Weather Report: A bit 'too cool
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By MARK COLEMAN
Weather Report plays fairly compli-
cated music in a familiar vein, making
it accessible to an ever-increasing
amount of people. There is nothing
inherently wrong with that. Since the
group's formation, Wayne Shorter and
Joe Zawinul have simplified their
fusion formula without disturbing the
basic components; Zawinul's multi-
layered keyboard textures and
Shorter's lyrical economy on sax are,
still intact. They may not be as
ambitious as they once .were, but they
have gained a great deal of public
acceptance without too extreme an
aesthetic sacrifice.
SINCE THE group sprung from Miles
Davis's In a Silent Way session, Shorter
and Zawinul have extended the cool
progression of Miles' sixties
recordings into an ethereal electronic
sea, disrupted by torrents of African
and Eastern percussion. This is a sound
of dramatic grandeur and fluctuation,
making the group's name quite
appropriate. A succession of bass
players have gradually brought the
band back down to earth, retaining just
enough of the sweeping cosmic force
that defines their sound.
The current incarnation of Weather
Report, in the space of three albums,
has shifted the melodic emphasis to
Zawinul and bassist Jaco Pastaorous,
leaving Shorter to fill the gap with
solos. From the onset of their first set at
the Michigan Theatre, Pastorius' sleek
harmonic approach and striped down
tunefullness set the pace for a tight,
well-paced show.
After a slightly drawn out opening
featuring an obligatory round of solos,
the band settled into a comfortable
piece of sixties jazz-funk wrapped
around Shorter's concisely intelligent
tenor statements. Shorter's terse,
soulfull style should have been the
highlight of the ballad that followed, but
was obscured by Peter Erskine's heavy
handed drumming and Zawinul's
surprising mundanity on electric organ
(his solo sounded like Shirley Scott!).
THE RHYTHM section's lack of
understanding (not to mention
understatement) poses a major
problem for Weather Report. Jaco
Pastorius plays electric bass much the
same way the unlamented rock "guitar
heroes" played their six strings; after
laying down a simple, catchy melodic
basis he forsakes any rhythmic
responsibility in favor of rambling, "I-
bet-you've-never-seen-anyone-play-this
-fast-before" displays of pyrotechnics.
Jaco's claim to fame is the unique tone
he gets from his Fender bass: an atonal,
bouncing quality that soon loses its
novelty.
Weather Report has traditionally
eschewed a strong backbeat in favor of
a wider array of percussion, but the
performance of their anonymous extra
percussionist seemed perfunctory at
best. Coupled with Peter Erskine's too-
busy trap attack, this multi-percussive
flow was at times motivating, but more
often seemed a distraction. But
occasionally Pastorius and the
percussionists would fall together
behind the melody in clicks of abrupt
emphasis that threw listeners back in
their seats.
AT THEIR BEST, Weather Report
plays a kind of pop-jazz trance music
that is sonically overwhelming,
especially live. Zawinul builds layer
upon layer of electronic sound into a
thick, synthesized texture one can
almost feel. Usually a master of subtlty
and sparcity, his solos Friday night
were remarkably straightforward,
eliminating that subtle challenge
("What note did he leave out?") and
much subliminal impact. The densely
repetitious but clear wall of sound still
provides a rich, varied backdrop for
Shorter's precise punctuation and the
rumbling rhythm section.
However loftily. conceived and
sophisticated their music has
remained, Weather Report is reaching
out for a broader audience in a very
See JACO, Page 9
The Michigan Daily-Sunday, February 10, 1980-Page 7
PAUL LENI'S THE MAN WHO LAUGHS
One of the authentic classes of grotesque. This film from the Victor Hugo
novel is set in shadowy Stuart England. Revenging a dissident lord, King
James initiates an operation on his infant son, permanently fixing his mouth
into a grotesque grin. The boy, taken on by a circus becomes the famous
clown Gwynpcaine. Also noted for depicting steamy erotic slices of court
life, the film is filled with spicy scenes-such as Countess bathing with a
voyeuristic dwarf. A silent starring CONRAD VEIDT and MARY PHILBIN,
Short: Boris Korloff and Oliver Hardy in THE NICKEL HOPPER.
Monday: Boqart in THE MALTESE FALCON (at 7:00 only)
Tuesday: E.A. Dupont's VARIETY (free at 7:00 & 9:00)
CINEMA GUILD
TONIGHT AT
7:00 & 9:00
OLD ARCH. AUD.
$1.50
k
'N
....-
I
Now Playing at Butterfield Theatres
WEDNESDAY IS
"BARGAIN DAY"
$1.50 UNTIL 5:30
EXCEPT WAYSIDE
ADULTS FRI.. SAT.. SUN.
EVE. & HOLIDAYS $350
MON THRU THURS.
EVENINGS ...5100
MATINEES UNTIL 530
EXCEPT HOLIDAYS $2 50
CHILDREN 14 & UNDER .. $1.50
MONDAY NIGHT IS
"GUEST NIGHT"
Two Adults Admitted
For $3.00
EXCEPT WAYSIDE
I I
Saxophonist Wayne Shorter and bassist Jaco Pastorius engaging in the in-
terplay that has made their group Weather Report famous. Famous enough
to fill the Michigan Theatre to standing room only capacity twice in one
night, at any rate.
Just wild about 'Eubie'
4
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Ba
764
HELP
JOHN RNTIR IS ON
ANNE ARCHER THE WAY!!
(UPPER
® MGM iiE
Family Robinson
Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri at 7:05, 9:30 Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri at 7:00, 9:15
Wed, Sat, Sun at Wed, Sat, Sun at
1:05, 3:05, 5:05, 7:05. 9:30 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:15
State '1.2.3.4
231 S. State-662-6264-662-5296(E RL
Mn.Tus. hus.Fri at 7.00 9.15 (UPPER LEVEL)
wORK
ILED
UP?
M 1,Iu , u s, r t0 :v : ,:
Wed Sat, Sun at
1:'00,3:00 5:00, 7:00, 9:15
GEORGE SEGAL- NATALIE WOOD
The comedy
that fools around a lots
MARRIED
Mon. Tues. Thurs Fri of 7:05. 9:30
Wed. Sat.Sunaof 105.3:05.5:05.7:05. 930,
*
THE COMEDY THAT
COMES OUT OF R
THE CLOSET
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fake
a
eak!
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L
A
W By ANNE SHARP
This show is a lot- of fun. I heartily
recommened it. It's a rowdy, snappy,
cheerful musical vaudeville based on a
generous handul of songs "by
nonagenarian jazz composer Eubie
Blake. The songs, which date from that
golden era between Woodrow Wilson's
reign and the start of the Hayes Office,'
-are nice: Nothing flashy-a little
naughty, mildly sentimental, just
pleasant nightclub fare. They make a
nice dressing for this- particular
theatrical salad, but the real essence,
the lettuce, if you will, are the
performers-a protean assortment of
young men and women, delightfully
bouncy and enthusiastic despite their
on-the-road status and the grudging
response of their laid-back, rather
elderly Ann Arbor audience -(hey,
students can't afford Power Center
prices).
THE MOOD of' the show is that of
Harlem nightclubs. Of the twenties and
thirties, and the all-black Broadway
revues of the era, for which. Eubie
wrote his songs. The show's creator and
director, Julianne Boyd, has a nice feel
for low comedy. When Chris Calloway
(Cab's daughter), sprawled seductively
on an upright piano, cooing lustily for
her "Daddy" to come back to here, her
leg snakes erotically out of her evening
gown until it is sticking straight up in
the air; this is pure burlesque, both
sexy and silly.
Even the more elegant top hat and
tails numbers are rather tongue-in-
cheek, a parody of the sort of icy
sophistication favored by Blake's
contemporary, Gershwin. The
costumes, by the way, designed by
Bernard Johnson, are glittery and
gorgeous, and there are an
astonishingly large number of them.
There must be a stagehand standing in
each of the wings with a magic wand,
In 1615, the sun was first used to
power toys, and the first sun-heated
steam engine was built in 1864.
ready to effect the constant and
instantanous costume changes which
the actors undergo at dazzling speed.
WHOEVER WAS responsible for the
sound mix Friday night at the Power
should have been shot. One could hear
the taps on Bernard Manner's shoes
with echoing clarity (nice, but
unnecessary), but poor Tony Franklin's
lovely tenor voice was mangled all out
of proportion. Manners is a tall, pliable
creature who dances in a quick yet
langourous Fred Astaire style; he also
seems to get a tremendous kick out of
all that incredibly hard tapdancing,
which is unusual and delightlful.
Tony Franklin has definite
possibilities as a soul/MOR vocalist,
with his mouth, expressive yet strong
style. He performed two sentimental
-(IN'E
love ballads, one of them ending in a
duet with another striking vocalist,
Marva Hicks. Hicks can swing a mean
feather boa. She played a brassy,
slapstick femme fatale in a number
entitled "If You've Never Been
Vamped By a Brownskin, You've Never
Been Vamped At All" (only in 1921
could they have gotten away with that
sort of nonsense), during which a black-
and-white boa, apparently with a life of
its own, bobbed and wound its way
round her like a cross between an
angora cat and a boa constrictor.
'Eubie' is good, lighthearted,
grownup fun, a period piece (a good
one) without sticky-sweet nostalgia,
amusing yet clever, cute but not
mindless. It's as charming as Eubie
himself. See it.
i
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1
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,4-0558
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14
AO
OP
Fr
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J
ramous
1214 S. Univ. ity 668-6416
Sat 8 Sun Classic Matinees
SHOWS AT 1:00 & 5:00
ALL SEATS $2.00
I
MAI-
---..
k
V
presents
GREED
Erich von Stroheim, 1925
r ,
ray
r
Von Stroheim spent ten years planning this epic which was to be the high
point of his career. Irving Thalberg spent *as many days cutting it to
ribbons. Yet what remains of this masterpiece about three people caught
by squalid emotions, whose natures become distorted when faced with a
passion for money, is still so powerful that the great French director Jean
Renoir said that his viewing of GREED convinced him to make a career of
film-making. With zasu pitts, jean hersholt, gibson gowland. silent.
(109 min)
Angell Hall $1.50 7:00 & 9:00
L...~uesdaTuesday: KNIFE IN THE WATER (Polans ~
1 .25.,QT,.aun HI n Su, 40 ..I .DVT I . I.:V.r 4JCIy)tI >s "®j
I
****** **,I****** ti*** *********y* k*** **********************i* *********
Take A Look
in your
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and send a
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