ARTS
The Michigan Daily
The Michigan Daily
Decoding
Tuesday, April 15, 1986
Pages
a
By Marc S. Taras
T he people at Eclipse jazz always
seem to have something special
brewing. Tuesday night's con-
cert at the Ark is no exception as vir-
tuoso drummer and composer Ronald
Shannon Jackson will offer Treetown
the world premier performance of his
new and improved Decoding Society,
and their new material. Add to this
excitement the stage premier of the
Ann Arbor Saxophone Choir and you
have all the makings of a vibrant
evening of music.
Jackson was born in Forth Worth,
Texas, also the hometown of the
visionary Ornette Coleman with
whorr- he would eventually play. He
grew up in a musical environment as
his father worked stocking and main-
taining the local jukeboxes and his
mother was a church pianist. During
his college years at Lincoln Univer-
sity in Missouri, he palyed in the
school band with the likes of trum-
peter Lester Bowie (the Art Ensemble
"of Chicago) and saxophonist Julius
Hemphill (the World Saxophone
Quartet).
Jackson came to the Big Apple in
the '60s just in time to record with the
Holy Ghost of the New Thing, Albert
Ayler. Throughout the late '60s and
the '70s he had the great fortune of
working with many of the music's
shapers and movers including Joe
Henderson and Charles Mingus. He is
the only drummer to date to have
played and recorded with both Ornet-
te Coleman and Cecil Taylor. He
became versed in Ornette's har-
molodic free-rhythm playing and was
a powerful driving force in the Cecil
Taylor Units of the late '70s.
But is was probably his time with
Ornette Coleman's Prime Time
band that had the greatest impact on
Ronald Shannon Jackson the com-
poser. Historians will enjoy his work
on the classic Ornette LP Dancing in
Your Head, finding there the musical
links to what he would later contribute
in extending these ideas for the
various incarnations of his own band,
the Decoding Society.
It is a particular pleasure for
Jackson to return to Ann Arbor, as he
has many closer personal connections
to our community. Former Eclipse
director Jim Grant has been his
representative for years. Max Dehn
(another bygone Eclipse chief) did a
stint as road manager, and his sound
engineers of choice on tours world-
wide have been Ann Arborites Ed
Records
Culture Club-From Luxury
to Heartache (Virgin)
The latest album from Culture Club
(A.K.A. Boy George and those "other
guys") contains, not surprisingly, ten
more danceable, soulful pop songs in
the same vein as the previous releases
from the current "Queen" of pop
music. The opening cut, "Move
Away," is already getting plenty of
play on Top-40 stations and a few
other songs on the album are bound to
follow it into the radio market, most
notably, "Work On Me Baby," "Gusto
Blusto," and "God Thank You
b Woman."
Most of the songs center on
relationships, sex, and sexuality.
Again, this is not surprising, since
sexuality has been Boy's commercial
gimmick from the start. The album
even contains a semi-
autobiography of Boy entitled
"Sexuality" in which the sultry-
voiced hermaphrodite croons: All
you pretty babies/Staring at the
Boy! I'm gonna tell you
0 something! You 'll get no joy. The
chorus of the song is a repetition of the
line Playing with my sexuality
something Boy is all too familiar with.
From Luxury to Heartache is a
fairly good album for the most part.
However, there are a few songs that
tend to be a bit annoying. One in par-
ticular, "Too Bad," is exactly what its
title implies. It is as bad as any teeny-
bop song Wham has ever recorded.
HNevertheless, From Luxury To
Heartache is bound to appeal to any
already existing Culture Club fans,
and others who enjoy danceable pop,
but it is not bound to win over any new
fans for Culture Club, since they have
already just about all the listeners
they are likely to have. This album is
simply more of the same from Boy
and the boys. That doesn't necessarily
make it unoriginal, but perhaps Boy
should consider spending a little less
r tirn trvin nut new hairstvles and
Larned and Thom Bray. It was a'
pleasure to renew my several years
old acquaintance with Jackson in a
phone interview this week.
Jackson is rested and restless. He
has just come off some "cool out"
time in Africa which was afforded
him by two grants he received from
the Massachusets Council for the Ar-
ts. Now he has formed a new band,
over which he is brimming with ex-
citement. Former Decoder Zane
Massey has returned to the fold on
tenor sax. Eric Person who has
worked with the band for the last
couple of years, is featured on also and
soprano. Another youngster, Reggie
Washington, has been added on bass,
along with newcomer Cary DeNigris
on electric guitar. Jackson seems
pleased with the band and their in-
dividual and collective progress. He
vows that DeNigris will open our ears
with a completely new guitar
technique, employing harmonic and
melodic ideas that freeplay Decoding
has allowed him to hone and develop.
He is apparently in neither the Vernon
Reid nor Stanley Jordan camps. Look
out Ann Arbor! "And wait till you
hear Eric on alto!" Jackson beams.
When asked for a reflection on the
nature of his conceptions and com-
positions for the new band, Jackson
answered without hesitations in one
word: "Maturity." Oh sure, they will
still play some loud and ebullient
harmolidic stuff, but Jackson hints
that we should look for a greater
degree of sophistication in the inter-
play within the group and a more
refined approach to group dynamics.
Jackson is busy on many fronts.
Later this week he will hear the
American premier of some of his or-
chestra works. He continues to begin
each day with forty-five minutes of
liberating and empowering chanting,
as he has for the last twelve years. He
will be doing more workshops like the
future
one he is offering in Ann Arbor (ten-
tatively set for 5:00 Tuesday at the
Ark- free admission).
Jackson freely and fondly relates
anecdotes: how Charles Tyler hooked
him up with Albert Ayler for a recor-
ding date when he had just arrived in
New York; how Ornette would 'sneak'
into his loft and listen to him practice,
finally encouraging him to write his
music down: "He told me that I was
actually playing melodies on the
drums and that I should start an-
notating them." For more such
reflections I encourage you to attend
the workshop and hear from Jackson
himself.
Ronald Shannon Jackson is a
visionary. His music has already had
an impact on the jazz and pop stylings
of the past decade. When you meet
him, and hear his music, you will have
all the evidence of his great love of life
and people that you will require.
When I asked Jackson if he had any
special blessings or reflections for
those who might take the time to read
this article, he responded evenly, and
again without hesitation, "We are all
one. The 10 percent of what a man can
see visually is only a small part of the
100 percent that a man may come to
know. When you realize that 100 per-
cent you will know that it is true. We
are all one."
A special note: opening for the
Decoding Society this Tuesday night
at 8:00 will be the Ann Arbor
Saxophone Choir: four of Ann Ar-
bor's finest saxmen who were first
heard on the Valentine's Day fun-
draiser edition of WCBN's Jazz Till
Noon. Choirboys Mark Kieme (Fast
Tracks), Paul Vornhagen (Lunar
Glee Club, Domino), Jeff Newton (law
student, ex-Nonfiction), and Charlie
Tysklind (Los Chickens, Killer Trout,
ex-Blue Front Persuader) will also
premier their polyphonic saxophone
charts.
Doily Photo Dy VAN HABIB
Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie displayed his world famous style yesterday in a benefit concert for Jazz for Life.
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*Agenda Contract Negotiations with UM*
TONIGHT, 8:00 PM, APRIL 15, 1986
ANDERSON ROOM, MICHIGAN UNION
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