ARTS The Michigan Daily Friday, April 19, 1985 Page 5 DeJohnette and Co. are just plain fun By Marc Taras T he casual reader of my jazz reviews-the jininitiated-might well marvel to themselves at how of- ten I am privy to transcendental musical phenomena. In point of fact, many of the recent programs sponsored by Eclipse Jazz have had a visionary quality; artists like David Murray, Abbey Lincoln, and Abdullah Ibrahim bring a par- ticular heart and spirit to their music that touch the listener in remarkably tangible and unexpected ways. Well relax. I'm not going to tell you that you missed another close encounter last Monday when drummer Jack .DeJohnette brought his Special Edition group to the Ark. The Aaxophones didn't change my life or yeild some vital new or poetic understanding. Oh, DeJohnette and Co. played with heart and spirit as well as fire. But you know what? Mostly, it was fun. Just plain fun. Special Edition's first set was a tour de force comprised 'of three long DeJohnette compositions and an homage to Or- nette Coleman. The serious aspect of this music was established as Jack introduced the band; a mixture of neophytes and veterans teaming up to preserve the music. The horn sections featured relative newcomers Greg Osby and 'John Purcell alongside heavyweight big bird of fun funk 'Howard Johnson. Bassist Rufus Reid has been around the park with everybody at least once and is as fascinating as ever. He stole the show. Rather quietly behind the horns, but deliberate nevertheless. And in good humor. "Tin Can Alley" showed each of the horn players on saxophones in turn. It was like three great sax trios, see? First Johnson blustered forth on baritone. Whoa! I am blown laughing like a leaf on the wind. Some well oiled valves! Rich black fluids. Non-synthetic. This is the real thing. Lubricating. Greg Osby's thinking man's alto turned all flut- tery buttery. DeJohnette's cymbals circles and sang. An identity blues. Purcell blew haunting fleurs de lis tenor trills. A windstorm of soaring squonk! With Reed's rapid fire pluck making everything right. Some fun! "Ebony" was just the one I'd been waiting for all day. Satin wood clarinets; b-flat, bass, countrabass. DeJohnette featured on a sampling device that chameleoned a grand piano like nothing I have ever heard. Beatiful. Opening statements on the clarinets yielding surprising alternatives in soloing; Osby switched from b-flat to soprano sax to solo tiptoe neo-classical with DeJohnette's piano-type rhapsodies. Purcell climbed from bass clarinet to flute. Shimmering golden patina. Johnson struck with the contrabass (doubly deep) clarinet augmented by electrical reinforcements for his stirring solo. Bassy Gumbo with Reed bowing like a molasses covered ladle. Sweet syrup guys! "Festival" was another tour de force in a South American mood. One by one the horns spoke of serious partying. More fun. Wild ensemble inventions with driving wind drums. Sagebrush rolling before the stage. Howard Johnson smiling in approval at his fellow reed men. Sharing high-key asides with Rufus Reid. You could tell that these guys enjoy each other. And they all know how bad Rufus Reid is. The highlight of the first set was a rewarding warmhearted rendering of Ornette C-olemen's beautiful composition "The Blessing." And such a blessing it was! Three fine horn players giving so much attention and energy. Insisting on so much fun! O rhythm section more than rhythm section. Oh Jack! Oh Rufus! Outbop joy! Outward bound saxophonics. Dolphy's winged spirit playing in the corner to an old Charlie Parker record. Through Osby's alto. Howard brings forth the f-tuba for some basement jazz horning. Oompa-pa yeah! The piece ended with the saxes trading fours with DeJohnet- te; three or four glorious rounds. I say again what fun! It still reads like a visionary experience? Hmmm...! Daily photo by KATE O'LEARY Drummer Jack DeJohnette, pictured above, and his Special Edition played with heart'and spirit last Monday at the Ark. The concert was not necessarily a transcendental experience, but it sure was fun. Dancers showcase hard work By Susanne Baum " ance attracts people who like ad- venture," exclaims Jessica Fogel, a half-time assistant professor of dance. "Dancers are constantly meeting the moment," adds Susan Creitz, a faculty member of the Dance Department. These two dynamic performers will present "An Evening of Dance Theater with Susan Creitz and Jessica Fogel " tonight and tomorrow night in the Dan ce Building Studio A Theater, beginning at 8 p.m. Featured will be two premieres, a solo by Creitz, set to her own vocal score and a duet by both dancers entitled, "Trio for Staircase And Two Women." Creitz will direct an ensemble of faculty and guest perfor- mers in a concert entitled, "An After- noon of Improvisational Dance Theater," on Sunday in the Dance Studio A Theater beginning at 3 p.m. Fogel sees herself as a dan- cer/choreographer without an egotistical desire to make millions. "If one person has beenhmoved by my work," says Fogel, "Then I have been successful." Fogel has a gift for incorporating special effects into her dances. In a previous work entitled, "Engfield in Winter," the audience could not resist the dramatic, bold flavor of the movement and the awesome special ef- fects. Three blank slide projectors were focused on the rear wall of the stage and the dancers moved in and out of the blank screens. It was breath-taking to see movement in pairs-the actual dancer's bodies and the highly magnified bodies on the slide projec- tions. Susan Creitz says she has been "gyp- sying around the country for the last five years promoting improvisation as a performance art." Creitz says she simply, "Loves to dance," and handles the sacrifices of a performance career by "laughing about having no furniture in my apartment." In improvisation, dancers go on stage without choreography, time and stage space are the only fixed elements. Movement is stimulated by the audien- ce and other dancers, thus the audience witnesses the construction of a dance that they in part influenced. Other featured performers include the electrifying Gay DeLanghe and Bill DeYoung of the University Dance Department. Fogel and Creitz welcome an "open-minded audience, eager for images and people of any race, creed, or color." Now Showing STATE THEATRE FRIDAY: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 SATURDAY: 1:00, 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00 Dancers Susan Creitz, Jessica Fogel, and a staircase are pictured from their "Trio for Staircase And Two Women," which will premiere tonight in the Studio A Theatre of the Dance Building. A I Records The Bongos-Beat Hotel x (RCA/Vicfor) For some time now, the American music scene has hosted a number of pop- rock bands that have at times ap- proached but never quite achieved, national recognition or prominence. The New York based Bongos exemplify this musical subculture to which such bands as the Db's and Let's Active belong. The Bongos share another element with these other bands-that of their guitar-oriented, late sixties-ish popmusic. P Previous to their latest album, Beat Hotel, the Bongos had released an EP, Numbers with Wings, and another album Drums along the Hudson. Their newest {effort displays a slight departure from a the formula of their earlier releases-Beat Hotel is neither great nor unbearable. The album opens with "Space Jungle" a very straight-forward, up- beat rock tune ala the Monkees. Melodically, it's probably the best tune on the album and most similar to the songs on earlier Bongos albums. Other notable tunes include "Beat Hotel," which is a blatant homage to late '60s bands such as the Zombies. Even the lyrics of the song recall a major Zombies hit, with the line Hey what's your name/won't you take me to your room? Still, it has some nice backing vocals and more energy than other cuts on the album. "Totem Pole," also displays more spark than most cuts on the album. The sources of inspiration are pain- fully obvious. "Brave New World" sounds like Duran Duran and the lyrics are even more ridiculous. "She Starts Shaking" conjures images of Echo and the Bunnymen on valium and "Come Back to Me" is a Flock of Seagulls song without keyboards. Obviously the Bongos have assimilated many dif- ferent styles-not necessarily desirable ones. Even worse than the music, which really isn't that bad, are the lyrics. Songwriter' Rich Barone has achieved some gut-wrenchingly blat- tant cliches such as The Drum beats in perfect time/ Your heart beats in- to mine-hardly Dylan. Even so, the Bongos bill themselves as a pop band and most people don't listen to pop music for lyrics anyway (or R.E.M. would never have gotten a recording contract.) Beat Hotel lacks what other bands of this genre, Any Trouble or Wiretrain, for example, have been able to give their music-spark. The songs are all tight and neat but the band takes no chances and rarely deviates from the simplicity of their pop formula. There are no. inspired guitar solos, clever backing vocals, curious bass lines nor any studio effects to maintain listener - interest. Even though the album contains no really awful material, the overall effect of the simplicity of the playing and writing is to make the album boring, and to stifle any compulsion one might have to dig this album out for repeated listenings. -David Altman T'-SHIRT 'PRINTING Ann Arbor's fastest! From 10-800 T-shirts screenprint- ed within 24 hours of order. Multi-color printing our specialty. 1