blifth- ps The Michigan Daily-Tuesday, September 20, 1977-Page 7 Ponty's 'jazz-rock fusion' a sham 4 i !" 1 U! IA I By PAUL SHAPIRO Jean-Luc Ponty and his army of elec-# tric violins descended on Hill Auditori- um Saturday night with a group of mu- sicians supposedly considered in the forefront of the 'jazz-rock fusion.' Un- fortunately for jazz aficionados, Ponty and his cohorts played a two-hour set of uninventive, overdramatic, and cliched rock and roll. Ponty, who produced some excellent music during his association with Frank Zappa several years ago, has successfully broken into the 'fusion' market and it was quite obvious that most of the sell-out crowd was en- thralled by his music. For a smaller portion of the crowd, (of whom 50-100 walked out quite early in the concert) and for myself, the show was a painful reminder of the music industries cor- ruption of artists with the potential to, contribute to the growth of jazz today., The compositions offered were a va- riety of dull, repetitive pieces, complete with standard rock solos from music- ians who lacked any semblance of soul or aesthetic taste. Ponty's technical abilities on the violin remain unques- tioned, but his solos also seemed void of a creative spark. At one point during the concert, Ponty introduced a compo- sition stating that it, "was not a heavy mental piece " Undoubtably this state- ment could be appropriately applied to his entire repertoire. Much has been written about the fast ®. ..r. Por s Foxx S new .and raunchy shows growing popularity of the 'jazz-rock fu- sion,' but unfortunately the results of this popularity has severely strained the quality of serious jazz available in today's market. Multi-talented artists such as Chick COrea, George Benson, Herbie Hancock, and Ponty are direct- ing a great deal of their time and en- ergy into music where their prodigious skills go wasted. Ope might question why this 'fusion' has to be. Guitarist- Composer Frank Zappa has stated the answer quite clearly; "The real jazz- rock fusion is the fusion between the musician and the cash register." This concert was the first and cer- tainly the least of the upcoming Eclipse series entitled, Jazz: The American Classic. Obviously the Ponty concert was by no means a 'jazz classic,' but fu- ture shows promise a variety of music- ians who have remained undaunted in the face of the fusion dollar. Mike Grof- sorean, one of Eclipse's booking agents, feels the organization has "a moral re- sponsibility to the artists who have re- tained their musical integrity." Some- times that means booking an act (such as Ponty) that is not as pleasing to us, but will bring in enough cash to sponsor music of a higher quality. Over the past several years Eclipse has worked diligently in cultivating a broader based jazz interest in the Ann Arbor area. This has created a desir- able market for financiers of jazz shows who are profit oriented (Eclipse is not) and put on concerts with higher ticket prices and less benefits for the music- ians. This syndrome added to the signing of Ponty into the jazz series, as another promoter expressed interest in signing Ponty, purposely on the same night as Eclipse was introducing a les- ser known artist to the community. The political realities of the music industry can often be frustrating to sensitive producers such as Eclipse and Ponty, in the end, was needed for their series to survive economically. Fortunately, the THE ANN ARBOR FILM CO-OPERATIVE is looking for energetic people with a strong in- terest in movies. Stop by one of our showings for details fall program will certainly help jazz lis- teners forget about a Saturday night in Hill Auditorium when Jean-Luc Ponty and company played tasteless rock and roll through a sound system that muf- fled what little clarity they had to offer. Pat Martino and Bobby Rose opened the concert with a guitar duet of straightforward and excellent jazz. Through a 30-minute opening set Rose played rhythm and Martino an inven- tive, soaring lead guitar. The compo- sitions were a combination of new pieces and traditional jazz tunes, in- cluding a stirring rendition of 'Sunny.' Martino's leads were hypnotic in nature, winding and intricate, and he displayed his masterful technical abilities for the jazz guitar. By NINA SHISHKOFF This season two black comedians whose material is notoriously untele- visable have been given variety shows on television. Redd Foxx, spirited away from Sanford and Son by ABC, appears in the Redd Foxx Show on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. Richard Pryor hosts The Richard Pryor Show Tuesdays at 8 on NBC. The titles aren't original, but the shows are, each in a different way., Redd Foxx, known far and wide as a dirty old man, seems an unlikely choice for a typical variety show. And typical it is, with the usual opening monologue, the usual comedy sketches interspersed with production numbers. Yet Foxx takes the traditional comedy-variety framework and stretches it to fit his own originality. In one sequence, he comes out and explains how the viewers can tell when a production number would 'be coming up. First the host comes out. Then the lights dim and an elaborate set is lowered down. (Behind him, the lights dim, and a set falls oblig- ingly.) Then music will begin to play in the background, and a group of beauti- ful dancing girls will appear. (It does, and they do) Some one off-stage will throw the host a #~at anid cane. (Foxx misses both) Then thi production num- ber begins. As he finishes explaining, the stage is set. "But I don't want to do that," he concludes, and goes off for a commercial instead. The Richard Pryor Show is, as they say, a different can of worms alto- gether. Like his style or not, there's no denying that he oozes of originality. It's hard to say whether he's funny or not, but he is very energetic, and very noisy. His opening show began with a clut- tered take-off of "Star Wars," where he was a bartender in a bar full of mon- sterous aliens. The sketch mainly con- sisted of Pryor gawking in terror at his customers. After a brief sketch where a construction worker sings "I've Got to Be Me" while stripping to a bikini, and a Western take-off, Pryor plays a faith healer at about 500 decibels. It is in the final sketch that the tone changes. The last sketch was an atmosphere piece about a soldier who comes back from war to see his sweetheart, who wanted to be a ballerina and ended up a night- club singer. It catches the essence of a 40's nightclub wonderfully, and was done with warmth instead of frenzy. While Redd Foxx explores within the known boundaries of television com- edy, Pryor crashes through. The price he seems to have paid is uneveness of quality. Many comedians complain that they destroy their originality when they have to clean up their acts for TV. Pryor was upset when a small piece of his show was cut out by the network. He and Foxx should realize they don't need to be dirty to be funny. All they need is good writing and an opportunity. They've got both, and we can hope they take advantage of it. - - - 4-2 In A KIM C A %lr - - - r f I r I t I. I i I t A - -.- CLIP AND SAVE - - - I Phone Numbers Circulation 764-0558 f Classified Adv. 764-0557 Display Adv. [ 764-0554 News 764-0552 Sports 764-0562 - -r d CLIP AND SAVE -.- Daily Photo by ALAN BILNSKY Jean-Luc Ponty appeared Saturday night at Hill Aud. as the first in the Eclipse Jazz series. eGzlpse MASS MEETING FOR USIIEIRS MICHIGAN UNION ASSEMBLY HALL THURSDAY, SEPT. 22 A 7:00 p.m. p " ,,, HIGH-LOW GAMES OAKLAND, Calif. (AP)-The Golden State Warriors went ,from the 3basket- ball ridiculour to the sublime in just 24 hours during the 1976-77 season. On March 18 they scored only eight points in the first quarter of a 98-85 loss to the Log Angeles Lakers. It was-a two-year low. The .next night, however, the Warriors pulverized Indiana, 150-91. It not only was the largest point totatl for Golden State since the Warriors moved to the West Coast in 1962, but the 59- point margin of victory was the largest in five years or since the NBA record was set by the Los Angeles Lakers on March 19, 1972, a 162-99 triumph over those same Golden State Warriors. Student Newspaper at The University of Michigan I F ED r----------- WRITE YOUR AD HERE! -----------5 WO1 _ y 2dy!31as4dys5dy dy dl 1- 11 3 5 38 45 0 7 -I- --I-, I I, * USE THIS HANDY CHART TO QUICKLY ARRIVE AT AD COST KWORDS 1 day 2 days'3 days 4 days 5 days 6 days addi. I0-10 1.15 2.30 3.05 3.80 4.55 5.30 .75 11-15 1.40 2.80 3.70 4.60 5.50 6.40 .90 Pleaseindicate 16-20 1.65 3.30 4.35 5.40 6.45 7.50 1.05 wherethisad 21-25 1.90 3.80 5.00 6.20 7.40 8.60 1.20 forrent 26-30 2.15 4.30 5.65 7.00 8.35 9.70 1.35 forsale 31-35 2.40 4.80 6.30 7.80 9.30 10.80 1.50 helpwanted 36-40 2.65 5.30 6.95 8.60 10.25 11.90 1.65 personal 41-45 2.90 5.80 7.60 9.40 11.20 13.00 1.80 etc. 46-50 3.15 6.30 8.25 10.20 12.15 14.10 1.95 Seven words per line. Each group of characters counts as one word. Hyphenated words over 5 characters count as two words-This includes telephone numbers. Mail with Check to: Classifieds, The Michigan Daily Musical Hit Opens PTP Series Ralph Glenmore, Bernard Marsh and Garry Q. Lewis as the "Solitunes" from the smash hit musical revue, "Bubbling Brown Sugar." This 1977 .grammy Award winning musical, currently still on Broadway, will open the 1977-78 Best of Broadway Series presented by the Professional Theatre Program at the University of Michigan. This exciting National Touring Company will open on September 23 at the Power Center. There will be three evening performances starting at 8 p.m./(23-25) and one matinee performance at 2 p.m. on the 25th. PTP Ticket Office opens Monday, September 19 in the Michigan League for this swinging new musical. Tickets are also on sale through all Hudson Ticket outlets and Central Ticket in Toledo. For further information, call:(313) 764-0450. The No. 1 Rock-n-Roll Disco HAPPY HOUR SUDS FACTORY K 737 N. Huron (at Lowell, just east of the E .M. U. Campus) *Every Tuesday *This Wednesday