Tuesday,' September 14, 1974

1_HE MICHIGAN DAILY

Page Five

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Blues Festivl:
Artistic success

By IRA MONDRY
WINDSOR
Tile title Ann Arbor Blues
& Jazz Festival was actually
a misnomer for the 1974 edi-
tion, held "in exile" at St.
Clair College here, and contain-
ed very little of what could be
classified as jazz. However, de-
spite the serious financial dif-
ficulties that occurred, the fes-
tival was an artistic success and
the crowds which ranged, from
4000-8000 people, thoroughlyren-
joyed the predominantly b lu e s
music.
The Friday night shows be-
longed to James Brown and his
tight soul band the JB's. "Tne
Godfather of Soul" screemed,
sweat and strutted to the puls-
ing beat of his band through
a rousing 11/2 hour set. The aud-
ience loved his Las Vegas-type
revue complete with dancers,
a stylish announcer and cheer-
ed strongest when he did a med-
ley of his greatest hits. He was
forced to leave only after vio-
lating the 11 p.m. curfew by
30 minutes.
Also performing were T h e
Persuasions, a fine a capella
soul group. Their polished sing-
ing was filled with beautiful
harmonies and ranged from slow
ballads to uptempo rock-and-
roll.
Sun Ra and His Arkestra also
performed, disnlaving their ec-
lectic, unstructured contempor-
ary jazz with mixed results.
Often cacaophonous, occasion-
ally sonorous, Sun Ra and his
men asked the musical question,
"If you came from nowhere
here, why can't you go some-
where else?"
Saturday afternoon was de-
voted to "New Jazz of Detroit"
in an attempt to find a mass
audience for this music. The
evening show began with Jim-
my Dawkins and his band, who
played a good set of typical
Chicago-style blues. Cecil Tay-
lor, the avant-garde pianist
who helped revolutionize jazz
in. the early 1960's, bored the

audience with his intensely per- moving. Despite the similarity
sonal music. Playing at an ab- of all their songs and all Walk-
surdly fast speed, Taylor creat- er's solos on sax, they went
ed sounds and images which over well and were kept on for
may be meaningful to him, but a long set. The crowd, however,
which were, not accessable to was waiting for the "king of
most others. the blues' " B.B. King, and he
It remained for Luther Alli did not disappoint them.
son to save Saturday night af- Playing in front of a 10 piece,
ter Hound Dog Taylor had re- band, the "blues boy" went
fused to play due to insufficient through most of his hits and
funds, and Luther responded filled the air with his blues. If
magnificently. Using Jimmy Jimi Hendrix raped his guitar,
Dawkins' bass player after his B.B. King made tender love to
own was detained at the border, his, and appeared sincerely
Luther held the audience in the moved by What he was playing
palm of his 'hand as he played and singing. Between such fav-
slow blues and fast boogies. orites as "Thrill is Gone," "Why
Perhaps responding to the pre- I Sing the Blues", and "How
doninantly rock-and-roll b r e d Blue Can You Get", he just
crowd, Luther played more up- played the blues, at any tempo,
tempo numbers than he usually with intense feeling. His entire
does, and the audience in turn group was first rate, in parti-
responded by standing and cular his long time drummer,
dancing throughout his set. Sonny Freeman. B. B. King,
Jimmy Dawkins joined Luther perhaps the most well known
in a spirited version of Muddy blues musician alive, was truly
Waters' "Got My Mojo Work- a fitting ending to a festival
ing" which ended his set de- which was predominantly blues.
spite the crowd's calls for more. -

CONCERT USHERS-
UAC-ICC-PROJECT COMMUNITY
1974-75 CONCERT SERIES
New and Former Ushers Meeting
Thursday..September 12
12:15 p.m, or 5:15 p.m.
Arts Info Center-2nd Fl Union
his season's usher staff will be selected
rom those registered at this meeting.
ARTISTS-
Design the Logo for this year's
concert publicity . . . Deadline for
entries is Monday, Sept. 16.
Also, bring in samples of your
style for consideration on concert
poster work and newspaper adver-
tsing.
Details at UAC Office, 2nd fl Michigan Union
(we pay our artists!)

Bo' B. IKing
* A

I

4th HIT WEEK!

231 S. STATE ST.
Dial 668-6416

0

Sunday was all blues, with
the afternoon session devoted to
"Detroit Blues". John Lee hook-
er and One String Sam were
the favorites of the crowd which
g'rew throughout the day to a
high of around 8,000 at night.
Sunday night provided the
finest music of the festival, de-
snite the cancelling of The Gil
Evans Orchestra, and Albert
Collins and his band. Robert
Junior Lockwood began t h e
evening, with his tough, raun-
chy blues. His guitar work and
vocals shone as did the playing
of his 300 lb. saxophonist.
Sunnyland Slim and his Blues
Band followed with the "ole
muleskinner" on piano showing';,
why he is considered one of the
best around. Luther Allison join-
ed him for one number and ;m-
provised a verse of "I feel so!
good/Ain't got no money/But
got Sunnyland Slim by my
side!"
Junior Walker and the All
Stars, a tight,, stylized soul
band, got, the crowd up and



Luther reflects
on B-I Festival

SOPH SHOW

'74

MASS

MEETING

SIDNEY POMER'- BILL COSBY
HARRY BEAFONTE sGeechie Dan
:. . .. , The
{ JPT ' 1 /N 'ry3funny
SATURDAYyou1
with
mon

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wet

FOR MUSICAL
"DAMN YANKEES"

TONIGHT

Tuesday, Sept. 10

7 P.M.

mess
their
ney!4

By DAVID WARREN.
WINDSOR
"I'm doing it all by myself"
Luther Allison said Sunday af-
ter his stunning performance
Saturday night at the exiled Ann
Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival
here. "I don't have a settled
band, so I depend only on my-
self.
Luther Allison has been in
the music business for 18 years,
and yet in that time he has not,
achieved the fame that others
of lesser talent have. Even so,
he still has faith in his art. "I
would like to see a festival
where all artists, from the low-
est to the highest could come
and play for the people, free
of charge."
When asked how he felt about
the move to Canada, Luther re-
plied, "I think it's wrong for
two countries, to have trade and
peaceful relations for so long,
and then to have this," Luther
was stopped at Canadian immi-
gration, and searched, "All of
my credentials were at t h e
bridge, but I came across
through the tunnel. They search-
ed the car and said that they
had found a seed. I don't
smoke. They also hassled me
about a pair of tweezers and a
whistle. Why do they hassle us?
As of Sunday there was no
money for Luther Allison, but
Havyoe ar fr
d nreviewing
poetry, and music
or writing feature
stories a b o u t the
drama, dance, film
arts: Contact Arts
Editor, c/o The
Michigan Daily.
The Comic Opera Guild
ORGANIZATIONAL
MEETING
for Johann Strauss'
Die FLEDERMAUS
A q r e a t opportunity for
talent from both community
and university
Wed., Sept. 11-8:00
CAMPUS INN
HURON ROOM

1
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he did not seem too upset about
that. "As long as I'm here,
and the people want to hear
me, I'll play. They came here
expecting to see a show, and
I'll give it to them." I'm proud
to be here under any circum-
stances.
He did seem resentful of the
promoters for their choice of
artists. "For what they paid
James Brown they could have
had 15 lesser known perform-
ers."
"The greatest influence on my
music was my brother, Ollie
Allison. Along with B.B. King,
Otis Rush, and Freddie McDow-
ell". Said Luther, "I'm from
Arkansas, bus musically I was
raised in Chicago.
Although his future is uncer-
tain, his devotion to his art,
and his audience is strong. "1
hope in the near future that
Luther Allison can be recogniz-
ed all over the world. I can't

(WHOOP IE
ASSEMBLY HALL,I

LOWER LEVEL

Michigan Union

I

__ _ ..

.a

-Next-
Marx. Bros.
"ANIMAL
CRACKERS

freeform stereo
102.9 fm
Ann Arbor

Sat., Sun., & Wed. open 12:45
Shows at 1, 3, 5, 7, 9 p.m.
Mon.-Tue.-Thur.-Fri, at
7 & 9 Only

I

9 p.m.-6

a.m.

I

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give up my music."
AUDITION 0 T IC E
t Auditions for University Theatre Program's
s PERICLES
with Guest Artist NICHOLAS PENNELL
and Showcase Productions of
THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE
and
THE RED LANTERN
(A model proletarian drama from the People's Republic of Chino
THURSDAY: SEPT. 12-7:15 FRIDAY: SEPT. 13-7:15
PERICLES: room 2528 Frieze SISTER GEORGE: room 2518 Frieze
RED LANTERN: room 2508 Frieze
Readinc copies aavilable at Theatre Office, Mendeissohn Theatre Bldq
PERICLES Production in Power Center, Nov. 27-30
THE KILLING OF SISTER GEORGE--Mon.-Wed., Oct. 21-23, Arena Theatre
THE RED LANTERN-Wed.-Sat., Nov. 13-16, Trueblood Theatre
PRIMITIVE CINEMA AND MODERN COUNTERPARTS (at 7)
A program made to highlight both the similarities as well as the differences
between films made during the earliest and most recent periods.
DUCK S UP (al 9 & 19:30) 1933
The four brothers convert a country to Mprxism - not politically but
humorously. Groucho stars as Rufus T. Firefly, the leader of the land of
Freedonia, in this satire that is more appropriate to present state of affairs
than it was to the time it came out.
WED.: PRIMITIVE CINEMA AND MODERN COUNTERPARTS (at 7)
Marx Brothers in ROOM SERVICE
ADMISSION ARCHITECTURE
cinema gui ONLY $1 AUDITORIUM

1974's MOST HILARIOUS
WILDEST MOVIE IS HERE!
"May be the funniest movie of the
year. Rush to see it!"# , ep r
"A smashing, triumphant satire'
S e Post n l;. e'er
"Riotously, excruciatingly funny:'
"Consistently hilarious and
brilliant' .3 y;-cor
"Insanely funny, outrageous and
irreverent.- Bruc P,

Daily Photo by KEN FINK
Luther .Alliso

INSTANT CASH
We're paying .75-$1.04 for albums in good
s h a p e. Classical-rock-blues-jazz. A n y
quantity. Buy, sell, trade. We're new-come
on over.
10-6 MON.-SAT.

..
, ,. k
6 .

A GREAT NEW
MOTION PICTURE COMEDY

_ -- - --- . -
UNIVERSITY THEATRE PROGRAMS announces 4 DISTINGUISHED PRODUCTIONS in the
POWER CENTER for the performing arts

WAZOO
314 E. LIBE'RTY {in Sovbean Cellar Buildinq)

i

classroom instruction in
electronic music
the music

bCTODER 9-12
y
Ep mn stn'



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