ARTS The Michigan Daily Thursday, September 29, 1988 Page 7 Big Box Can a local band find happiness without being compared to R.E.M.? BY ROBERT FLAGGERT LOCAL music is a pain in the ass. Bands that are unique and interesting receive little or no attention at all due to the musical mentality of too many bar-hoppers and party-goers, and bands that shoot up to the top of everyone's "favorite" list always tend to be either cover bands with the imagination of a comatose 70-year- old, or pop-slobs crawling their way to a guest shot on MTV. Which is why the local music scene becomes so shook up when a local - and original band begins to develop a following. Such is the case with Big Box of Nines, performing tonight at the University Club. Big Box of Nines is a trio featuring Charlie Edwards on guitar and vocals, Graham Bergh on drums, and Ron Jeffries on bass. The three began playing together in January of this year, shortly after the breakup of Edwards' and Bergh's old band, Why did Big Box of Nines cross the road? So you could read this caption, of course. The Nines decided to go one up on the Abbey Road "Paul is Dead" scheme by actually killing their fourth member - the revamped trio is pictured above. Drummer I dies at 71 ROYAL OAK (AP) - Jazz drummer J.C. Heard, who had per- formed with many of the world's best-known jazz musicians, died Tuesday. He was 71. Heard had been scheduled to appear last night in concert with trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, a close friend who frequently performed with Heard. Bonnie Niebel, a spokesperson for William Beaumont Hospital, said Heard was pronounced dead at the hospital at 11:12 p.m. Tuesday. She did not know the cause of death. Funeral arrangements were incomplete yesterday afternoon, said Heard's agent Jim Fleming of Ann Arbor. "J.C. and I are very close. My first son is named after him," Flem- ing said. Heard performs on two current albums, one titled "Some of This, Some of That," and another on which he accompanied pianist Mark "Mr. B." Braun. Heard's scheduled performance at the Detroit Institute of Arts with Gillespie was a private affair for the General Motors Corp. A concert today is open to the public. Fleming said attempts were being made to see that both performances went on. Ron Brooks, a bass player and owner of The Bird of Paradise, called Heard, who frequently played at the club, "the consummate professional. He was a great model for young musicians. He will be missed by a number of musicians in the area. He was a great gentleman." Heard, who traveled throughout the Orient and elsewhere, made a name for himself in jazz circles near New York's Harlem. "He was from the golden age of jazz," Brooks said. Brooks said Heard's wife was visiting friends in Europe when Heard was stricken. The Heards had been living in Southfield. To be or not to be As a Daily theater reviewer, it's not a question. Call 763-0379 for more information. Rhetoric. Edwards and Bergh have been playing together since high school, but Jeffries was stumbled upon quite by accident, after meeting Rhetoric's sound man, Tony Hinds, in the bar one night. "They were both drunk, and Tony kept bugging Ron to jam with us," Bergh explains. Jeffries finally agreed, and shortly thereafter Nines was born. The band originated as a four-piece, but problems such as lack of commitment and personality conflicts soon led to the drop of the second guitarist. "We're keeping our eyes open for a second guitarist, but I don't think we're lacking anything without one," claims Bergh. Ac- cording to Bergh, the problem is finding not only a talented and innovative guitarist, but one who is as committed as the rest of the band so as to avoid the previous problems. Musically, the band constantly continues to mature, as anyone who has seen Rhetoric or Nines more than once can attest. "Rhetoric was more of an entertainment band, while Big Box of Nines tends to be actually an interesting, tighter group," explains Bergh. "I'm not saying that Nines isn't entertaining, but not in the same way. Before (during Rhetoric's time) we just weren't as good a band. At this point were just focusing on becoming more professional while trying not to be poppy." Their sound is the product of many influences, including Bob Dy- lan and the Talking Heads. "Charlie and I are sort of like the poles at two different ends and Ron is in the middle. We all sort of balance each other out to achieve the sound we have." Edward's razor-sharp guitar chords and smooth but slightly tain- ted voice leads the band backed by Jeffries' power bass chords and Bergh's innovative drumming. Through no fault of their own, though, they've been associated too many times with the likes of Athens' sell-outs R.E.M. For- tunately, in the transition from Rhetoric to Nines, they have been able to supercede this demeaning label. Edwards has dropped his habit of singing in a mumbled word- jumble, and the three mesh mu- sically far more cleanly than those Georgian generics have in years. "The band is like a machine,.each member like a gear. If each one of the gears is working properly and fits well with the other gears, the machine runs smoothly. That's how I see Big Box of Nines, a smoothly running machine." Unfortunately, while the band is extremely talented, they have not been getting the local recognition they .deserve. Bergh attributes this partially to the scarcity of places to play in Ann Arbor, and partially to See Nines, Page 8 Strings mark hail's B-day BY SATIK ANDiASSIAN T ONIGHT the University Musical Society will present the internationally reknowned Tokyo String Quartet in a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Rackham Hall, where each year many distinguished chamber ensembles appear presenting some of the world's finest music. The Tokyo String Quartet, now in its,17th season, was founded in t 1969. Kikuei Ikeda (violinist), Kazuhide (violist) and Sado Harada (cellist) were trained at the Toho Music Academy in Tokyo. Soon after its birth, the Quartet won first prize at the Coleman Auditions in Pasadena, the Munich Competition, and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which brought the ensemble worldwide attention. Peter Oundjian (violinist), who has recently joined the Quartet, studied with Ivan Galamian, Itzhak Perlman, and Dorothy Delay and was first prize winner in the 1980 International Violin Competition in Vina del Mar, Chile. Tonight's concert will feature Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 4, Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet, and Bartok's third quartet. Beethoven's Op. 18, No. 4 contains both somber and lyrical depth as well as strong dramatic character. Among Beethoven's early compositions, this quartet is considered to be one of the most polished and stylistically sophisticated. Schubert's quartet, "Death and the Maiden," gets its name from a previous song cycle of the composer, from which Schubert derives the See Quartet, Page 8 ?,LON DONA. 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