Page 10-Friday, April 20, 1979-The Michigan Daily
17-
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arts & entertainment
The Crusaders capture Hill
By MATTHEW KOPKA
funky2 (fun ke) adj. -kier, -kiest
[orig. Negro argot, lit. smelly,
hence musty, earthy obs. funk,
smell, smoke, prob. Fr., dial.
funkier, to smoke VL.* fumicare,
for L. fumigare: see FUMIGATE]
* Jazz having an earthy quality or
style derived from earthy blues
The amalganation of styles from jazz
and rock music that was dubbed "Jazz-
Rock" or "fusion" a few years ago, and
produced some interesting and oc-
casionally memorably music as artists
crossed barriers and went for the
money, has been considered unique. In
some ways it is, but jazz and the blues
(from which, everyone knows, rock n'
roll is derived) had been trading ideas
since Jelly Roll Morton started syn-
copating on Bourbon Street. Since the
1950's when they were called the "Jazz
Crusaders," one group has stayed very
popular doing just that.
AT THEIR BEST, the present-day
Crusaders will hit on a beat that moves
the listener, overlay a clear-eyed
melody and wail on it. That is the
secret, but you've got to have it in you,
and the more imaginative the
musicians the more ways they can find
to make you cailbrate your heart to
their simple rhythym.
This was apparent Wednesday night
duringtheir Hill Auditorium concert.
For the first half-hour or so their music
lacked passion, as the group stumbled
through three or four numbers from
recent albums. But it was no accident
that a rousing, almost angry drum solo
by drummer Sticks Hooper put fire in
the audience and band, and left me with
something redeeming to write about.
Drumming and dancing must have
been born together.
The Crusaders were fronted by the
Billy Mitchell group, who did a decent
"The World is a Ghetto" (the WAR
tune) before songstress Renee
Crawford joined them. The woman is
graceful, and barbors a sultry voice,
but she lacked the volume and the
projection to truly reach me, and I was
in the fourth row.
I found myself examining the
proceedings critically, as a producer
might: throw out this bad lyric, give me
a few more decibels here, stick to the
numbers that -jump, and let's have
some shouting!! Crawford's perfor-
mance was stuck in a kind of solf-soul
afternoon.
THE CRUSADERS include Wilton
Felder on horns, Hooper on drums, and
a couple of new players, Jamey
Jamison on bass and Barry Finnerty on
guitar. Finnerty and Jaimson are new
to the group and Jamison was quite ten-
tative at first, refering to tt'e scars on
his music stand as he played. Undoub-
tedly a strong bass is central to the
Crusader's sound and Jamison's inex-
Harry's Army Surplus intends to stay
In February we reported that
the turreted building at 201 East
Washington, corner of Fourth,
was about to be renovated by
owners Bonnie DeLoof and
Estelle Schneider, and that the
lease for Harry's Army Surplus
was expiring in April. Harry's
president Garson Zeltzer tells us
that yes, technically the current
lease expires, but he still has
three three-year options to
renew, and Harry's is not about
to leave its present location. "We
have a stake in our Ann Arbor
location," he said. "We've spent
a great deal of money building up
our business here. I wouldn't
have located here if we hadn't
been able to stay."
Harry's has been at the
location since 1974, when, he
says, he signed the original lease
with the renewal options. When
Concept IV (a development group
composed of DeLoof, Schneider,
and their husbands) purchased
the building, they saw only a dif-
ferent, later lease with no men-
tion of the options, according to
DeLoof. "We obviously wanted to
restore the building," she said,
"and we never would have
bought it under those con-
ditions."
Zeltzer intends to keep Harry's
where it is. He likes the location
on the campus side of downtown
because it's accessible to two dif-
ferent markets. (In addition to
being the only real military sur-
plus outlet in town, Harry's sells
camping and backpacking
equipment and casual clothing.)
Both DeLoof and Zeltzer have
stated the dispute could well end
up in court. "There's no question
we're willing to fight this," Zelt-
zer said.
PAID ADVERTISEMENT
2f
'At their best the present-day Crusaders will hit
on a beat that moves the listener, overlay a clear-
eyed melody and wail on it. That is the secret, but
you've got to have it in you, and the more
imaginative the musicians the more ways they can
find to make you calibrate your heart to their simply
rhythm."
rut choreographed safely for sales-
sake. There will nonetheless be those
who will buy her new album this very
offers credit and
non-credit classes
in all levels of:
Ballet
Modern
fro-E merican
Jazz
May 7-June 15
Pick up a schedule of classes at
the Dance Bldg., 1310 N. Univ.
Court behind CCRB
perience with the music may have con-
tributed to the lack of definition in the
beat early on. Later he was visibly
more relaxed. Finnerty had an en-
thusiastic presence and blazed away
throughout. He and Jamison traded
some inspired licks toward the show's
close.
Joe Sample, the group's keyboard
player, is a fantastic musician. After
Hooper's solo, he switched to acoustic
piano for a lovely pastoral composition,
soloing at length and then being joined
by the others for the coda, a rhythmic
joining of the elements from the im-
provisational passages, by the rest of
the group. The piece was slightly
marred, however, by Hooper, who like
an angry Odin picked up a hammer and
walloped the gong behind him to end the
piece, fully missing the beat.
WILTON FELDER next displayed
his musical abilities with a baritone sax
solo. Utilizing an echoplex he sounded
as though he were high in the moun-
tains, blowing bouncily down into a
chasm. Then he alternated between the
echo and unaugmented playing in a
style distinctly reminiscent of the
etherea of Stravinsky's Rite de Prin-
See FUNKY, Page It