Page Two
THE MICHIGAN DAILY
Saturday, May 24, 1969
Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY
music
Sun
Ra:
The surfacing of uture p
ripp
By W. REXFORD BENOIT
I can only hint at the talent
of Sun Ra.
Neglected for years (I first
heard one of his records in 1961
in a tiny Upper Peninsula ham-
let), Sun Ra belatedly is sur-
facing today in the forefront of
revolutionary musical culture.
His Astro-Infinity Arkestra is
in Ann Arbor for two more days,
tonight at Canterbury House
and tomorrow night at the Ar-
mory with the MC5, prior to
their appearance at the First
Annual Detroit Rock 'n' Roll
Revival next weekend.
Sun Ra's multability finds the
f theme of optimism. Space is the
place where you can be free, and
anything is possible, there.
I'm trying tok remember where
I first heard one of the things
said last night by an Arkestra
member. "We came from no-
where, here; why can't we go
from here, somewhere?" Got it?
Place is space, and so there are
4 no limits on what you can do in
place/space.
Surely you see why the mes-
sage is memorable. It's some-
thing to renew energy. Of course
there are no limits on you.
Charlie Parker had the same
message. His finest group in-
rr. cluded Buddy Rich on drums,
because especially in contrast to
Rich's plodding beat was the
native freedom of Parker's play-
ing apparent.
In fact the elements of Sun
Ra's music: melding of poten
tialities, clarity, harmony, tech-
nique, are closely similar to
Parker's. Both invented new
{ ~musical forms. in hostile men-
:.: vironments, and both spoke of
the present in the language of
the 'future possible.
x. h?..Last night, Sun Ra played
Daily- Peter Dreyfuss tunes by and for Fletcher Hen-
ossible
derson and Duke Ellington,
making it clear that while these
venerated bandsmen tootled for
the musical tastes of millions,
they lacked the strength to give
insight.
How many times have we
heard that music is more than
itself? Music Is a' form that al-
ludes to infinities.
The most pleasing feature of
the Arkestra is their musician-
ship. Here's what happens: the
organ and piano set the tune,
a pretty lady sings (like the lady
Charlie Mingus had with him
four eyars ago, except with more
gumption), Arkestra picks up
reeds, maybe there is a brass solo
or some brass ensemble work,
Do -you know
something special about music,
art, movies, theatre, rock, jazz?
The Daily is currently recruit-
ing summer reviewers. Benefits
include free tickets. Come in
any afternoon and ask for the
boss.
the lady steps back and every-
one plays.
Sometimes the pattern is re-
versed or interspersed. Occa-
" sionallyF there is no pattern ex-
cept the language we rarely hear
anyhewer but in universal art
(free) forms.
A final word. Somehow Sun
Ra has not been given a proper
Laudience for his work. Eight
years ago it was easy to hear
him, then forget him.I But the
Arkestra has remained together
ragainst odds, and is gathering
force each day.
The area that has produced
the 5, the Stooges, and other
fine groups now brings another
visionary talent to our attention.
Let it be our gain.
Council questions
bank building plan
(Continued from Page 1) proposed the motion granting the
be the same size for any given variance, countered that owners
height regardless of increased set- of property adjacent to the area
backs." were aware of the variance and
The bank also indicated its raised no objections.
"need and desire" to concentrate Fire Chief Arthur Stauch, the
all main office activity in down- board member who seconded Con-
town Ann Arbor, But the appeal lin's motion, said it was approved
cited a "two-pronged problem of because the proposed structure
availability of land per se and the would not conflict with surround-
land cost factor" as a hardship in ing buildings.
achieving this. "Basically that building wouldn't
'1
4,
ip
ciem
Illu.strated Man:'
i -.
By JAY CASSIDY
Eliot Rosewater once said that science fiction writers are the,
most visionary writers in the world. He said that after crashing a
convention of science fiction writers and getting ,dead drunk.
The Illustrated Man is a science fiction story yet it is certainly not
the most visionary of movies.{
The famous Ray Bradbury wrote the book that the film was
based upon; the famous Jack Smight (I'd Rather Be Rich, Harper,
and No Way to Treat a Lady) directed the film, and the famous'
James E., Reynolds did a groovy job of painting Rod Steiger with
tattoos.
Francois Truffaut made Fahrenheit 451 another book by Ray
Bradbury. The film is visually graceful but verbally clumsy, par-
tially because it was the first English language film of Truffaut,
but, as Eliot Rosewater admits, science fiction writers can't write
for sour apples. Thus, it is my suspicion that science fiction readers
make allowances for- bad writing because the subject matter is,
so visionary.
But, it is just possible that science fiction writing such as Ray
Bradbury is poorly transferred to the screen. Bradbury is 4 good
writer with some good visionary ideas, but the two films that have
been made from his books have really been poor. This is !not the
fault of Bradbury but the fault of Truffaut and Jack Smight.
The Illustrated Man was visiually very dull and the structure
of the parts was very rough. Yet, the ideas are interesting and it
is disappointing to see them handled so poorly..
The beginning of the film is a warning or maybe' an apology.
It tells the audience that there are three "times" portrayed in the
film. This insulted me, I didn't wait to be told, I wanted to find
out for myself.
The story is about Rod Steig'er who gets his body covered with
skin illustrations which tell stories and predict the future. Robert
Drivas is hitchhiking across the country to go work in a Sears
Roebuck in California. He meets Rod Steiger and sees the future.
The stories on Rod Steiger's skin are what Robert Drivas sees
or dreams, yet these stories are meaningless. It is not that they have
no plot (one is about how future kids have lions eat their. parents;
another is about lost spacemen wandering through rubber trees
in the rain.) The stories are too complete; the audience under-
stands them to well for them to be unnatural or bizarre or even'
the slightest bit interesting. The "recurring theme" is that all the
stories have Rod Steiger and Claire Bloom in them.
The third time portrayed is that of Rod Steiger telling Robert
Drivas how Claire Bloom put all the tattoos on him. The stories are
all mixed together with motley blending and silly transitions.
As the film ends and Rdbert Drivas realizes his future, there
is nothing left. It does not make us wonder about the really ter-
rific changes that are going on, it doesn't suggest the effects of what
machines do to us, what wars do to us, and what big and simple
ideas do to us.
If the film is analyzed as not a science fiction film then it is
even worse. The macabre ending is just an end and nobody really
cares about Robert Drivas. The sexy voice at the beginning and the
end said that When examining the future, questions arise with no
absolute answers. This doesn't work since, at the end of the movie,
we have no questions.
However, the bank owns 19,688
square feet of land on .the site
and has proposed building on 'only
6,741 square feet.
When the board granted the
appeal April 11, 'three ex-officio
members were absent, Wheeler,
City Planning Director Ray Mar-
tin, and Etter. All three had pre-
viously expressed concern over
granting the variance to the bank.,
Board members F. H. Colvin,
the architect for the new bank
building, and Joseph Edwards did
not vote or participate in discus-
sions.
The only dissenting voter in the
board's action was Clarence Roy.
At that time, he pointed out that
the air rights of future adjacent
buildings would be pre-empted by
the structure.
However, Henry Conlin, who
Guard clears
Carolina
(Continued from Page i)
also said the National Guai'd will
remain "as long as necessary."
At New York City College ten-
tative agreement was reached that
could end a month-long revolt by
black and Puerto Rican students.
The New. York 'City College
agreement, subject to approval by
the faculty senate and the Board
of Higher Education, could even-
tually make the student body more
than half black and Puerto Rican.
It is now less than a quarter non-
white.
The black and Puerto Rican stu-
dents, who forced two-week shut-
down of the schooleon April 23rd,
also won other majorgoals-in-
cluding establishment of a separ-
ate school of urban and third-
world studies.
Supreme Court Justice William
J. Brennan. Jr., denied yesterday
petition for bail for 40 Dartmouth
students and sympathizers sen-1
tenced to 30 day Jail terms for
contempt of court in the seizure
of the 'college administration
building May 6.
The Justice made no comment
In denying' the. petition which was
brought to him after: the Ist Cir-
cult Court of Appeals in Boston
refused to' allow bail pending a
hearing.
A gun scare on the St. Joseph's
Colegt campus sent most of the
school's 21 black students to the
president's office Thursday with a
plea for protection.
The student, members of the
Black Student Union on campus,
said they had been harassed and
threatened by white students.
They said a white student walked'
through a dormitory lounge with
a rifle Wednesday night, Banet
reported.
be out, of place," Stauch said. "It
wouldn't be a big sore thumb
sticking up."
"The bank has a well established
function," he added. "It would be
a good building, well-kept and
maintained."
Councilman Robert Faber (D-
Second ward), who was first to
challenge the board's action, says,
"It is very clear the Ann Arbor
Bank had no cause to request the
variance let alone be granted it."
The bank would be under "no
major difficulty" if it did not re-
ceive the variance, Faber main-
tains. Besides, he adds, "this is
not just a small change. It's tre-
mendous."
Faber claims the bank sought
the variance to lessen construc-
tion costs. "I'm angry i at the
bank," he says, "and I am angry
at the board for buckling under."
Councilman Leroy Cappaert, (D-
Fifth ward), the new chairman of
the zoning appeals :board, says "I
don't know why the board granted
the variance. I find it difficult to
understand how th~e practical 'dif-
ficulty or unnecessary hardship
could be shown in this case,"~
Cappaer adds that the appeal
is really "a flaunting of the law-
ful zoning ordinance."
"I believe in law and order' in
zoning matters as much as in any
other matter," he maintained.
Both Cappaert and Faber say
changes in the board will be the
structure and personnel of the
group.,
"Obviously this doesn't work,"
Cappaert says.
'0I
-records--
Harmonies of Winter Consort
By R. A. PERRY
Contributing Editor
One of the problems that any
young, talented group of mu-
sicians has to face is the in-
credible heap of vinyl garbage
that recording companies dump
onto the market. The "top hit"
charts seldom indicate quality-
rather they provide an index to
those records most heavily pro-
moted or to those which come
from established winners. A sin-
gle with the Beatles the Anni-
versary Waltz would make the
charts, but a new group with a
good sound, especially if that
sound has a depth beyond in-
stant recognition, struggles sim-
ply to be heard.
The Winter Consort is such
a group; they have cut a beau-
tiful record that, because it de-
fies easy categorization, will
probably never reach the wide
audience of jazz, folk, and clas-
sical music enthusiasts that it
deserves. The jazz buff may look
at the album, 'see that they do
some things to Dowland,-Villa-
Lobos, and Weiss, and think of
previous unsuccessful attempts
to make the classics swing: the
dessicated "Play Bach" of Jac-
ques Loussier or the banal in-
anities of the Swingle Singers.
The classical music lover may
turn up his nose and too easily
anticipate simple-minded ar-
rangements.
They're wrong, for though the
Winter Consort cut across gen-
eric lines, they arrive at more
than an eclectic pastiche. They
effect a complex but translucent
instrumentation that is always
fresh a n d interesting; even
when they sing in an unimbar-
rassed lyricism, the melodic
lines float above a ground of in-
tricate ' instrumental support.
They seek and achieve a balance
between the written and t h e
improvised.
The 16th-century composer
Michael Praetorius defined a
consort as follows: "When some
persons (with different instru-
ments, such as harpsichord, lyre,
double harp, lutes, bandorn,
penocon, zithers, -viola da gam-
ba, a flute, or sometimes a rack-
et, do quietly, delicately, a n d
pleasantly make music together
in a company and gathering,
Paul Winter
opens with a guitar Allemande
by Weiss and then. moves softly
into a long ballad based oft a
Hungarian PeasantSong, which
begins with the alt sax break-
ing over a droning bass and
tampura. .Various drums and
bells glitter over 'the insistent
drone and then drums solo; the
tampura, sax, and penetrating
English horn return inua haunt-
ing manner. It gets quite "deep."
Antonio Carlos Jobim's "CantaA
Canta Mais" follows with a Des-
mon-isc solo by Paul Winter.
"The Little Train of Caipira"
from Villa-Lobos Bachians Bra-
sileiras No. 2 begins in an al-
most trite Teti Heath manner,
but there is a nice play between
percussion and cello as the
"train" gets under way. The last
band on side one is a free im-
provisation :on a Japanese Koto
scale, and it is a fine line here
between very free modern jazz.
and the post-Webern world of
classical music.
Side two opens with a Joni
Mitchell ballad and is followed by
a quiet, melodic sax solo that
becomes enriched by the im-
provising cello and bass. "Her-
resy" features the guitar of Karl
Herreshoff; it's very soft, but
again, very involved. Only "For-
lorn Hope" on this sidb sounds
a little too tico-tico to me, but
"Trotto," which ends the side,
is a wonderfully shifting-in in-
strumentation and rhythm-
adaptation of a 13th century
Italian dance.
Each band and the small in-
terplays that occur cannot, of
course, be fully annotated. What
impressed me so much about the
record and the Winter Consort
is that, even in the most simple
cuts I never heard that,.queasy
Musak, cocktail lounge sound
that typifies so much unaggres-
sive jazz. There was always,
even at the most relaxed mo-
ments, a sense of complexity
and involvement, a true concern
with group sound.;Furthermore,
and an important aspect of such
music, the Winter Consort do
not pal with repeated listening;
there's a lot happening to ap-
preciate.
Sx Jearborn
students resign
(Continued from Page 2)
Scott said the "minimum" es-
timates of those who would attend
the concert is 2000, and claimed
that with "no toilets, no running
water" and the lack of nearby
parking, these facilities were in-
adequate. There are 800 students
enrolled at Dearborn.
The resigning student govern-
ment members, however, noted
that the half-mile-long meadow
on the mansion grounds had been
used for the Fairlane Musical
Festival-a series of concerts-
during the University's sesquicen-
tennial celebration two years ago.
Scott countered that, with the
lack of a- band shell or built-in
seating, the mansion had, at that
time, proved inadequate.
Dick Reynolds, Dearborn cam-ai
pus director of community rela-
tions said, "I definitely feel this
is not a case of censorship.'We've
had numerous speakers here, some
of whom could be considered con-
troversial."
and do accord together'in sweet
harmony." This description fits,
the Winter Consort well, at least
to the musical ends if not to the
instruments used.
Using no electronic equipment,
the Winter Consort rely on mod-
ern jazz instruments such as
alto sax, but they replace the
piano with a classical guitar.
Yet "the richness of instrumen-
tation comes from the inclusion
of the English horn, a Persian
Tar, a Baroque lute, the Ama-
dinda or Ugandan xylophone,
the Indian tampura, the Renais-..
sance rackett (an ancestor of
the bassoon), an enormous num-
ber of drums (Brazilian, African,'
Bulgarian), and other more dis-
creet percussion instruments.
That all the ingredients do
not merely produce a concoc-
tion of garish effects for its own
sake can be attributed to the in-
telligence and artistry of the
'performers of the Consort. Lead-
er Paul Winter, who plays the
alto sax with as sweet a lyricism
as Paul Desmond, has traveled
with his own sextet around the
Festival)., Cellist Richard Bock
sat first chair under Stokowski's
American Symphony.
Paul McCandless, English
horn, played with the Pittsburgh
Symphony, and Virgil Scott, alto
flute, for Skitch Ienderson. The
lutes and guitars are handled by
Gene Bertoncini, who worked as
widely as the Benny Goodman
Sextet and the Met Opera, and
by Karl Herreshoff.
If that all sounds a -little too
egg-headed a roster, you will
appreciate knowing that percus-
sionist Steven Bukar played with
John Lee Hooker, Brenda Lee,
and Jim and Jean, while bass
John Beal was a member of the
Lee Konitz Quartet. Then, as an
added garnish to the musical
Mulligatawny, the Winter Con-
sort album features the virtuoso
of the Israeli jar-drum, Ruth
Ben- Zvi, who won a gold medal
at the Moscow Internationl Folk
Festival.
So what do they do? Side one
of the A&M release (SP 4170)
p
/'
DIAL 8-6416
Shows Today and Sunday
at 1-3-5-7-9 P.M.
What is the Magus Game?
The game is love. The game is lust.
The vicious game is life itself... Or is it death?
27h CENTiURY,FOX PRESENTS
A KOHN-KINBERG MNaosw
PRODUCTION cowk.e ii aulE
NEXT: LOPERT FILM FESTIVAL
4i
/
i
world. (In fact, the Winter Con-
sort was the only jazz group in-
vited to last year's Israel Music
I
i
I
Ever see a DEEP South
western with Spanish
cowboys and Inca In
dians? 'RHOTS! (next
week)
FRIDA"
What Ev
and his fifteen piece ToB
ASTRO INFINITY ARKESTRA dir. ROBE
Y and SATURDAY
per Happened
laby Jane
:RTALDRICH (1962)
SNEAK
PREVUE
TONIGHT
at 9 P.M.
DIAL
5-6290
READ AND USE
DAILY CLASSIFIEDS
Regular show before and after prevue
mo, EUIUSE-sCIESEBLOOM
in RAY BRADBURY'S masterpiece of the supernatural!
Aqi lieft m\srm I/ ItilK iY~\ 1 iL
'/
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r