ARTS
Friday, October 9, 1987
The Michigan Daily
Page 7
Geri
Allen:
Open
minded
sounds
By Marc S. Taras
Geri Allen is coming full circle.
The native Detroit pianist and
composer will lead her octet Open
On All Sides through two shows (8
p.m. and 10:30 p.m.) at the Ark this
Saturday night before taking the
group on a European tour.
Allen has been in New York
making big beautiful noise and
riding the lightning bolt of the new
music with several other players of
her generation. "This is a very
exciting time for music - and for
art," she says. "A new generation of
musicians, in drawing from tradition
and their own experience, are leading
a comeback for live music. In New
York, musicians are fighting to have
the cabaret laws changed... we want
to reach the people who produce live
shows."
The Geri Allen story began in
Pontiac Michigan, where she was'
born. Her family moved to the
Detroit area at an exceptionally
fruitful time for the Detroit music
scene. Her parents had exposed her to
the jazz greats like Duke Ellington
and Charlie Parker, and Detroit radio
delivered James Brown, Funkadelic,
and the Motown sound.
Allen began to apply herself
seriously to jazz music after
attending Cass Tech High School in
Detroit. Cass Tech has a world
renowned jazz program, and after
attending workshops hosted by
trumpet legend Marcus Belgrave,
Allen was taken under his wing and
a lasting friendship was born.
Her university experience includes
fours years of music at Howard
University in Washington, D.C.,
and studios in Ethnomusicology at
the University of Pittsburgh. She
has established a strong reputation in
New York over the past few years,
working and recording with
numerous major artists including
Lester Bowie and Joseph Harman.
She has two solo tours of Europe
behind her, and three very diverse
recordings for the German Minor
Music label. Evidence on the new
album indicates that we may expect
a major contribution from Open on
All Sides.
Allen may be remembered by
local jazz fans for her Ann Arbor
engagement with flutist James
Newton. Now she is returning with
an amazing octet of Michigan
natives. "There is so much talent
here, and not enough outlets," Allen
explained in a telephone interview.
"If all the musicians and artists
would shut down for a weekend we'd
see how important it is."
Don't worry folks. There is no
danger of a boycott this weekend!
Geri Allen is a champion for live
music. Open On All Sides "...
combines a lot of different
elements," she says. "We move in
and out of a lot of things.. I like to
deal with natural elements in my
music - it should be healing."
Allen's band features saxophonist
David McMurray, bassist Jaribu
Shahid, drummer Tani Tabbal (three
of the regular members of the Griot
Galaxy), the remarkable Rayse Biggs
on trumpet (he'll even play two at
once), trombonist Gerald Savage,
percussionist Sadiq Muhammed, and
the healing vocalizations of Shahida
Nurullah. On their shared Detroit
background Allen says, "I recognize
certain similarities... certain
unspoken things... (an
understanding) that comes from the
combined experiences that all of us
have had. We also share a concern
for world music - international
Black music - and what's beyond."
Geri Allen isn't opposed to DJs
and radio, though. "I just want to see
live music re-emerge as a natural
part of everything else."
Tomorrow night in two shows at
the Ark, an artist whose heart and
mind, spirit and music really is
Open On All Sides will welcome us
to share our experiences and our
selves. What could be finer than
this? Geri Allen and Open On All
Sides are all the way live.
Showtimes are set for 8 p.m. and
10:30 p.m. Tickets are available at
the Michigan Union Ticket Office,
Schoolkids' Records, P.J.'s Used
Records, and all TicketMaster
outlets.
Michigan Daily
ARTS
763-0379
Geri Allen will bring her octet Open On All Sides to the Ark
tomorrow night.
I
Leningrad Symphony brings
Shostako vich
to
A
By David Hoegberg
Ann Arbor is enjoying something
of a Shostakovich festival this
season. Last month the Ann Arbor
Symphony performed the local
premiere of Shostakovich's heart-
rending Thirteenth Symphony. On
Sunday, the Leningrad State
Symphony will be in Hill Aud-
itorium to present perhaps his
greatest symphony, the Tenth, in a
concert that also includes Weber's
Overture to Euryanthe and
Beethoven's Violin Concerto..
Dmitri Shostakovich belongs to
the first generation of Russian
composers to be educated entirely
under the Soviet system. Unlike his
older contemporaries, Stravinsky and
Prokofiev, Shostakovich never left
the system, but this did not keep
him from being in many ways a
revolutionary. In 1948, he was
among a group of composers
officially chastised by the Union of
Soviet Composers for, among other
things, fostering a "cult of atonality,
dissonance, discord." Although none
of Shostakovich's works is terribly
dissonant by modern Western
standards, the composer publicly
recanted but began saving his more
challenging works until government
standards should be relaxed.
The relaxation came with Stalin's
death in 1953. In December of that
'year Shostakovich presented his
Tenth Symphony, his first
symphony in eight years. It is a
monumental, tragic work with a
jocund final movement that is often
The Following Is A Paid Advertisement
interpreted as a sarcastic comment on
the government's ludicrous musical
dicta. Predictably, the Tenth caused
controversy in the Soviet Union at
the time, but it quickly became and
has remained a favorite with
orchestras around the world.
The Leningrad State Symphony
has a special claim to authority
when it comes to Shostakovich's
music. The composer spent the first
few months of World War II in
Leningrad when the Nazis were
besieging the city. The Symphony,
then known as the Leningrad Radio
Orchestra, bravely continued its
schedule of broadcasts right through
the devastating attacks. Shos-
takovich later dedicated his Seventh
Symphony, mostly written there
during the siege, to the city of
Leningrad and has performed with
the orchestra, whose distinguished
list of associates also includes Igor
Stravinsky and Benjamin Britten.
nn Arbor
Sunday's audience should be treated
to a monumental work performed as
the composer intended.
Last appearing in Ann Arbor in
1977, the Symphony now returns
under the current cultural exchange
program of the United States and the
Soviet Union. Its conductor, Alex-
ander Dmitriev, was seen here in
1975 with the Moscow State
Symphony.
Phone 764-0558
APRIANS
The Sunday
afternoon concert
presents
Geri Allen
and Open On All Sides
Ex
Sat.,Oct, 10
8 & 10:30 pm.
"The most exciting pianist TheA rk
since Herbie Hancock" Tickets $750
-Musician Magazine
To charge by phone, 763-TKTS
co-sponsored by
P.J.'s Used Records
will be at 4 p.m. in Hill Auditorium
and will be preceded by a lecture, - T m5 %
"Shostakovich and Beethoven:
Approaches to Form," at 3 p.m. in PRINTING
Rackham Auditorium Tickets range
from $10-$22 and may be purchased HIGH QUALITY
at the University Musical Society's LOW PRICES
Burton Tower office, or by phone SINCE 1973
with Visa or Mastercard. Call the
UMS at 764-2538 today from 9 1002 PONTIAC TR.
a.m.-4:30 p.m. or tomorrow from 9 994-1367
a.m. until noon forfurther details.
C
338 S. State C
Door Prizes
* Posters
* CORONA
T-SHIRTS $5.00
" WIQB - Fox Village,
Briarwood'
movieI
passes
TUESDAY
10-CLOSE
LUB
$1.5
a b
$1.0
nacl
NIGHT
50
Xttle
corona
)Ooff Eta
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Caution! Computer Kickoff Buyers
For those of you intending to purchase the Citizen MSP-10 printer this weekend be advised
that it is a printer that may be discontinued soon.
Approximately 6 weeks ago I spoke with Bill Currie, a Citizen Sales Manager, and he
indicated that when, the U of M signed the deal for the MSP-1O it was going to be
discontinued (that primarily accounts for the low price). He went further to say that Citizen
had changed their minds and that it was going to stay in production, but I have my doubts.
The MSP-10 has been virtually unchanged since its introduction several years ago and it
lacks the features and price/performance of many other printers. Additionally, Citizen has
introduced the MSP-40 that is priced very close to the MSP-10 and has many of the features
that are necessary to compete with other printers.
I was told that making the above statement would reflect poorly on me and my company
since I do sell computers and printers and could gain from increased sales of our products.
While this is true, I felt that people have a right to the "rest of the story" especially given the
large number of people participating in this event.
Some members of the U of M feel that no one can do anything as well as they can, especially
when it comes to local business people, and that is just not true. We try to give our customers
Mm!m