jake Oken-Berg - Lead Vocals, Piano
Robert PeArt - Guitar
Jeff Koch - Bass
Brud Giles - Drums
Jason Barlow - Violin
Jean-Pierre Garau - Organ

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Performing "Something Less" Live At Jimmy Mak's:

Performing "When There's Nothing" w/ Debra Alryn:

Performing "Some Things Keep" Live At Jimmy Mak's:

Performing "Come Down" Live At Jimmy Mak's:

Performing "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" Live at Jimmy Mak's:

Record Label: ARAM RECORDS
Type of Label: Indie

My Blog

A Song For Baxter

Our wonderful dog, Baxter, passed away earlier this month.  I wrote a song for him and Maggie Brown joined me in singing it.You can download the song for free this week at this link.You can also liste...
Posted by on Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:25:00 GMT

A Summer of Fun & One More Vote

Hey Friends,Thank you for all your nominations for my song "Far From Home" for the KINK FM Local Music Sampler CD. I'm happy to announce that I will be on the album!  In addition, KINK has asked me to...
Posted by on Mon, 18 May 2009 02:17:00 GMT

Music Video: Day 1

Hey Friends,Last week we had our first day of shooting for the Far From Home music video.  We're filming a number of scenes using a 1960s eight millimeter Canon camera. We had a lot of fun running ar...
Posted by on Sat, 07 Feb 2009 01:18:00 GMT

Portland Mercury Review & CD Online

Hey Gang--The Portland Mercury wrote a nice review last week on my new album:"Much of the time, Jake Oken-Berg co-fronts lush popsters the Retrofits, and his solo EP, Find Love, expands on the Retro...
Posted by on Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:51:00 GMT

Album Release Tonight in Downtown Portland, OR!

Hey Friends--I'm releasing my debut album, Find Love, tonight at Jimmy Mak's in downtown Portland!Find Love Album Release Show -- Saturday (Tonight!), January 10, 2009 -- @ Jimmy Mak's221 NW 10th & ...
Posted by on Sat, 10 Jan 2009 12:21:00 GMT

Album Finished & Photos!

Hey--It was October when I last wrote and I've been very busy since that time.  I finished my debut album -- Find Love -- this week and I just posted a brand new song from the EP.  The song is called ...
Posted by on Tue, 16 Dec 2008 23:43:00 GMT

Thanks and A New Song

Hey Folks--Thanks to all of you who came out last week to Jimmy Mak's Jazz Club in Portland, OR for the benefit for ActionAid.  The show was packed, Intervision and Oracle sounded great, and we raised...
Posted by on Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:48:00 GMT

Benefit Show for ActionAid this Thursday @ Jimmy Maks Portland, OR

Hey Folks,I'm playing a benefit this Thursday (Oct. 2) at Jimmy Mak's in Portland, Oregon for ActionAid -- a group that is working to eradicate poverty in poor countries.I have a full band for the sho...
Posted by on Sun, 28 Sep 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Jake Oken-Bergs Official Music Page on Facebook!

Jake Oken-Berg now has an official Facebook music page at www.facebook.com/pages/Jake-Oken-Berg/34784766345 Sign up for Facebook and add Jake as a fan!Jake Oken-Berg on iLike - Add iLike to your MySpa...
Posted by on Tue, 09 Sep 2008 03:00:00 GMT

A New Single Every Month - Now Through 2009

Thank you to all of you who have checked out the new music from my debut album -- Far From Home -- which will be released in January. Between now and the EP release, I'll be posting a new single onlin...
Posted by on Wed, 03 Sep 2008 02:49:00 GMT