The Michigan Daily - Weekend etc. - Thursday, November 4, 1993 - 5 Life is too complicated for a step-by-step guide Life is complicated. No one tells you if that cute guy you've had your eye on has been eyeing you back. The person who has been talking behind your back doesn't suddenly start telling you what he's saying. There aren't any hard and fast rules ' about J ES SI EH AL LA DAY how to handle tions. Life just doesn't come with an instruction manual. No one hands you a book and says, "Here ya go. Check the index if you have questions. And don't blow it." However, H. Jackson Brown has attempted to, publish some guidelines for those of us flounder- ing through life. He published two mini-books filled with advice he had for his son, both called "Life's Little Instruction Book." In a moment of confusion, I bought the daily calendar which these books inspired. But having reached November, I have to say my life hasn't changed too drastically; life hasn't suddenly be- come clear. This is not to say that there wasn't some good advice. But what made me think this calendar was going to clear it all up for me? I thought I'd save you some trouble and share some of the advice I've received everyday for the last 10 months. I've had to wonder sometimes whatMr. Brown was thinking with some of his advice. On October 21 he told me to "be neat," as if on this particular day I could spontaneously stop being a slob. Then there was the day he told me to "cut your own firewood." What do I look like a lumberjack? As it is I can't get the heat in my little one-bedroom apartment to shutoff. I don't think I need firewood but, hey, thanks for the tip. Another one of his valuable tidbits advised me to "sing in the shower." Well, I think I can safely speak for my roommate when I say this is not a good idea. And as for his advice to "slow dance," most ofmy dates hope this is advice I will not take again. (And they have the broken toes to prove it.) As an alternative to slow dancing, I could always "take someone bowling." I can just see it now, "Hey honey let's go wear some really ugly shoes and hurl a really heavy ball down an alley trying to knock down some stupid pins." I think that will really go over well. By far some of his worst advice was "keep it simple." Now if I could do that do you think I would need this calendar? There were some pretty helpful tidbits which Brown passed on. One of.the ones I like to follow whenever I can is "take a nap on Sunday after- noons." I'll use any excuse to take a nap. And one that I think everyone should follow, "don't ever watch hot dogs or sausage being made." I don't know about you but I think the phrase "what you don't know can't hurt you" applies here. Then there were the sappier pieces of advice, not to say'that sappy is bad. A little sappy can be good. Some of my personal favorites are "Never give up on anyone. Miracles happen everyday" and "Never underestimate the power of forgive- ness." These tidbits in particular I think are crucial to living life to the fullest. I must say though that it wasn't because of this calendar that I began thinking this way. But it is nice to be reminded. All in all, the calendar gives me many pearls of wisdom to think about. But if life were really easy enough to be broken down into simple instruc- tions, believe me I would just follow the direc- tions. Charles Mingus is just one of the jazz artists whose work will be reissued. And all that jazz ### y TOM ERLEWINE By this stage in the CD-reissue boom, the major labels have unloaded most of the best records from their vaults in all genres of music. All labels except for Atlantic Records, that is. Happily, that situation is being corrected. In the past year, Rhino Records has taken control of Atlantic's reissue department and has released a series of splendid anthologies and straight reissues. For most of 1992, Rhino concentrated on Atlantic's rock 'n' roll roster, re- releasing classic albums from bands like the MC5 and definitive anthologies of Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, Wilson Pickett and the J. Geils Band. This past summer, Rhino turned their attention to Atlantic's Sroundbreaking jazz catalog. The two record labels will continue to release many important, historic collections and reissues in the next year. Atlantic was one the major labels in the'50s and'60s to develop their own style without compromising the sound of their artists. Many of the most innovative jazz musicians of the '60s were captured on tape at Atlantic Records, everyone from John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman to Charles Mingus and David "Fathead" Newman. Everything from soul-jazz to free-jazz was covered at the studio. Sadly, the label's legacy has been mistreated over the years, with a iumber of ill-conceived compilations and sloppy reissues taking the place of intelligent, comprehensive collections. Rhino's presentation of "The Atlantic Jazz Gallery" corrects all of these ' ngs. The entire "Atlantic Jazz Gallery" is being supervised by Joel Dorn, producer ofmany of Atlantic's groundbreaking albums. Many seminal records that have been out of print for years are available again, and several generous jazz samplers are on the market. Most importantly, Rhino/Atlantic are releas- ing a series of two-disc collections covering major, important jazz innovators. Each collection is housed in a slipcase, with a lavish booklet and stylish cloth- bound clamshell holding the discs. Four double-disc sets have been released, with more to come in the following months. While the straight reissues are of primary interest to dedicated fans, the two-disc anthologies are aimed at the jazz novice. Each compilation features '.aterial from all aspects of the artist's career, as well as informative bio- graphical essays; they are comprehensive introductions, not definitive por- traits. Out of the four sets released so far, John Coltrane's "The Last Giant" has drawn the most attention. Most aspects of Coltrane's trail-blazing career are covered; from his days with the Dizzy Gillespie Sextet and the cool jazz of his stint with the Miles Davis Quintet to his own groups at Atlantic, everything is covered except his later-period free-jazz. Even without those progressive recordings, "The Last Giant" provides a remarkable portrait of one of this century's greatest musicians. Rahsaan Roland Kirk's"Does YourHouseHave Lions"andLesMcCann's ,Relationships" are particularly valuable, since neither artist has been subject a comprehensive anthology before. Both of the anthologies cover the high points in the artists career, providing excellent introductions to their bodies of work. Most listeners might be taken aback by Kirk's multi-instrumental innovations at first, but the music on the compilation is rich, essential to an understanding of '70s jazz. McCann's gospel-jazz fusion is more user- friendly, but is no less thrilling; the first disc is comprised of pre-Atlantic recordings, with the anthology catching fire during his sessions with Low Rawls and Eddie Harris on the second disc. Perhaps the most important release in "The Atlantic Jazz Gallery" so far is "Thirteen Pictures - The Charles Mingus Anthology." Within the space of .wo discs, every major facet of Mingus' accomplishments is covered, with such classic compositions as "Haitian Fight Song," "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" and "Better Git It In Your Soul" taking center stage. Mingus produced a rich, varied body of work during his lifetime. Although it can't be completely summarized with two CDs, "Thirteen Pictures" provides an indispensable introduction to one of the major artists of our time. Throughout the following months, Rhino will continue to release more anthologies covering such artists as David "Fathead" Newman and Eddie Harris, as well putting older albums back in print. In November, a six-CD box collecting all of Ornette Coleman's Atlantic sessions will be released; it Wromises to be the most historically important of all the albums in "The Atlantic Jazz Gallery." Thomas Hampson demonstrates poetic gift through music HAM PSON Continued from page 1 observe this opera going by. I want people to smell the opera go by." Hampson also discussed other modern misconceptions about the operatic experience. "I don't want this sort of masturbatory realism that everybody says is so expressive," he said. "They say that's what Giordano wanted and that's what Leoncavallo wanted, and I don't think that's what they wanted in the least. But never- theless, let the music speak for itself, and let the psychology of the charac- ters speak for itself." According to Hampson, the psy- chological and dramatic context for operatic melodies has been forgotten by many operatic audiences. "Yes, there are moments that are very ex- pressive,"he said, "Butthere's awhole lot of other music going on, and a whole lot of other points of a charac- ter than just 'E lucevan le stelle' - or 'Nessun dorma,' for Christ's sake! Yes, it's a great musical moment, but Lord in heaven - it's kind of like what we've done to the Tchaikovsky '1812 Overture' -do people really know why that piece was written?" In celebration of the 150th anni- versary of the birth of Edvard Grieg, Hampson is including Grieg's Op.48 cycle of six songs on German poetry. Hampson offered thoughts on the an- niversary. "Anything that somehow re-awakens people to a connection to history is very valid and very interest- ing," he said. "I don't think anniver- saries should be poo-pooed, and I don't think they should be the monu- mental discovery of a composer ei- ther. I simply enjoy the coincidental hangers to hang something on." The third section of Hampson's recital will be songs on poetry of Walt Whitman. The songs, by three Ameri- cans and an Englishman, Ralph Vaughn Williams, were chosen by Hampson from among more than a hundred settings of Whitman poetry. Hampson demonstrated his own po- etic gift in his description ofa song by William Neidlinger. "Neidlinger wrote this fantastic forward-looking scene, like a disappearing fresco on a wall - there's harshness and noth- ingness that comes in a brilliant relief of color of this tragic scene and dis- solves back into nothing. It's an ex- traordinary two pages of song." "Walt Whitman had a tremendous impact on the cultural life of England as well," Hampson continued. "The Vaughn Williams songs - that's what's exciting; everybody took Whitman on his own terms: the graphic relief of the text is terribly good by the Englishman." Hampson further emphasized the understand- ing which English composers showed of Whitman's poetry. "The good songs," he said, "Never sort of went and said, 'Oh we'll write a ruddy- good English song with those won- derful Whitman texts' - they really took him on his own metaphysical terms. There's this wonderful quote of-I think it was Charles Woods - who said that Walt Whitman is the Englishman'sNietzsche, which Ithink is a wonderful perspective." THOMAS HAMPSON, with accompanist Craig Rutenberg, will perform Sunday at 4 p.m. at Hill Auditorium. Hampson will also lead a discussion of the recital program at 3p.m. at Rackham Assembly Hall. Tickets are available from the UMS box office (764-2538)for $10- $35. $6 student rush tickets will be available at the Union Ticket Office from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday. UMS and the North Campus Commons will also co-sponsor North Campus Student Rush on Friday 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. next to Little Caesars. Small Classes. SBig Scores. * Guaranteed. 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