Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, November 21, 1986
The Mythical

I

By Marc S. Taras
The griffin is a mythical beast,
as Edith Hamilton would tell you;
part lion and part eagle. Johnny
Griffin is something of a legend, if
not a myth, and a lionized
American musician. Arguably the
fastest saxophonist alive, he is also
iplayer of tremendous agility and
iMth.
Ecllipse Jazz is sponsoring the
rurn of the Griffin in two shows
:30 and 10p.m.) at the Ark
9morrow night. I hope that the
price is structurally sound. Griffin
one one of the hottest, hardest-
WEEKEND
k MAGAZINE
Fridays in The Daily
763-0379

blowing survivors of the Coltrane-
Rollins era, a former bandmate of
Thelonious Monk, and a longtime
pal of (should be Oscar nominee)
Dexter Gordon. The Little Giant
might just blow the roof off.
Griffin was born in the spring of
1928 in Chicago. He grew up with
the 78 rpm recordings of Ben
Webster, Johnny Hodges, and
Lester Young, wanting only to be a
jazz musician. His studies as a child
included piano, steel guitar, oboe
and English horn. He took up
clarinet at 13 and switched to
saxophone a year later.
Griffin worked with Lione
Hampton's band as a teenager
joining trumpeter Joe Morris in
1947. An avid fan of the musi
himself, Griffin spent as much tim
as possible watching and listening
to the leading musical statesmen of
his youth. He was particularly
attentive to pianists and trumpe
players while honing a distinctive
lean and strong saxophone sound o
his own.
Griffin met Thelonious Monk it

Griffinreturns
1948 and "stayed in his house every daughter.
day," thereby encountering Bud A triumphant 1978 r
Powell and lesser-known giants U.S. stages and touring rea
such as Elmo Hope and Walter Griffin's place among ther
Bishop regularly. In 1958 Griffin royalty of jazz. The Litt
was afforded the honor and from Chicago was back, an
challenge of working in Monk's peak of his powers. H
band. Monk's compositions are continues to lead fine ban(
difficult for the finest of players, own as well as teaming upv
and Griffin, a young man with pals.
something to prove, was replacing The Johnny Griffin Qua
J Joohn Coltrane in Monk's outfit. will be featured tomorrow
Griffin freely admits that Monk's Ark includes pianist Henry
lessons are still being learned and (who has recently appear
the fruits of his tenure with that Out of the Blue), bassis
artist are still being reaped (what if Lundy, and cookin'
I he plays "I Mean You"!). Washington on drums.
Griffin also did a stint with Art probably be treated to some
Blakey and was famous for hair- we'll hear lovely balladsn
c raising tenor saxophone battles with tensile strength
e with the likes of Dexter Gordon and Griffin...who can rip andr
g Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis before the best of them! The st
f moving to Europe in 1963. It was a myths are made of aw
y pragmatic decision; there was not tomorrow night. Come in p
t enough work. "Why stay and Tomorrow afternoon,.
e suffer?-Bye!" Griff then spent ten Griffin will be conducting
f years in Paris and another six in workshop which is open
Holland, before settling in the public from 4:00-5:00 p.m
n south of France with his wife and Ark.

eturn to
affirmed
reigning
e Giant
nd at the
le now
ds of his
with old
artet that
w at the
Pickens
ed with
t Curtis
Kenny
We'll
e Monk;
rendered
. And
run with
tuff that
'aits us
airs.
Johnny
g a free
to the
n. at the

Jazz saxophonist, Johnny Griffin, will blow his horn tonight at The Ark.



91

'Players

"
"

Playful experiments

Macintosh Plus

K

M, 'M
N N

By Lynne Gettleman
The Residential College Players
are happy to present Hold Me, by
Jules Pheiffer, and Zoo Story, by
Edward Albee, this weekend at
The Halfway Inn, a small theatre-
cum-concert hall located in the
basement of East Quad.
Both plays are student acted, pro -
duced, publicized, and directed, as
are all R. C. Players' productions.
Hold Me is directed by freshman

Sean Williams, and Zoo Story by
senior Steve Grahm, who sums up
the plot as: "A pathetic tale of
man's relation man."
The show, which runs around
two and a half hours, is performed
in an experimental style. According
to director Steve Grahm this type of
style, "allows much room for
personal interpretation." Grahm
said that the purpose of performing
in such a style, and using a simple
set is so that the concentratiion of
the audience will be focused only

on the characters portrayed by the
R. C. Players.
Who are the R. C. Players?
They are a troupe of 20 students,
most whom are members of the
Residential College, who perform .
together each semester with the aim
of putting on at least two
productions per semester. Some are
members in order to fulfill their
creative project requirement of the
Residential College; others
participate for pure enjoyment.
The R. C. Players hope to have

at least two more productions next
term as well. This time, however,
their goal is to perform at least one
night of student written plays.
Their current porductions of
Hold Me and Zoo Story, can be
tonight and Saturday at 8 p.m., and
at 5:00 p.m. this Sunday, at The
Halfway Inn, in the basement of
East Quad. Tickets are sold outside
the door for a two dollar
"donation," or for free "if you are
broke." Tonight, admission will be
free for all residents of East Quad.

I

I

KINKO'S
Laserwriter Plus for your use Open 24 Hours
osatUs..r540 E. liberty
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Gargoyle gets even-by getting stupid

By Nicole Pinski
Just when you thought it was
safe to go back in the diag-they're
back: The Gargoyle, U of M's own
humor magazine, has come out
with the first issue of the acedemic
year. Entirely student written and
edited, The Gargoyle is a little-
known, under-appreciated, Michigan
Publication. The new issue is more
than worthy of wide recognition.
Because of low sales, The

Gargoyle has recently experimented
with a confusing array of themes
and formats. Their latest offering is
extrememly schizophrenic: It is
really two issues attached back to
back, so that the magazine has two
front covers. The most amazing
thing about this unusual layout is
that it works. The "Get Stupid" part
and the "Get Even" half
complement one . another
perfectly...and leave it to the Garg
crew to keep us wondering which
end is first.

One side of the new Garg
attacks idiocy and one side attacks
revenge-but both, let's face it, are
excuses for poking fun at everybody
and everything. The usual
targets-Harold Shapiro, the
government, television-come in
for it here. along with some new
ones notably NVanna White and
David Cassidy.
The Gragoyle is scathing but
it's funny. In special note in the
issue are "What's Funny," a mock
set of celebrities' quotations, and

"Bubblegum Babylon," an expose
of the seedy realm of fast living
behind the set of The Partridge
Family.
It also includes cartoons,
surgically, altered advertising, one-
liners, and incidentials-not to
mention your very own set of
sorority letters. It's worth checking
out for only a dollar, this week on
the Diag. And, hey-if you don't
like it, the thoughtful Garg staff
has even provided a space for
readers's contributions.

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UM News in
The Daily
764-0552


4

Records


Bill Nelson
On a Blue Wing
Portrait

The
much

days of art rock are pretty
gone, yet Bill Nelson

Dr. Wu wants to tofu you!
Check out his delicious,
nutritious vegetarian fare.
(He also caters to omnivores.)
Dr. Wu's Super Stir
MUG Eateries & Commons
The Michigan Union

17N

Presented by The School of Music Opera Theatre
Conducted by Gustav Meier Directed by jay Lesenger
Nor. 20. 21. 228pm Nor.:23 2pm Tickets are $8 and$5,

or $3 for students with 1.1). at the League Ticket Office. Michigan League Building Ann Arbor.
Telephone: 764-0450 Part of THE POWER SERIES

EVER CRAVE
Hungry for a copy shop that
caters to your odd hours?
Kinko's is the place.
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?iy .y . l + .

continues on in this tradition,
expanding upon it with his with
dense synthesizer arangements and
complex composition. Unfor -
tunately his new album,On a Blue
Wing, is far too forced in its quest
for meaning. While his earlier work
with BeBop DeLuxe was notable
largely due to his considerable
talent at the guitar, and his previous
solo projects made creative use of
synthesizers, the current album
centers around Nelson's rather weak
voice.
Nelson's lyrics are filled with
lifeless cliches. In a song called
"Heart and Soul" he sings: "The
sound of one hand clapping, / Heart
beat, perpetual motion.... / The
strangest things can happen / Time
after time.... / Is our love
overflowing / Or just a drop in the
ocean?" Although such language is
common in pop music, few pop
musicians make such conscientious
efforts to be meaningful yet fail so
miserably. To make matters worse
the redundant lyrics are delivered

4


Christmas
Break.
During your holiday shopping, remem-
ber to stop by Tally Hall.
Come stroll through our shops or relax
with us over a light lunch or dinner
served in our International Food
Court. Or, just "enjoy our holiday
decorations. And, don't forget to visit
Santa while you're here..
We've trimmed our tree, we've
decked the hall. Join us and get in

with a vocal style that is
nauseatingly over-dramatic, yet at
the same time lacks emotion.
The instrumental aspects of this
album are quite good, however,
despite repeated attempts by
Nelson's vocals to drag the whole
thing down. The opening and
closing pieces are short
vignettes-fragments of new age
music that nicely incorporate exotic
eastern guitar lines with flowing
meshes of synthesizer chords. "The
Hidden Flame" features some nice
bass work, excellent keyboard
breaks, and a guitar solo which is
on par with the best of Nelson's
work. Only on the popish "Living
for the Spangled Moment" does his
usual, dramatic vocal style begin to
sound at home.
But his voice sounds best on
"Because of You." Only here are the
lyrics kept simple while Nelson
sings in a straight, almost spoken,
manner but with a genuine
soulfulness missing elsewhere.
Nelson also takes advantage of this
song's great beat to show off his
and saxophonist Dick Morrisey's
soloing prowess. For the fans of
BeBop Deluxe who cried, "Where's
the guitar?" when Nelson started to
favor synthesizers, this is the song
you've been waiting for.
Unfortunately, this is the only
really great song on this album.
The rest of it drags due to lethargic
tempos, heavy handed lyrics, and
emotionless, but gushy singing.
Although Bill Nelson is a very
talented musician, I would
recommend his earlier work many
times over before purchasing this
latest disc.
-Mark Freitas

4

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UN\ION

Arts

&

Programming

This week at the Michigan Union...

a
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=r

0

the spirit of the season.
515 E. Liberty St.

1byMHali

Nov. 22,23

Student Wood and Crafts Shop
Safety Class
537 SAB
3:00-5:00 pm

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