Page 8 - The Michigan Daily - Thursday, October 4, 1990 Folk, jazz, guitars, love, chickens and dogs Kottke talks of th animals by Lauren Turetsky Leo Kottke is one of few people with the ability to combine a six- stringed instrument, a trombone and frogs with a story about a smol- dering dog. What? Well, Leo Kottke is back and ready to brave Ann Arbor with these new sounds and ideas from his latest album, That's What, tonight at the Michigan Theater. This arcane original, a resident of Wayzata, Minnesota, blends his off- beat humor with syncopated sounds to create a magical performance. Over the past 20 years he has won several Grammy's and other distin- guished awards for his work. These awards, he told the L. A. Times "are all nice, but the stuff that really sticks with me is when Joe Pass came backstage to a show I did in. Australia and said, 'Boy, you got some nice little things in there." Kottke is not searching for fame and fortune and does not create safe sounds easily understood by the masses. Instead, he makes music he believes in and his enjoyment in his art comes through with utmost sin- cerity. That's What is Kottke's fourth album on the Private Music label and can be described as his weirdest, strangest and riskiest. He has said Tuck and Patti let love rule by Kristin Palm Don't let the fact that Tuck and Patti's albums are on the Windham Hill label fool you. While their "love will conquer all" message may be New Agey, the music they play is true jazz. It is simple jazz, as well. Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart don't front this band, they are this band. A man who works wonders with an acoustic guitar and a woman whose voice rival's Sarah Vaughn's, An- dress and Cathcart haven't added any- thing that might imbalance this per- fect equation. While the group's ap- proach to music may be minimalist, their repertoire is anything but. Tuck and Patti first gained mention with the release of the single "Time After Time," a cover of the Cyndi Lauper tune. Now, Ms. Lauper's version is nice but by the time Tuck and Patti were through with it, the song be- came smashing. The tradition of interesting covers is continued on Tuck and Patti's 1989 album, Love Warriors, their latest release. The Beatles' "Honey Pie" and Jimi Hendrix's "Castles in the Sand" and "Little Wing" are rein- carnated - the first in bebop fash- ion; the latter two in the smooth, sultry manner Cathcart's vocal pre- decessors made so famous. The album's original tunes are equally impressive, and are helping to establish this groups as keepers of the jazz flame. While the music draws on the past, however, it is tuned for the '90s. But, unlike other artists classified under the New Age It is fitting that Leo Kottke is smiling here. He can play guitar, he's won awards and his jokes and stories are f that his wife and manager hate it, but that he loves it. On the album, Kottke combines the voices of frogs,1 Bruce Paulson on the trombone and the sounds of what he has called his new love - a love with many strings attached. No, his wife need not worry; it's a six-string bass gui- tar. The instrument sounds like a normal guitar but resounds an octave lower. Besides strumming franticly away, Kottke manages to tell the story of a smoldering dog in one song, keeping with the tradition of telling strange tales over his music. r.. _. .. Tuck Andress and Patti Cathcart take the roots of jazz and add contemporary flair. The result is lovely music. He has been known to talk about the strange beating of chickens while throwing objects into the audience and he has interesting stories to tell about various people in his life. Kottke has 21 records to date and performs regularly; it seems unlikely that he will be slowing down any- time soon. Whether things are to be- come stranger as he progresses re- mains to be seen. title, Tuck and Patti's sound is down to earth. And there is a reason for the peace and amour undertones. The couple, married in 198 1, are firm be- lievers in the power of love. This should make their listeners true be- lievers in the power of music. LEO KOTTKE plays at the Mic gan Theater tonight at 8 p.m. Tic ets are $16.50 available at the th ater and at Ticketmaster (p.e.s.c. hi- ck- he- RECORDS Continued from page 7. Save the LPI S Daily Arts HE DOESN'T WRITE FOR ARTS. You can. Call 763-0379. ) is why he was such a brilliant - painter. Unfortunately, Anthrax is not blessed with the same talents. They spew hackneyed guitar and bass parts one after the other without caring to advance the sound one iota past what Motorhead's Ace of Spades album achieved ten years ago. Charlie Benante's drums are mired in the same sludge that John Bonham dredged up twenty years ago without the egomania that caused him to masturbate so violently with his kit. And, continuing in the great tradition of "God, I'm so fucked up, I'm barely human anymore" teen angst, the vocals are shrill, strident wails without the humor of Dave Mustaine taking himself seriously. As if the music didn't bang you over the head with their alienation trip, the lyrics re-enforce this with TUCK AND PA TTIopen for LEO KOTTKE at the Michigan Theater tonight. The show begins at 8 p.m. Tickets are $16.50 available at the Michigan Theater and Ticketmaso ter (p.e.s.c.) the intensity and earnestness of an eighth grade poet who just finished his/her life is like flowers parable. Lines like, "A wave of hatred comes like the flood/Brother on brother on, brother,/ Brothers in blood/Hate is so much easier to feel than love," and "I yell, when there's schism you must rebel/I yell, so you'll hear/I* yell, I refuse to live in your Hell," abound on this record.*Well, at least it's not a concept album. -Peter Shapiro I o"m"" i I WRITE FOR ARTS!!! CALL 76370379!!!! 1 "AN EROTIC MASTERPIECE. Philip Kaufman has done something remarkable. He has made a genuinely erotic film that celebrates a woman's sexual awakening with unabashed enthusiasm. Fred Ward has great humor, Uma Thurman is fascinating and Maria de Medeiros , ,, ._ . . , :....... ..: -.: 1's'II1t l3i t t#i L' t1Ci C i13?' .