Taylor stages a Daily Photo by ANDY FREEBERG Pianist Cecil Taylor performed three hour-long compositions with his group Friday night at Power Center. Denver takes La'nsing rowd bak hoe agoain By R.J. SMITH It is a common, easy-to-make argument, and yes, it is a valid one. It goes something like this: For a reviewer to criticize blindly so-called "commercial" artists who have "sold out" is no awesome feat, and to do so is idealistic and stupid.. But now that I have blasted Chuck Mangione, a performer as vapid as they come nowadays, and am about to praise to High Heaven "avant-garde" musician Cecil Taylor, I should probably for- thrightly address all those who would say I am snuggling up to anything new or esoteric, while putting down anything popular: all of you can eat my shorts. When a musician makes money-lots of it-by performing dull, unimaginative music at the expense of those artists who should be heard but might never be, that musician deserves to be panned. Likewise, an avant-garde artist must also be critically appraised in a clear light, and not be rubberstam- ped a "genius because he refuses to comply with the mainstream. The ancient Chinese philospher Chuang Tzu tells a story about a fan- tastic butcher that is appropriate here. "A cook was cutting up an ox for Lord Wen-hui,"r wrote the sage. "At every touch of his hand,every heave of his shoulder, every tread of his foot, every thrust of his knee, skin and bones split apart, making a distinct noise." After the cook put down his chopper, he told the Lord, who had marvelled at his skill, "When I first began to cut up oxen, all I could see was the ox itself. After three years, I no longer saw the whole ox. Now I get at it with my spirit and do not see with my eye. My sense perception stops but my spirit works volunatrily." The music of Cecil Taylor seems not to be guided by his eyes, his immediate perceptions, so much as by his spirit. It is effortless, never static. And nothing is wasted. PIANIST CECIL TAYLOR, who has been playing since the 1950s, makes music that is certainly "different." And after hearing his show Friday night at Power Center, "good" would be too base a label for him. Appearing with an often brilliant supporting trio, Taylor played for about three hours and per- formed only three solo pieces. It would be inaccurate to call Taylor a "jazz" artist, for there is as much classical training visible in his playing as thereis evidence of the blues. Taylor creates a small sonic world for the listener; the music sounds like no one else's, and, in- deed, evokes emotions deeper and less resolved than most other jazz. THE THREE PIECES followed much the same course: in the opening violinist Ramsey Amin, alsto saxophonist Jimmy Lyons, and the trumpet player (whose name I didn't catch) would, either individually or in ensemble, introduce some form of a melody and toss it around a bit with Taylor. Then, they took off, and from there the number could go anywhere. The group members wandered on and off the stage apparbntly at whim, and the tempand mood of the songs seemed to drift as if by some telepathic consensus. As musicians, Taylor's unit fared generally well, and in an assortment of ways. Lyons exhibited great mastery when fronting the group, and with Taylor and drummer Ken Tyler sup- porting him, the ensemble spun off massive curtains of swirling sound. The trumpeter had more difficulty melding with the group. Although his solos were frequently inventive, if much less so than Lyons', he often seemed unable to support another musician for any length of time, and would even walk off stage while the rest of the players im- provised as a group. Drummer Tyler's stamina and general rhythmic abilities were superb. IN THE LONG run, however, it was violinist Amin who pleased the most, supplying the most successful counter- point to Taylor's piano work. Where Taylor rarely sustains notes until they fade naturally, and typically throws off tight, quick runs, Amin used his bow to sustain chords and savor melodies. But fpr all thq group's fine playing, how could anyone but Taylor be the star of the performance? He played almost continously throughout the three-hour show, and, remarkably, seemed to muster more energy as the evening went along. Surely, Vladimir Ashenazy was not the only piano virtuoso in town Friday evening; Taylor commands By TIMOTHY YAGLE and HAROLD BIDLACK F Special to te Daily DETROIT-During the basketball season, Earvin Johnson fills Jenison Fieldhouse with his own brand of magic. Friday night, a different kind of magic filled the archaic structure. Henry John Deutschendorf (a.k.a. John Denver) and his cast of nine incredible back-up musicians electrified 10,000 people with two-and-a-half hours of his usual brand of soft pop music, along with a few new twists. After greeting Denver en- thusiastically, the crowd sat back and relaxed as. he strummed through a collection of his older, slightly less familiar material, with "Today" and "Rippling Water" mixed in. It wasn't until about one-third of the way through the show when "Johnny B. Goode," a song from his soon-to-be-released LP and Denver's only rock and roll effort to date, got the crowd buzzing. He looked fairly comfortable playing it and, although it -didn't have all the zest of sChuck Berry's version, he performed it with a vibrance that made it unique and enjoyable. 'RIGHT AFTER "Toledo," Denver, who has a great rapport with his audiences, related a story about singing thel song in Toledo, during his arduous ,concert tour last spring when he did 57 concerts in 64 days. He said all but a few people were singing-along with him and they all seemed to enjoy it. It wasn't until after the show when a han- dful of people came up to him and ex- pressed thier displeasure with the song and found it offensive. He defended it to the core. But he told us jokingly Friday ,night that it was "a terrible song" and he included it in his concert repertoire to "lower the quality of the show." This raised some laughter from the crowd. Then, before what sounded like a side from his "greatest hits" album, Denver told us the story of how he met Mr. and Mrs. Frank Sinatra and how Sinatra asked him to write a "saloon song," as he called it. The result was a sad but beautiful tune called appropriately, 'Sad Song," about being alone late at night in a bar with the weight of the world on your shoulders. SURROUNDING HIM on his revolving stage, Denver was more than ably backed by a set of musicians whose credentials would make any music professional envious. His lead guitarist and keyboardist were in Elvis's band and his wind section, a manolin and fiddle player have suppor- ted such prominent artists as Em- Peop le are Living There. A Playby Athol Fugard University 8 X Mrodukc Ktion Nov. 15-18 8p.m. myLous Harris and Linda Ronstadt in the studio. Female vocalist Renee Ar- mand-Horn was in top form most of the evening, although she did falter a few times near the beginning. Denver not only had these nine, musicians vocally supporting him, but on many of the songs, one could hear the entire fieldhouse singing, including the time when Denver was alone on stage and the back-up vocals in "Toldeo" were sung. Denver ended his 20-odd song concert with "Calypso," "Come Fill Me Again," and "Sunshine On My Shoulders." He thanked everyone con- nected with the tour-everyone from his production company to the fieldhouse ushers and the folks who s'erved him dinner before the concert. After listening to John Denver joke and sing, we walked' away very satisfied. Denver ,can still enthrall. an audience. He hasn't lost the magic that has thrilled his millions of fans around the world. The Michigan Daily-Sunday, November 12, 1978-Page 5 jazz marathon tremendous technique up and down the This reviewer began to drift off keyboard, pounding out bafflingly during the second piece, and without complicated chord progressions and close attention the numbers could occasional quicksilver single note runs. easily seem boring and intolerably long. And yet, asked myself, what does FLYING OFF HIS stool time and Taylor expect from his audience? again to reach the far end of the piano, Perhaps two intermissions, instead of aylor oud reach bk arnd out a, one, would have been in order. But one Taylor would reach back and pull out a must not let Taylor's signlemindness snippet of a jazz line, or a quasi- about his music stand in the way of en- classical passage, only to instantly re- joying it. For instead of offering his work it (which is not to say simply em- audience spineless music, Taylor issues bellish it), stripping the fragment down a challenge: show some effort, put and integrating it into the piece's tex- some work into listening to the music ture. Time and again, solos were han- I've toiled over, and I assure you you dled in this manner; ideas were not will see new things. It is a challenge clearly stated andithenshaped worth taking up. over-they were introduced as fragments, and quickly atomized, pummeled into part of the next phrase Taylor is obviously a fairly inaccessible artist. He is not one to make con- Norma G cessions to his audience so that the largest number of people hear the PENCHANSKY music. (This, in the process, becomes the source of a struggle-to hold on to his individuality.) Taylor never spoke Recent SCulpture to the crowd, and perhaps half the & Drawings audience had left before the show en- ded, most of them casualties of the November 1-22 hour-long compositions. Tue-Fri. 10-6 Reception, SetSun. 12-5 November 3,'7-9 764-3234 EDVARD MUNCH WASHINGTON (AP) - "Edvard Munch: Symbols and Images," an exhibition of work by the Norwegian expressionist, opens at the National Gallery of Art Nov. 11 and runs through Feb. 19,1979. FIRST FLOOR MICHIGAN UNION Earn 8 CeisTi Spring in NEW HAMPSHIRE THE NEW ENGLAND LITERATURE PROGRAM MASS MEETING for more information TUES. NOV. 14 PROF. WALTER CLARK 8pm Dept. of English 229 Angell Hall 764-0418 or 761 -9579 and his Orchestra Tusawith JOE WIL LIAMS TuedaDecember 58:00 PM.I Hill Auditorium TICKE TS GO ON SALE WEDNESDA NOV 005 $3. ,$4. ",and$550at the Michig"nUnion box _. f " 16 3" 5 3" No "6a okd n " ' "' " s. both Discount Records. For further info: 763-17454 This co" r made possiblem part by " grant "ro the National Endowment for the Arts A C !TY rc :USICAL'8OCIETY presen t ra Strzelecka makes her U.S. debut ed authority on harpsichord music, ropean ancuinl muhsic festiva/s. For ewill play the music vi anon vinous ,..,. V and the music 1, John Bull, Merula. General urton To wer, x oh/ice which he perf ormnance. for the first time In Ann Arbor-... 0 0 DEC. 7, 8, 9 8:00 P.M. DEC. 10 2:00 P.M. Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre _------------- ------ TICKET ORDER FORM CHECK DATE DESIRED Dec. 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 Mainfloor $4.00 Balcony $3.50 Name Phone Address City State Zip Mail order with stamped, self-addressed envelope and check payable to UAC- Sophshow, 530 S. State St., Ann Arbor, M1 48109 Phone 763-1107forfurther information. The University of Michigan Professional Theatre Program GUEST ARTIST SERIES IIVEkSI Bai Strzi harpsi Polish harpsichordist, Barba with this performance. A not she is a frequent soloist at Eu this first U.S. appearance sh composers of/the 16th centur of de Cabezon, William Bvrd Henry Purcell and Tarquinio admission tickets are $4 at Be wee"da vs 9-4:30 or at the o opens at 7 on the evening cif Telephone: 665-3717.