ARTS
The Michigan Daily - Friday, September 21, 2001- 9A
.. , .
High brow jazz
legend Morgan
plays the 'Bird'
By Denis Naranjo
Daily Arts Writer
The ever-reliable Frank Morgan caters up a sterling
lyrical phrase each time he picks up
his alto saxophone, no matter the
surrounding. Though he can still
shout and swing with trademark
Frank bebop abandon, melodious content
Morgan stirs his soul. To appreciate Mor-
Bird of Paradise gan's tonalities is to appreciate all
Tonight and Tomor- that's sentimental, cozy and warm in
row, 8 & 10 p.m. an acoustic jazz setting.
shows both nights Invitations for highbrow jazz art
comes to Ann Arbor's Bird of Par-
adise tonight and tomorrow, when
Morgan plays two shows nightly in
the spotlight.
Anchored by bassist/club owner
Ron Brooks and his trio, the
acoustic blend should shimmer with
bright harmonics and rapturous melodies atop assorted
jazz standards. No need to motor up-tempo when Mor-
gan's spirited storytelling commands center stage.
Morgan discovered his "sax calling" as a youth thanks
to Stanley Morgan, his guitar-playing father, who
allowed Frank to absorb the alto sax pyrotechnics of
bebop legend Charlie Parker in a jazz nightclub. He's
more than a typical jazz celebrity; he's a road warrior
who's continuing to challenge himself for every live
audience, extant.
That commitment is distilled from various career ups
and downs for Morgan, widely hailed for a passionate,
lush alto and bravura phrasing. Wiser to life's blessings,
following rehab after a stroke two years ago, he relishes
jamming with younger players seeking new-breed
improvisation. That's why splashing into jazz club
scenes like Ann Arbor is more the norm than the excep-
tion for Morgan these days.
After traversing many curves in the road, the 67-year-
.old now calls Taos, N.M., home these days. He spends
as much time on the road touring whenever possible.
His stopover here follows major club dates in Chicago
Asian art galleries add cultural
appeal to the 'U' museum of art
By Jim Schiff
A large, imposing vase stands
before you in the UMMA's Japanese
Gallery. The quality of its structure,
Asian Art
Galaries
Museum of Art
Ongoing
-at
vibrancy of its
colors, and intri-
cacy of its
details instill a
sense of won-
derment in you.
Decorated with
finches and
apple blossom
petals, this vase
is truly a
r e m a r k a b I e
piece of art.
This vase,
like every piece
of art in the
museum's Asian
Morgan blowin' a mean, mean sax.
and Cleveland, typical outings for his jazz quartet. Mor-
gan always reserves room for solo travel, opting to jam
with local players keen to his razor-sharp mindset and
seasoned musicianship.
Thankful to be the jazzman that he is, Morgan's licked
his wounds culled from career setbacks. Its been that
way since the mid-1950s when Morgan first frequented
the Los Angeles bebop scene, after nailing recording
dates with Kenny Clarke, Teddy Charles, Wardell Gray
and Freddy Martin. After Reflections, a GNP Crescendo
label release in 1955, Morgan's recurrent heroin addic-
tion saddled him in and out of prison for nearly three
decades.
In the mid-1980s Morgan returned to jazz, rejuvenat-
ed for life. The notable restart ushered in a jazz mile-
stone, beginning with recordings featuring Joe
Henderson, Ron Carter, Bobby Hutcherson and Conte
Condoli. Morgan's 1986 release, Easy Living (Fantasy)
marked the start of something big. He's never slowed
down since.
Other Morgan music box jewels include: You Must
Believe In Spring (Antilles) with piano giants Tommy
Flanagan, Sir Roland Hanna, Hank Jones, and Kenny
Barron, Yardbird Suite with a sterling rhythm section of
Mulgrew Miller, Ron Carter and Al Foster, and Love
Lost & Found (Telare) with the Ray Brown Trio.
galleries, is a craftsman's labor of
love. The UMMA has filled a rela-
tively small amount of space with
dozens of these masterpieces, from a
number of time periods and a num-
ber of nations.
The Japanese Gallery, in particu-
lar, is populated with woodblock
prints, hanging scrolls, swords,
armor, an4 pottery. Tosa Mitsuoki's
"Portrait of a Poetess" is what some
might call a traditional scroll from
the Edo period, It shows a court lady
waiting for her lover to return, sym-
bolized by a small dangling spider.
But her face is porcelain and expres-
sionless-the viewer is left to deter-
mine her thoughts.
Many of the pictures in both the
Chinese and Japanese galleries tell a
story: of a journey, of a struggle, or
forbidden love. In Goshun Mat-
sumura's "The Road to Shu," we see
a group of lonely travelers plodding
through the snow. The level of detail
in the trees, the individual branches
and troughs of snow, is impressive in
itself. The brush strokes are tiny and
precise-it's as if the artist used a
needle to place individual drops of
paint on the scroll.
In a glass case are some swords
and sheaths from the Japanese
medieval period to the Edo period,
which lasted from 1615 to 1868. The
swords look far from utilitarian, and
when viewed next to the elaborate
design of the Japanese armor, one
can imagine how imposing a threat
they were on the battlefield.
The Edo period is also responsible
for some fantastic woodblock prints,
as evidenced in Hokusai's most pop-
ular series, "Thirty-Six Views of Mt.
Fuji." Hokusai, one of Japan's most
Courtesy ofUMM A
Clockwise from top left: "Juman-tsubo Plain at Suzakl," "Kajikazawa in Kai
Province" and "Sailboats returning to Gyotuki."
The Strokes off Album delayed
renowned artists, depicts fisherman
and sailors in their everyday tasks,
but he does so with an extraordinary
eye for scale. The waves in "Kai-
jikazawa in Kai Province" are larger
than the fisherman himself: threat-
ening monstrosities of blue and
white, enveloping the sea before
them.
The Chinese gallery features some
spectacular bronzes from the Shang
dynasty, which lasted from 1500 to
1000 b.c. Highly-skilled metalwork-
ers produced these bronzes, which
were used for sacrificial and reli-
gious purposes, and were also con-
sidered to be the finest in the world.
Bronze itself was a highly prized
material at the time, and it bestowed
a sense of wealth and status to the
owner.
Many of these bronzes have a
glazed-over quality to them. With
the passage of time, each has gained
an incandescent glow, and if viewed
in the proper light, they reveal a*
wide spectrum of colors.
Also notable in the Chinese
gallery are the tomb ceramics from
the Han dynasty. These pieces,
which include a pond basin, a mill,
four-story pagodas, and a pigpen,
were originally covered in a green
lead glaze. Over 2000 years of salts
in the clay have leaked into the
glaze, giving them turquoise accents
and a rusted-over look.
Just outside the Chinese gallery's
door is a collection of snuff bottles
from various artists. Each is only the
size of a salt shaker, yet they contain
some of the most complex patterns
and pictures I've ever seen. Made of
ivory, jade, lapis lazuli, glass, or
porcelain, these bottles contained
powdered tobacco and spices, and
were worn proudly around the belt
of the owner.
The most impressive piece in this
collection is not the most elaborate,
or gaudy, or inspirational. "The
Small Cloud Dwelling," by Lu Hui,
is a simple landscape on a scroll: a
large estate with a garden, paths,
and waterways. But the picture does
one thing-it makes us wish we
could escape to the calm serenity of
the Chinese countryside. Although
we cannot pack our bags and go, the
University of Michigan M'useum of
Art has brought all of these incredi-
ble things to us. The journey is
worthwhile, and it's right on cam-
pus.
By Luke Smith
Daily Music Editor
After a major-label bidding war
followed by an equal flattering
media buzz, indie rockers The
Strokes have delayed their much-
hyped debut album Is This It on
account of last week's tragedies.
Is This It was originally scheduled
to include a track called "New York
City Cops," a potentially controver-
sial track that questioned the intelli-
gence of the NYPD. The band has
added a song to replace the track.
"When It Started" was recorded by
the band last week and will replace
the more controversial song.
Slated to hit shelves September
25th the record will now land in
stores on October 9th.
The Strokes have drawn compar-
isons to various proto-punk main-
stays, and singer Julian Casablanca's
vocals bear an eerie sonic resem-
blance to those of Velvet Under-
ground frontman Lou Reed.
The band will not be changing the
international releases of Is This It;
the album landed on British soil
August 27th proceeding to debut at
number two on the British charts.
:1
Courtesy of RCA
Strokes UK cover, the Brits have it best.
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LS & A Sept4ir , 2001
Career Interviews: ,ed i4 October 2 ,2001
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Or.4ditional infor, ion se contact:
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