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PIM 1111
'1 1110/
/00ffl
I Entire Bill
7/14
2000
as
Herbie Mann takes the stage at
this year's Birmingham Jazzfest.
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
4763 Haggerty Rd. at Pontiac Trail
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with coupon
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11111 1111111 =II MEI INN NMI NM II•111 1•11111 MIMI
Jr
Herbie Afann.
"O. nce I saw y 70th
ibzdr ethcide
da)d, aftpwr a
oas cthim
in
azz legend Herbie Mann has
to delve into my ro6ts,'
played Michigan many
says the Jazz
times, but his upcoming
who was born
appearance at the
Herbe)-t Jay Solomon..
Birmingham Jazzfest introduces a
new song cycle in his career --- origi-
nal compositions that reach back to
his Eastern European Jewish roots.
Mann, who performs with a
quartet called Sona Terra (Sounds of
the Earth), will advance a CD filled
with these pieces, due for release in
October. In the festival that runs
July 20-22, he takes the stage in
Shain Park 5:30-6:45 p.m. Saturday,
July 22.
"It's not klezmer; it's my interpre-
tation of my Russian, Romanian
and Hungarian roots," says the
flutist, at home in New Mexico. "I
just felt that it was time for me not
to be an assimalado (a Portuguese word
Goodman concert. Moving on to the
used for black musicians in racially
tenor saxophone, he played gigs in the
mixed bands performing with 'hon-
Catskills starting at 14 and went on to
orary white status' in South Africa).
the 98th Army Band after going into
"Being that there's no genre yet, it's
military service in 1948.
called 'Gypsy ja77.' The Gypsies started
When Dutch accordionist Mat
their trip from India and ended up going
Matthews was looking for a jazz flutist
all over the world like the wandering
for the first album by the then
Jews. I've played Brazilian, Cuban and
unknown Carmen McRae, Mann, out
African American music, but once I saw
of service, made another switch — to
my 70th birthday approaching, I-decided the flute. In 1958, he added a conga
it was time to delve into my roots."
player to his group and picked up
audiences around the world. He
For Mann's concert, looking back also
means including some of the Brazilian
toured Africa for the State Department
beats and Bill Evans numbers that he
and went on to Brazil, where he
brought to stage and recording studio,
helped usher in the bossa nova craze.
this time also performed with guitar, bass
Ahead of his time with world
music, Mann brought in the sounds of
guitar and percussion, the latter at the
hands of his youngest son, Geoff.
the Middle East, reggae, southern
"Geoff's been with the band over a
blues and rock 'n' roll and turned out
a series of recordings to capture his
year, since I've moved into this new
genre," explains Mann, who has three
take on these sounds.
other children steering clear of musical
"I have a different definition of
careers. "He's 24 and a graduate of the
ja7.7.," Mann says. "It's not swing, bebop
or avant garde. It's improvising, inter-
New School of Music. To turn around
preting a melody in your own way. You
and watch him play incredible music
can even improvise on Kol Nidre."
redefines the word kvell."
Mann, born in Brooklyn as Herbert
The acclaimed flutist, married to
actress-writer Susan Janeal Arison,
Jay Solomon, first took up the clarinet
travels to about 30 concerts a year.
at age 9 after seeing a Benny
"Musicians don't retire," he says.
"They work until they physically can't
anymore. I could play clubs and be away
from home more, but I choose not to. I
think the road is the basic ingredient
that kills musicians, and I choose to take
care of myself. I do only one club, and
that's the Blue Note in New York."
Mann, diagnosed with inoperable
prostate cancer three years ago, has
gone through radiation and
chemotherapy. Now in remission from
the disease, he has taken on a health
and social mission to alert other men
to the importance of early testing.
"One of the things I've done is
formed a foundation for prostate cancer
awareness, the Prostate Cancer
Awareness Music Foundation," Mann
explains. "The purpose is to spread the
word to my audience about the necessity
of annual physical exams and blood tests.
"I just did an event in Houston,
where I brought an all-star band for a
free Father's Day concert. Everyone
who got the blood test got a free,
autographed CD, and we had more
than 400 tested for the first time.
"I didn't know about the PSA test,
and I think I'm pretty well informed.