The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Friday, April 4, 2008 - 5
RE
The oldies return
Pianist breaks
the jazz norm
R.E.M.'s first studio
album in four years finds
the group's old-school,
high-intensity style
By MATT RONEY
Daily Music Editor
R.E.M. is one of the most important
rock bands of the last three decades.
Their output during the '80s and early- to
mid- '90s was fantas-
tic, from 1982's Chronic
Town EP and the band's 7k**
years on I.R.S. Records
through their sign- R.E.M.
ing with Warner Bros. Accelerate
and records like 1992's
Automatic for the People Warner Bros.
and 1996's still-under-
rated New Adventures in Hi-Fi. For years,
R.E.M. dominated college radio. Their
work continues to influence the sound of
rock, especially that of the alterative and
indie persuasions.
New Adventures was the final appear-
ance of Bill Berry, R.E.M.'s original
drummer, and unfortunately, it's also
safe to say that in spite of their continu-
ing superstardom, the crippled line-up
has failed to release a decent album since.
The general consensus is that R.E.M. sim-
ply became a live band, releasing lacklus-
ter albums of new material and playing
epic concerts filled with the old.
Pre-release buzz has already estab-.
lished that Accelerate is meant to be a
return to form, a release from a revital-
ized line-up that should renew any for-
mer fan's interest. Producer Jacknife
Lee of U2, Green Day and Snow Patrol
fame was enlisted to help bring the band
around.
Jacknife's influence is immediately
apparent. The album's sound has a cer-
tain pop-rock sheen, as on "Supernatural
Superserious," Accelerate's first single.
Sometimes the calculated crunch is a
little too much, and the song can sound
less than sincere. The cheesy final note
a la their earlier hit, "Stand," is a bit
overblown. Here, the major difference
between Accelerate and R.E.M.'s glory
days' releases is most apparent: Then,
they sounded like an innovative, talented
independent band; now they sound like a
good adult alternative band.
For the most part, the rest of the album
actually succeeds in recreating R.E.M.'s
old spirit, with the janglyguitars and pop
sensibilities back in full force. A major
standout is "Hollow Man," which opens
By KATIE CAREY
DailyArts Writer
Jazz straddles a dangerous line these
days,teeteringonthe edge ofresembling
hotel lounge music or a regurgitation of
the past. In an art form stressing.the
improvisation of the individual, there
seems to be a general
rubric for express-
ing that individual- Brad
ity. Artists rely on the Mehldau
structures and forms
of the "greats" before Tri0
them, adhering to a Tonight at
confined code of what 8 p.m.
"jazz" should sound At the Michigan
like. Yet, while there Theater
is no way to denounce $18-$44
jazz legends Charlie
Parker, Louis Arm-
strong and Duke Ellington, if current
jazz musicians continue to model their
compositions after the same riffs and
chord patterns, their creation becomes
little more than a museum practice.
The hype machine has churned out
pianist Brad Mehldau as the "savior" of
jazz, and you can see if he lives up to the
buzz when the Brad Mehldau Trio per-
forms tonight at the Michigan Theater.
Gaining recognition among younger
crowds with his tumultuous 9-min-
ute cover of Radiohead's "Paranoid
Android," Mehldau has made a name
for himself among jazz cats and critics
alike, taking pop songs as an inspira-
tional starting point and building upon
the basic melodies. His ability to take
the emotions in songs like the Beatles's
"Blackbird" and Oasis's "Wonderwall"
and move them into an ethereal state
through a series of Chopin-esque pro-
gressions and improvisational trills,
pushes jazz into a more accessible
realm. Mehldau is able to connect with
his audience, avoiding the alienation
that plagues many composer-audience
relationships.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect
of Mehldau's music is that you cansee
the individual artist in both his covers
and his original compositions. Like a
painting that reveals the artist through.
its brush strokes, Mehldau's composi-
tions are revealed in watching his fin-
gers as they travel across the keys. The
left hand constantly builds the melody
while the right hand hangs restlessly,
awaiting a moment of inspiration to
take the improvisational lead. The
conversation between his hands, and
then between the two other band mem-
bers, speaks of the "now" that is miss-
ing from much of jazz. Unlike the jazz
that rehashes history, these moments
of creation generate a testament to the
nearness in which Mehldau is able to
reach and translate the transcendental
experience.
"Jazz, in its most inspired moments,
makes a kind of exalted fuck you to
mortality in the flux of its improvisa-
tions," Mehldau wrote in his liner notes
to his album TheArt ofthe TrioIV:Back
At The Vanguard.
Perhaps it is this aspect that listen-
ers identify with that has contributed to
Mehldau plays
classics - and
Radiohead songs.
his growing fanbase, or perhaps it is the
commodity he becomes through cov-
ering pop songs. Either way, Mehldau
reaches an audience outside of the jazz
world. He stands a chance at keeping
jazz out of hotel lobbies.
"Jazz musicians want to make the
earth move now, they don't want to
interpret how someone else did it,"
Mehldau writes.
, Concerning the trap that jazz musi-
cians fall into when they improvise
according to a predetermined struc-
ture, Mehldau suggests, "The listener
is treated like a tourist, while curator-
musicians guide them through specific
corridors of jazz history."
Maybe tonight we will experience a
show where the listener is treated like
a listener, and the musicians have no
need for hyphenated identities, where
jazz is heard on the streets instead of in
the museums.
Is there a band any more depressingly old than R.E.M.?
with sedate piano accompaniment and
breaks into vintage '90s-style rock, with
a straightforward, energizing chorus.
"Mr. Richards" is also wonderful, with
its constant high harmonies and instru-
mental drone. Its lyrics, though vague,
capture a feeling of political discontent
- "Mr. Richards your conviction / Had
us cheering in the kitchen / Now the
jury's eating pigeon pie / So tell me, how
is prison?"
"Houston," with its driving beat and
dark feel, brings to mind "Sweetness Fol-
lows" from Automatic for the People, and
"Until the Day is Done" is a combination
of "Try Not to Breathe" and the "Firefly"
theme song. The title track manages to
recreate the tense distortion of "Leave"
from New-Adventures in Hi-Fi, as does
"Sing for the Submarine," which is one
of the most menacing songs the band has
ever recorded.
After 10 tracks of the closest thing
to a return to form that R.E.M.'s had in
years, it's disappointing when you reach
the closer "I'm Gonna DJ," and find it to
be the album's only truly disposable song.
It's apparently about death, but with lyr-
ics like "Death is pretty final / I'm col-
lecting vinyl / I'm gonna DJ at the end of
the world!" and a goofy, almost-surf-rock
bass line, the song sounds less like the
sober meditations on the subject found
on earlier releases and more like some-
thing the Dandy Warhols would play as a
joke. It's just dumb.
But one bad song isn't enough to bring
down the whole record. For the first
time in more than a decade, R.E.M. has
released an album with songs that will
find their place alongside the classics.
Took them long enough.
ARTS IN BRIEF
In Concert
Cambridge choir
comes to A2 on
rare tour
Choir of King's College
Tomorrow at 8 p.m.
At Hill Auditorium
$10-$42
King Henry VI wanted
- as most kings tend to - the
best of the best. Daily church
V services were no exception.
To this end, he founded the
King's College and its choir in
Cambridge, England.
The choir, made up of 14
men and six boys, debuts
at Hill Auditorium tomor-
row at 8 p.m. with a program
of ecclesiastical big hitters
and contemporary compos-
ers heading more in the
"mainstream" direction, as
the choir's director Stephen
Cleobury says in the program
notes. Francis Poulenc, J. S.
Bach and Benjamin Britten
have made some of the most
used and highly regarded
choral pieces in the liturgical
tradition.
Singing in services is still
the choir's primary occupa-
tion, but they've gained inter-
national fame. The choir and
Cleobury straddle traditional
appeal and sensitivity to the
progress of contemporary
music composition. Their
highly popular annual Christ-
mas Eve service performance,
broadcast by BBC radio every
year since 1928, includes a
newly commissioned work
each year.
The boys in the choir are
educated onscholarship in the
King's College, which teaches
about 300 boys and girls. Men
and boys' choirs often display
astounding discipline and
professionalism and, by merit
of the voices used, present a
singular sound. Their ethe-
real music is exceptional for
the voices of pre-adolescent
boys. This visit by the Choir
presents a rare chance to see a
niche powerhouse that deliv-
ers transcendent music, no
matter your liturgical persua-
sions.I
ABIGAIL B. COLODNER
Real life star ofa21'
discusses his portrayal
By SHERI JANKELOVITZ
Daily Arts Writer
Jeff Ma never has to worry about
working a day in his life. Why?
Because for six years, Ma was an
original of the MIT blackjack team,
whose card counting skills took mil-
lions of dollars from Vegas. Eventu-
ally, Jeff Ma and his team became the
subject of a bestselling book, "Bring-
ing Down the House," which has now
been made into the hit film, "21."
Ma came from a traditional Chi-
nese family, was taught to focus on
education and earning a living and
had resigned himself to a lifetime of
hard work when he was drafted to be
a part of an MIT blackjack team spe-
cializing in counting cards.
At first, the idea didn't sit well
with him.
"I was definitely reluctant to get
involved, primarily because it didn't
seem like something that was on the
up-and-up in most respects," he said.
"It took me a while to get comfort-
able with the notion."
Despite his initial reluctance, he
soon eased into his role as the high
roller of the team, betting and win-
ning big at casinos in Vegas and in
various other parts of the country.
Unfortunately it couldn't, and didn't,
last forever.
"Essentially what happened is
that over the course of time, they got
clued into what we were doing," he
said. "They started recognizing the
same people always together, always
gambling at the same tables. Once
they knew that, the jig was kinda
up."'
But was it all as glamorous as it
appears in "21?" According to Ma,
what is shown is somewhat different
than what actually occurred, though
the true heart of the story remains.
"It's beyond surreal when you
see people on the screen acting
out scenes that really happened to
you and really occurred," Ma said.
"There's just no way to describe how
crazy that is."
Ma plays a dealer in "21," a film about his exploits as a blackjack player at MIT.
Ma has no regrets, and in fact,
believes that if not for his experi-
ences as being part of the blackjack
team, his chance at success would
have been slim.
"There would be a lot of people
who would look at what I was doing
and think it was crazy and that I
wasn't using my MIT education," he
said. "In reality, the experience has
put me in a better place to succeed,
than anything else I've done with my
life."
Though the glitz and glamour of
the high-roller lifestyle may be over,
Ma continues on with his life. He is
now the owner of a fantasy sports
company called ProTrade, but he
will never forget the excitement of
the lifestyle he once led.
"Not many people get to go to
Vegas and leave winners and we got
to do that every time we went. I thor-
oughly enjoyed it and don't think it's
something that will ever be rivaled in
my life," he said.
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