The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, January 29, 1985 - Page 7
Guthrie makes a surprise visit
I ,.
.U
;..
(Continued from Page 6)
mances which are not to be slighted, but
savored.
Maybe there is no folk "best," but
there certainly; are high's and low's. In
the wake of Griffith, Post, and Rush's
entourage, Dave Bromberg's quiet
blues and backup to other musicians
was pleasant but not especially
memorable. And the festival's sup-
posed star, Bonnie Raitt, seemed less
than what she could have been. She
played a few slow, bluesy tunes in the
vein of Sippie's mournful wailings of
devious or lost lovers, and, all in a row.
these songs seemed a bit too much of
the same crying thing.
But after more than five hours, it's
hard to say what headliner could startle
you in your chair. The festival's new
structure of Just One Big Show has its
drawbacks in making your legs fall
asleep from a full six hours of sitting.
Nevertheless, with surprises like
Guthrie and young talents of Griffith,
Buskin, and Batteau, the Ann Arbor
Folk Festival was an event to remain in
your mind for at least the whole slow
year till the next festival. If the festival
is any sort of barometer of folk music
today, one can certainly say that folk is
alive and well.
Bad taste fans will get theirs and more-tonight at the Nectarine Ballroom
with the appearance of Divine, the generously proportioned star of such
John Waters epics as 'Pink Flamingoes' and 'Female Trouble'. Soon to be
reunited with his/her 'Polyester' co-star Tab Hunter in the western 'Lust in
the Dust', Divine will deliver a few past song hits like "Born to be Cheap"
and "You Think You're a Man," and doubtlessly generally make life seem
briefly a little more precarious. Tickets are $8 and available at the door.
'Lionel Hampton...
..king of the vibes
Section 25 plays
and straight in i
(Continued from Page 6) second tim
amazingly different and interesting Previously
reinterpretations from the LP. stretch abo
Once again the bass parts took over "We're a
during "Beneath the Blade/In- after gig. M
spiration" and it worked superbly. (a singles
Even at this early moment, I was in good oppor
awe of Cassidy's guitar work. His tense, from the L
powerful style was almost as com- take a holi
pelling as that of New Order's Peter know it bet
Hook. you're tour
Then they broke into a decent version Vin said
of "Prepare to Live." This song in par- down for C
ticular suffered from the poor sound finish it wh
system at the Asylum; most of it came He said toe
out a bit muddled. "Program for Light" spring.
followed with its soaring guitar dirge By the w
parts. Definitely a highlight. Modern Te
They finished with "The Process" whether th
which was lush and soothing; "Looking Oh, I guess
from a Hilltop" which was sparser than a must to a
the vinyl version, but still very exiting, "They're s
and, finally, "Dirty Disco" from their of rich kid
first LP. musical to
I talked to Vin Cassidy, keyboardist derivatives
and co-founder, after the show. He said was awful 1
that the band was about halfway ent enough,
through its tour which culminates with matters. It
a gig at the Ritz in New York. They are computer b
doing 20 dates in 28 days. This is their play! Bleec
it cool
Detroit
e they have been in the U.S.
, they did an East Coast
ut 3 years ago.
bit tired right now doing gig
We're used to doing one-offs
show) in Britain. This is a
tunity to perform the songs
P. Some day I'd just like to
day here in the States, get to
ter, which is hard to do when
ing," he said.
the basic tracks are laid
the next LP and they will
en they get back to the U.K.
expect its release in the late
way, the opening band was
echnology, and I question
ey are worth writing about.
so, just so you know they are
void. A friend put it simply:
illy." They seemed a bunch
ids wasting over $10,000 in
ys, achieving only tedious
of Berlin. The female singer
but the male singer was dec-
which, however, didn't help.
t was hilarious when their
roke down and they couldn't
ch!
Daily Photo by KATE O'LEARY
Bonnie Raitt entertains at Hill Auditorium where she closed Sunday's Folk
Festival. Despite her headline appearance, she seemed outdone by the
evening's earlier acts.
By Aaron Bergman
This is the first article of a weekly.
column that will appear on
Tuesdays. The column will examine
topics and perspectives in the field
ofjazz.
J azz is currently enjoying greater
acceptability among the
nation's elite than at any other time
in its devleopment. University cour-
ses, once reserved for "serious"
music, are now being offered in jazz
technique and theory. Week-long
workshops, in which jazz is
discussed ad infinitum, are being
held all over the country. Major
festivals, such as the Montreaux-
Detroit Jazz Festival and Kool Jazz
Fests have become more popular
and successful.
All these gains bode well for the
future of jazz on a certain level.
There are greater educational op-
portunities for young students
because jazz is no longer considered
jungle music. It is finally being
recognized as an important
American art form, but one with
universal appeal.
However, popularity with
America's intellectuals has exacted
a price on jazz's soul. Lately there
has been a tendency toward over-
analysis. Huge scholarly works have
been written on structure and
tonality. Many critics even use their
knowledge of jazz to disparage
listeners of supposedly baser music,
such as country, rock, and folk. They
use their self-indulgent hipness as a
mode of excluding others who do not
share their interest.
A return to basic jazz values is
needed. Jazz's emotional intensity
must be rediscovered. Jazz, like all
art, cannot thrive in a sterile
academic atmosphere. Jazz is a
music of life. It has its origins in the
songs of slavery, post-Civil War
Reconstruction, and, most importan
tly, in the burgeoning blues tradition
of the early twentieth century. For
years, jazz has been the music of
desperation, hope, and sensuality.
The long-time devotee must
remember why he loved jazz in the
first place. Maybe it was the first
time he heard Sonny Rollins' good-
humored improvisations, or John
Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" and
understood how revelation can
manifest itself in music; or perhaps
when he heard the new generation of
arms-bearers, like Arthur Blythe and
Wynton Marsalis, and felt the
vibrancy of tradition.
Lionel Hampton, on the other
hand, represents the best of jazz's
wild-eyed exhuberance and
playfulness. Best known as a
vibraphonist, he is also an exciting
percussionist and pianist. According
to George Simon, his performances
"can be a shattering experience,
visually as well as aurally, as he
plays away first on vibes, then on
piano, using just two fingers like
vibraphone mallets, then switches to
a frantic, stick-tossing session on
drums, and eventually climaxes the
whole affair by jumping on to a tom-
tom and dancing wildly on top of it!
There's no doubt about it, Lionel
Hampton must go down in history as
one of the most inspiring...jazz
musicians of all time."
He first came to prominence with
the Benny Goodman quartet in the
thirties. In 1940, after four years
with the group, Hampton left and
formed his own. He discovered, or
gave breaks to, such future greats as
Charles Mingus, Illinois Jacquet,
Dinah Washington, and Quincy
Jones.
He obviously loves his music.
"Sometimes when I play jazz, it's
like a spiritual impulse comes over
me." Simon adds, "Jazz , he has
always admitted, is first and
foremost an emotional experience
for him, one that can carry him and
his men away." In fact, playing for
him was so much fun that before he
became a financial success his
musicians performed for less money
than they could have received from
other bands.
Though in his seventies, Hampton
still plays as hard and as joyously as
he always has. His recordings are
wonderful and numerous. His ver-
sion of "Flyin' Home" belongs on
the shelf of anyone who likes music
which makes him feel good. Ham-
pton reaches out to his audience in-
stead of daring them to unravel his
music's mysteries. He is the em-
bodiment of what Duke Ellington
meant when he wrote "It Don't
Mean a Thing if it Ain't got that
Swing."
Date:
JAN. 30
Time:
7 P.M.&
9 P.M.
Place:
NAT- SCI
C' I
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THE MUSIC'S
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EVERY TUESDAY
MAKE YOUR MOVE
WITH A CAREER AT LINKABIT.
t's a New Year
and there's a
new club in
town. A club
with an Ann
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with a new face for '85.
The music room has
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A new game room has
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A....L T ^.J......4
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And dancing, as al-
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Come on down!
Due to continuing expansion of our government
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To help stay one move ahead, we've made sure
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are unable to meet with our representatives, please
forward your resume with college transcripts to:
Dennis Vincent, M/A-COM LINKABIT, 3033
Science Park Road, San Diego, CA 92121.
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