• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Remember those Hollywood movies markably like Bunky Green. His multinote where the hero had to play in a jazz solo, though, is strictly his own invention, (swing?) band for a living, but always and though complex , hangs together beau­ ANN ARBOR worked on his "concerto" during the breaks tifully. Corea play s a provocative electric and after the gig when the other cat s in piano solo and Klo ss returns with a fever­ the band were out balling? He always got ish postscript. BLUES the girl, of course, and in the end his Kloss overdubs his original tenor line magnum opus was performed at Carnegie one third below for an interesting touch on Hall and his old mother would cry while Cynara-one that perhaps should be con­ FESTIVAL thousands cheered. sidered more often on one-hornman dates Well, that's exactly the kind of concerto -bu t only if the harmonic potential of the Friday, August 7 / 6 :30 p.m. this is, except there's more of it (the mov­ material is enhanced. I'm partial to Corea's Roosevelt Sykes ies didn't have 27:42 to spare on the acoustic piano work- he seems more me­ Bukka White music, which was usually by Leith Stevens lodically oriented. But the electric piano Mighty Joe Young anyway). has enormous potential in the new music I'm a very eclectic listener. I love all and Co rea is perhaps its best exponent. Jirnmy Dawkin kinds of jazz from New Orlean s to New Though he hold s my interest on whichever John Lee Hooker Music; I love all kinds of blues; I love all instrument he's using, all factors consid­ Howlin' Wolf kinds of classical music from Vivaldi to ered, his Cynara solo is his best of the LP. Berg. I love Gershwin , too, and good rock DeJohnette has exceptional ears and is and good popular songs. The only music able to engender much excitement while I truly dislike is a certain kind in a cate­ negotiating the odd meter s (7 / 4, 5/ 4) on Saturd ay, August 8 / noon gory all by itself. Call it Muzak music , severa l of the tracks. Holland is brilliant Harvey Hill if you will; manufactured, pretentiou s, and througho ut, through perhaps a bit under­ Lazy 81II Lucas intrinsically void of originality or feeling. recorded. Ju~e Boy ·eonner I don't want to heap abuse on this In the final analysis, this is a prob­ piece: it's better than most of the kind. ing, high-intensity session with remarkable Luth.,1 Allison If you like second-hand Gershwin, fre­ group empathy and a fair share of good f red McDowell quent and predictable climaxes, themes that solos. -Szanto, Albert King sound vaguely familiar , grand-ge sture flour­ ishes (pianistic and orchestral) borrowed JOHN MURTAUGH Saturday, August 8 / 6 :30 p.m. from the late romantics, and a few blues BLUES CURRENT-Potydor 24-4016 : B/u,s licks and rock rhythms thrown in to make Currt11t,• Bluu for Drtaming; Tb, Shu Wavt'J Robert Pete W1ll1ams Co1111tcttd to th, Puls, Wavt; Good Old Fash· Johnny Shine it contemporary, you'll love this. If you iontd Electronic Synlhtsiztr Blues ; Trai :t lin' cried along with the hero's mom in those Man; Ra111b/in'; The l'/oattr ; Sli11ky; All D•1 with Sunnyland Slim Saturday; Moon Rock. old movies, this is for you. Personne l: Murtaugh , Moog synthesizer; Herbi, Johnny Young To each his own. I've got the Dick Hancock , piano; Gerry Jemmott, electric bass; Bernard Purdie, drums. Joe Turner Hyman I want on some side he made with with T Bone Walker Raring:**** Roy Eldridge and Zoot Sims almost 20 The Moog , like any technological in­ Eddie Vinson years ago, and I'll always remember him vention, is per se neither good nor evil. Bobby Bland on a strange set out in the New York So far, it ha s largely been utilized in a mountains one night with Tony Scott in noncreative manner -as a sort of musical the mid-'60s, when he played his toches jest or torture machine, depending on your off. This Dick Hyman I'd rather forget. point of view. (Switched-On Bach, its big­ Sunday, August 9 / noon The very impressed liner notes say that gest success to date, for example, is hu­ John Jackson the composer was a bit miffed after the morous in small doses but excruciating to Little Brother Montgomery session. "After all the time and effort I the ear for more than a few minutes; in spent getting the rest of the concerto down Cary Bell neither instance can it be taken seriously on paper," he is quoted, "I received the as music. Other exampl es of this genre Buddy Guy most congratulations from the other musi­ Lonnie Johnson are even worse. If, for instance, you hate cians for those three cadenzas-which I a Mozart lover [or any person of musical Otis Rush just played off the top of my head." There's sensitivity] , expose him to the Moog ver­ a message there. Take it from the top, sion of Eine Kl eine Nachtmusik - an item Sunday, August 9 / 6 :30 p.m. Dick. - Morgenstern that would truly be an outrage were it not Mance Lipscomb so idiotic -sounding.) Litt le Joe Blue ERIC KLOSS I have not heard all the experimenb Lowell Fulsom using the Moog conducted up to now­ TO HEAR IS TO SEE-Presti_ge 7689: To Htar only most of what's been put on record. Big Mama Thorn ton ls To Su; Tb, Kingdom Witbm; Stont Groovt; Junior Parker Childrtn of tht M orning; Cynar11. From this limited perspective, I can say Personnel: Kloss: alto, teno r saxophone; Chick without hesitatio n that this album is the Son House Corea, electric piano; Dave Holland , bass; J ack DeJobnetre, drums. first application of the device that I have Rating:**** found enjoyable to hear -o ther than some Kloss is a remarkable musician to whom tapes of Moog with jazz orchestra by the phrase "young veteran " can be aptly the gifted Chicago pianist-arranger Keith Advance Ticket Price applied. Backed by Mile s Davis' rhythm Droste. $10 series ticket (five co ncerts) section in a set of often unusually- struc­ Murtaugh, once a very capa ble jazz ten­ tured originals, he comes off as a vigorous , or saxo phonist ( older readers may recall $2.50 Friday nigh t inventive , and most facile performer on a Bethlehem LP, Bobby Seo// and Two $5.00 all day Saturday or Sunday both alto and tenor. Horns, on which he was prominently fea­ One of the primary characteristics of his tured), has for some time been a success­ Make check or mo ney order to: playing here is a sort of relaxed yet tense ful composer of TV music of all sorts. and often humorous approach to improvi­ from jingles to documentary scores. His Ann Arbor Blues Festival sation with the outside door left ajar. work in these areas has been first-rate, University of Michigan Union Many of his best moments result from the though by its very nature transitory and Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104 catalytic contributions of Co rea and De­ often uncredited. Johnette. But then , who could fail to be Here- as composer, programmer and only 15.000 tickets are ava ilab le. spurred by the electricity they generate? performer-he applies considerable skill Children finds Kloss' alto sounding re- and imagination to the Moog problem. 22 0 DOWN BEAT . \ Personn el t Thornton, cornet , African drumsi able when given the proper promotion. With good judgment, he has backed up his Grachan Moncur III , 1romb<'nc, bells (Tracks I, Jazz has not died nor is it dying . It merely 2): Archie Shepp, soprano saxophone. lyre inventions for the synthesizer with an all­ (Tracks 1, 2); Dav e Burrell . piano. metal chain has been given a back seat, not just by the human rhythm section of high caliber. (Tracks 1. 2); Bob Guerin, bass; Sunny Murr ay, public but by some of the same men who drums (Tracks 1. 2); Earl Freeman , percussion, This somehow makes the Moog sound less Afr ican flute, b ass; Claude Delcloo. drums depend on it to reach their current posi• depersonalized. Furthermore, except for oc­ (Track 3). tions-the writers, promoters, and record casional special effects, Murtaugh uses his Rating: * * * * * company executives. new medium with consistent good taste. I was ill-equipped to write about jazz To tho se db readers whose ears have Humor, an almost irresistible temptation , when I first started doing so, about 19 caught up with the times, I need say no appears in places, but it is never grotesque. years ago. My listening experience totaled more than that Thornton has two new al• And he plays with a lot of other moods, a mere four years, and most of what I bad bums on which he has chosen his company never overdoing the effects. heard was either recorded or-my borne well. Most interestingly, he achieves a great then being Copenhagen-the efforts of To the uninitiated , or the doubters , l deal of variety, both in sounds and tex­ fumbling European imitators. What I wrot e recommend both albums highly. This mu• ture s, without distorting or carica turing then hopefully is lost forever. sic-b lack , beautiful, and full of vernal aural norms. Murtaugh will use the Moog Even, now, after years of extensive lis­ fire-blooms into an experience in Free­ as a single-line horn, as an organ-like in­ tening, producing a good number of al­ dom & Unity and becomes an adventure strument , in simulation of human voices bum s, and committing to paper ream s of in Ketchaoua.

Load more

  2

Copy Link