ARTS S Page 6 Friday, April 1, 1983 The Michigan Dail - ' Weather Report's high tech cosmopolitanism qm By Jerry Brabenec EDNESDAY NIGHT'S Weather Report concert at Hill Auditorium showed the current edition of this decade-old band to be the liveliest and most exciting ever. Saxophonist Wayne Shorter cranked out several virtuosic solos with joyous abandon, Joe Zawinul displayed the newest effects in his synthesizer ar- senal, and the new rhythm section was a model of interplay and invention. Hill Auditorium seems to suit this band very well. The subtle mix of soun- ds was very clear ata volume level that was commanding without being over- powering. The band's fascinating array of drums and synthesizers sounded great and looked good just standing there. Zawinul and company turned in a comprehensive performance nearly three hours long. Up to the encores, the group stuck to the high points of their more recent material, playing most of the new album, Procession, and other material from the 1981 album Night Passage: The opener was the title tune from Procession, a long rising number that carries a mysterioso walking beat quietly up to a Phil Collins-style drum break and then fades away again on Zawinul's long melodic lines. Stage fog shrouded the band as the tune opened and Zawinul set up a growling, hum- ming ostinato by altering the keyboard's tone vocally with a device called a Vocoder. "Fast City," from the album Night Passage, followed with the raw speed and excitement that no other band can equal: Wayne Shorter is widely recognized as one of the masters of saxophone sound, and in recent years he has often pared his phrases to a minimum, playing with an economy that throws each note into vivid relief. Not Wednesday night, though, as he met the surging rhythm section head on at an incomprehensibly high tempo and proceeded to play circles around them. The powerful, gutsy tenor sound is still there, but Shorter displayed technical resources that he has rarely touched since the early '60s. Zawinul followed on keyboards, but seemed more con- cerned with smoothing down the rhythm section's opening jitters and shepherding them through the tune's complex form than in soloing. New drummer Omar Hakim closed the tune out with the first of several energetic and entertaining solos: He later emerged as the clown of the band as the night went on. Two new numbers followed, one a moody folksong with soprano sax over clay drums, bells, and percussion, and the other a medium tempo backbeat groove that rocked the house with a vengeance. This tune ended up in Zawinul's "big band bag," with sax, vocals, and keyboards simulating a Basie-style shout chorus. "Plaza Real," by Shorter, featured per- cussionist Jose Rossy on concertina (a tiny accordion), which he followed with a percussion intro to the tune "Two Lines." Hakim came over and gawked during Rossy's solo in a bit of Vaudevillian slapstick. Bailey got his bass solo on this number, adding his. Zawinul ... melodic synthesizer name to the list of hot bassists we've seen this year thanks to Eclipse, in- cluding Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and Melvin Gibbs and Rev. Bruce Johnson from Ronald Shannon Jackson's band. The best -thing about Bailey is that he doesn't throw his bass on the floor and play Jimi Hendrix like former bassist Jaco Pastorius. There were encores aplenty, in- cluding a medley of most of the band's well known tunes, and the obligatory section from their biggest hit, "Bir- dland." The guy in the audience who yelled for "Boogie Woogie Waltz" all night probably left complaining that all the band does now is new stuff. Shorter sent an unaccompanied soprano sax solo bouncing around in Hill's balconies, and the show finally closed out with "Where the Moon Goes," a new number with lyrics about travelling and playing around the world, a manifesto of Weather Report's high tech cosmopolitanism. Grins, signals, and quizzical glances flashed around the stage all night, and the new members played with verve and excitement. (They also seemed to wallow in the several standing ovations the band received.) Shorter's playing in particular was amazing, but the whole show was filled with a fresh exuberan- ce. For this band, life seems to begin at 13. Records- The Yardbirds - 'The Yardbirds' (Epic) In the early 1960s, England's youth discovered America. Small clubs around the country became the hangouts of mopheaded, young, white Englishmen who played black American rhythm and blues music. English R & B bands like the Beatles, the High Numbers (later called The Who), and the Rolling Stones began in these clubs and went on to become the most successful musicians in rock and roll. One somewhat less successful group, whose only American tours bor- dered on disastrous, whose lead singer only had one lung, but whose members may have had more talent than those of any of the aforementioned "supergroups," was the Yardbirds. The Yardbirds were formed in the early 60s by singer/harmonica player Keith Relf, rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja, bassist Paul Samwell-Smith, drummer Jim McCarty, and a young lead guitarist named Eric Clapton. Before their break-up in 1968, the band also enjoyed the services of a couple other "pretty good" guitarists: Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. (In fact, Led Zeppelin began as "The New Yardbir- ds.") Clapton left the band after they recorded their biggest hit, "For Your Love," because he thought the band was getting too commercial (ironic considering his latest stuff, ay?). He was quickly replaced by Jeff Beck, whose first hit with the band was the classic "Heart Full of Soul." Due to his own disinterest, Beck was replaced in the middle of an American tour by Page, who had originally joined the Yardbirds as a replacement for Sam- well-Smith at bass. Page stuck with the band until they split up. He, Clapton, and Beck went on to fame and fortune, while the founders of the band drifted into semi-oblivion. Keith Relf died in 1976 when he was electrocuted by his guitar, just two weeks before he was to begin recording a new album. Anyway, the reason for all this history is that Epic records has just re- released an album full of Yardbirds material, mostly from the Beck period, called simply The Yardbirds. Its white cover features some way-out Chris Dreja cartoons, and the sleeve notes from their 1966 album, Over, Under, Sideways, Down. In fact, this re-release contains eleven of the twelve songs that were on Over, Under, Sideways, Down, as well as three that weren't on that album. Side one opens with "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago," an eerie sounding semi-psychedelic song that, for some reason, reminds me of Bowie's "1984." The rest of this side is a mix of blues and semi-psychedelia. "The Nazz Are Blue" is a great blues song which features not only Beck's superb guitar work, but his lead vocals as well. "I Can't Make Your Way" is a wonder- fully strange song which incorporates several very different musical styles. . "Over Under Sideways Down" is a rock and roll classic. The closing song on the side is "Farewell," a creative little dit- ty which mimics a kindergarten song. This tune, like many of the Yardbirds' songs, was way ahead of its time. Side two opens with "Hot House of Omagarashid," a strange-but-fun number which the Yardbirds sup- posedly made up in the studio the same day they recorded it. Although its only lyrics are "Ya ya ya, ya ya ya," it's really quite interesting. "Hot House" is followed by "Jeff's Boogie," a fun, soulful, and extremely well-executed instrumental that some of you will recognize as the theme song of "The Electric Brunch," WRIF's Sunday morning oldies show. Next are a few more "eerie" songs, which incorporate wild background vocals and tam- bourines: "He's Always There" and the death motif song, "Turn Into Earth," The next two songs involve social commentary, something that wasn't popular or even all that acceptable in the Yardbirds' day. "What Do You Want" is a hard driver with interesting lyrics and a guitar style which becanme the standard for the industry in the late '60s and '70s. "Ever Since The World Began" is an anti-money statement which I find more interesting than either the Beatles' or Pink Floyd's variations on the theme. The album closes with "Psycho Daisies," a neat little rocker that travels around the United States a-la "Sweet Little Sixteen" or "Route 66."., The Yardbirds were an art-conscious, socially-conscious, yet fun fivesome, who were both extremely innovative and immensely talented. Despite the eerie and "psychedelic" nature of some of these songs, the Yardbirds play them all in a sharp, "comin'-at-ya" style. I can't find a bad song on the album. Although this album was recorded seventeen years ago, it still sounds fresh. These songs are more creative and better executed than most of the overproduced songs that pass for "new wave" on stations like WABX, and the "rock" played on WRIF/WIQB type stations. If you're a Yardbirds fan, a '60s rock fan, a new wave fan, or just a music fan, you'd do yourself a favor to give The Yardbirds a listen. -Mike Cramer .Jim Brewer blinds the Pig 764-0558 764-0558 0 0 By Deborah Robinson PLAYING MUSIC used to be one of the few ways a blind man could make a living, and so Jim Brewer, deprived of his sight at a young age, took up the guitar. He played blues and religious music first around his native Mississippi and for the last forty years, on the streets of Chicago. Although Blind Jim's father thought playing the blues was the best way to make a living, his mother preferred religious songs. Jim tried to get away from the hard life of a blues musician for a while, but was discovered (while playing sacred music) in the '60s as a classic blues artist. Since that time, Brewer has been a regular feature at Chicago's No Exit Cafe and all around the Chicago Blues scene. Jim Brewer will be in Ann Arbor tonight and tomorrow, crooning and picking both blues and more pious songs at the Blind Pig. Opening the shows at 9:30 p.m. will be Andy Cohen, also a gifted guitarist, playing a variety of styles he has picked up from musicians like Brewer over many years. He is sure to heat up the basement of the Blind Pig for a smokin' time. Pay $3 at the door to get your weekend dose of the Blues. Blind Jim Brewer will be playing, along with Friday and Saturday nights at 9:30 p.m. Robin Flower & Band Saturday, April 2 8 pm Sharpl St. Andrews Hall, Detroit 431 E. Congress at Beaubien 2 Blocks N. of Renaissance Ctr. Tickets: $6, $7, $8 at the door Based on Ability to Pay A Benefit For Detroit Women's Voice 833-3938 0 ASL Childcare . -q9 \MYSTIC F N\N 1 MINT COOKIES 1,.29 1N PHERSHEY KISSES (14 OZ.). 2.19 MICHELOB & LIGHT (6 PACK)...... 2.99 PLSDEP. 6, Andy Cohen, at the Blind Pig A *Bon Temps' had by all MILLER ('14bbl.)...............20.99 PLUS DEP. I A NEW SOUND rocked 1421 Hill StreetaWednesday night when Queen Ida and her Bon Temps Zydeco Band cooked up two shows of San Fran- cisco-style rocked-out gumbo jive. I don't know where they all found out about this hot Cajun rock, but the rowdy crowd that packed the house was not disappointed. When someone shouted out, "But there's no room to dance!" Ida was ready with one of her handy Bayou quips - "C'est la vie." It was not an ordinary night at the Ark, and it's likely that when this band turns up in Ann Arbor again, it will be at one of the dance bars. But it's not likely to be any less crowded; Zydeco has come to Ann Arbor. You might notice mad crowds giving the "sign of the crawfish" (I'll let you figure that out when you see it), or screaming out "Bon Temps tout le temps!" And you might ask, what are these jokers talking about? Zydeco is the most modern form of what was once called Cajun music, the folksongs of the swampland. The dif- ference between traditional Cajun ar- tists and groups like the Bon Temps is, roughly, electric guitars, a drum kit, and a lot of hype. Ida Guillory, who is the only woman in Zydeco, has a large, winning smile and the charm of a true performer. She plays button accordian, and sings in a slightly swampy yet strong voice. Her biggest strength is as the binding per- sonality of the band, though. Ida, along with Willie Lewis on bullet- proof vest (washboard), are the Louisiana contingent of the band. The other members of the California-based group could easily fit in with any brand X rock band. Violinist ("Pierre Le Rouge") Peter Allen, who was indeed dressed in red, was a combination of Charlie Daniels and Mick Jagger. Yes, he could ball that jack and bow behind his head and he even - ooh! - used his teeth. He played a mean Orange blossom special, and did some heavy lead swapping with Ida. The Queen seemed a bit worn out by the end of the second show, and not en- tirely happy with Pierre's wild solo rampaging, but she didn't fail to keep the hot sauce flowing. As Queen Ida suggested, the audience didn't fail to "laissez les bons temps roullez." The band had people dancing in whatever space they could find, proving that Queen Ida's Zydeco Band knows how to have a good time allthe time. -Deborah Robinson THE DAILY CLASSIFIEDS ARE A GREAT WAY TO GET FAST RESULTS CALL 764-0557 SMOKED SA USAGEI &POL ISH SAUSAGE...1.99 /lb. viIlag corner 6015. FOREST 99.11 UAC MUSKET presents 0I 6. GDE IS HIRING! We are currently selecting PEER COUNSELORS. for the '83-84 academic year. 76-GUIDE provides phone counseling, referrals, and crisis intervention. K"" Il/I itOi I 1.1