The Michigan Daily
ARTS
Friday, September 27, 1985 Page 7
Texas bluesman lends
insight to
'80s sounds
By Arona Pearlstein
'T LOVE WHAT I DO. When you
like what you do, there's no
problem," said blues singer and
guitarist Johnny Copeland about
touring. Copeland should know - he's
been writing songs and touring for
over 30 years. He'll be opening for
blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan
tonight at Hill Auditorium.
"I got started back in '53 with a
friend of mine, Joey Hughes. We were
kids and we just got real interested in
it," Copeland said. The two formed a
band called the Dukes of Rhythm and
toured for several years. Later,
Copeland formed his own bands and
toured mostly around the Houston
area before putting together his latest
band in New York in 1975.
Copeland's style of blues - the
Texas blues - has a sound all its own.
It's a much more fast-paced, lively
sound than its languid cousin, the,
Chicago blues. We hear horns and
saxophones flesh out its songs, along
with a burning guitar.
Copeland said he didn't feel he had
any direct influences on his music.
"My dad was a blues singer. It was
.like I was automatically a blues.
singer," he said. "My favorites
(Texas blues singers) are T-Bone
(Walker) and Gatemouth Browne."
Copeland calls a recent tour of 10
African nations his best tour to date.
"It was a great thing to be able to
travel there," he said. "Blues is the
music that left there - they could ap-
preciate it still."
Copeland recorded a soon-to-be-
released album in the Ivory Coast
with African musicians. "The music
is pretty much the same," he said of
the album. "It blends in well. It soun-
ds more Latin, I guess. They (African
musicians) adjusted pretty well to
what I wrote. A lot of them were
saying, 'What is this?' But they gave
a pretty good performance."
Most Africans were familiar with
the slower-paced Chicago blues. "I
had an African in Zaire tell me, 'You say
you're a blues singer - what's all this
love, love stuff?' He expected it to be
slower." Copeland said.
What does the future hold for the
blues, now that many young people -
particularly blacks - are turning to
other types of music? Said Copeland,
"That's the choice (for young
people). Whatever a young person do
- black or white - he has to do with
all his heart and soul and can't
nobody take it away from you. It's
yours."
Copeland added, "Well, I like Stevie
Ray Vaughan, who is a real shining
gem in the blues. Guys like Stevie
make it a real upcoming thing for
young people."
Copeland has worked over the
years with little recognition despite
recording over two volumes of
albums. Said Copeland, "I get as
much (recognition) as I can get. I was
always busy, working, working. I was
always working on songs."
Haitink (center) is shown leading the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam. The orchestra will be perfor-
ming tomorrow night at Hill Auditorium.
Tradition of excellence
By Rebecca Chung
S INCE ITS INCEPTION in 1888,
the Concertgebouw Orchestra of
Amsterdam, which has been under
the tutelage of Stravinsky, DeBussey,
Ravel, Mahler, and Richard Strauss,
name a few, has built an impec-
ble record of excellence. The
Washington Post has called it "the
Netherlands' greatest contribution to
the arts since Rembrandt and Ver-
meer."
The orchestra's recordings, new
and old, live up to the accolades they
hat recieved. Both of its Jochum
releases, made in the early 1960s, and
the newer ones led by present conduc-
tor 'ernard Haitink, display a lively,
~sponsive, and sensitive
anization. One notices a crispness
and precision in their sound that in-
creases the impact and beauty of the
pieces that they interpret.
Bernard Haitink, as Permanent
Conductor and Artistic Dirctor, con-
tinues the tradition of excellent con-
ducprs the Concertgebouw Orchestra
has enjoyed since it was founded.
Haitink began his musical career as a
violinist with the Radio Philharmonic
dhestra, and held his first major
onducting position in 1955 with the
Netherlands Radio Union. He first
appeared with the Concertgebouw
Orchestra in 1956, and shared the post
of first conductor with Eugene
Jochum in 1961. In 1963, he assumed
total responsibility for the
organization.
Since then, Haitink has been given
many awards for his expertise,
among them the Honorary KBG of
reat Britain, the Gold Medal of the
nternational Gustav Mahler Society,
the Medal of Honor of the Bruckner
Society of America, and the Knight of
the Netherlands Order of the Lion.
Haitink's choice for Saturday's
protram will be appealing to those
just beginning to appreciate classical
music as well as those with a confir-
med obsession. The Concertgebouw
will open with Bizet's exhuberant
Symphony In C Major, which was vir-
ally unknown until 1933 when
izet's English biographer
rediscovered it in a bundle of
manuscripts. The symphony was first
performed in 1935, and has since then
enjuyed increasing popularity world-
wide.
The program's second piece,
Clajde DeBussey's Jeux, which was
written in 1912 for Diaghilev, depicts
a seenario that explores the jealousy
qpgst two girls and a boy. Pierre
ulez called it "a sort of L'apres-
midi d'un faune in tennis clothes."
Jeux did not make much impact when
it "as first performed on May 15,
1913, and was completely over-
shadowed by the debut of Stravin-
sky's Riteof Spring two weeks later. It
is, Yhowever, one of its composer's
most remarkable scores. The piece
has an opening reminiscent of Dukas'
Sorcerer's Apprentice, but becomes
h~rmore wondrous and complex,
!r displaying DeBussey's mastery
of 4armonies and tone color.
Following Jeux will be Beethoven's
PHONATHON
CALLERS
'NEEDED
Symphony No.7 in A Major, which
was composed between 1809 and 1812.
The premiere, led by Beethoven him-
self, was a triumphant success. The
piece is characterized by fullness,
joyousness, and life. Richard Strauss
called it "the apotheosis of the dan-
ce." The famous slow second
movement, "Assai meno presto"
cannot fail to grip the heart of even
the most casual listener.
Tickets for this Saturday's concert
and the pre-concert celebration are
available from the University
Musical Society at their Burton
Tower office.
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