The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, November 8, 1995 - 9
- V 1 u
Roberts'
By James Miller
Daily Ats Writer
Truly romantic music is
find. In an age when grab-i
it R&B passes for love song
a love song should be treas
Roberts brought the lo
Gershwin, from his new albu
for Lovers," to the Power
taste, style and a fresh new
Roberts warned the crow
be playing Gershwin for the
crowd to "get them hookedu
with "They Can't Take Tha
Me" beginning with ahugeb
melded into "Foggy Day" an
Love." On "The Man I L
begantoopenupandlethisso
Deftly imitating Gershwin's
osestylehissoloswerefilledw
rapidchordarpeggiationando
devices, going do far as to
"Rhapsody inBlue"intothat
ButontopofthatRobertsadd
hisowntechnique. His solosu
blistering runs and rhythmsp
tue, between the slow strid
romantic concert for jazzy lovers
as well as in unison, in a Dixieland style.
VIEW The next notable piece was "Wails
a rare thing to Marcus Roberts From the Orient." Again Roberts played
t-lick-it-poke- with several styles. Beginning as a stan-
s, real class in =- Power Center dard be-bop cooker it mutated into a
ured. Marcus November 3, 1995 disjointed, dissonant novelty piece and
ve songs of then to a Kansas City barrelhouse stomper.
um "Gershwin After some fairly decent solos from the
r Cenfer with nearly every tune, Roberts played horns, the trio proceeded to tear the roof
take. Gershwin with a new ferocity and vigor. the sucker. Playing about as tightly as a
dthathewould But it got a little thick at times. The rhythm section can play, they brought
e lovers in the conceptions of the songs were so differ- together two solo lines in the bass and
up." He led off ent and new, the beauty and originality of piano to a thundering, swinging finale,
at Away From Gershwin's writing got lost in all the ink. showcasing Roberts lightning technique
asssolo,which The solos taken by the bass and drums, and harmonic conception.
nd "The Man I although well played, became laborious The last two pieces ofthe set were two
ove" Roberts and dense. All of Gershwin's music has fairly average blues tunes with a few
)loabilitiesout. corners and limits. In his efforts to re- interesting nuances, the last song was
florid, grandi- move these corners, Roberts seemed to written in 5/4 time. The real set closer
vithglissandos, miss the simplicity of the music and step was the encore, a piece written by the
)therGershwin on himself from time to time. trumpet player called "The Inquiry." The
insert bits of Hemorethatmadeupthisminorsinby band played this tune with a greater flu-
particularsolo. closing the set with the famous ency and feeling forthe blues than many
ledelementsof "Embracable You." The epitome of taste of the original compositions that night.
werefilledwith and swing,the song wastreatedto smooth Turning in great solos on the tune were
placed, double brushwork from Marsalis and simple, the trumpet player and the trombonist,
e piano frame- downright tasty playing from Roberts; who recalled some of greater moments of
everything ballad trio jazz should be. Count Basie's trombones.
abe summed The second set added two tenor/clari- It was one hell of a show. Marcus
t Necessarily net players, a trumpeter and a trombonist Roberts' technique combined with the
song Roberts to the trio. Playing only Roberts compo- George Gershwin's compositional skill
in't Necessar- sitions, the band showed its abilities in all made for quite a evening. For a man as
is playing of arenas of music. The first tune, "Express respectful and knowledgeable ofthe jazz
iershwin, but Mail Delivery" was pretty much a stan- tradition, seeing a packed house turn out
:ic pace of his dard blues with an interesting twist. The to hear the music of a long dead jazz
ng to the mas- piece began in the usual A-A-B, bop genius like Gershwin, played by a rising
ammer (Jason format with soloists following one at a star nurtured in the present tradition must
er members of time. Later in the tune the soloists began have made the show as enjoyable for him
and bassist in to play in groups, playing off each other as it was for us.
KRISTEN SCHAEFER/Daily
Marcus Roberts and his trio perform a fantastic set at the Power Center last Friday.
4
Estonian Philharmonic transcends typical music
RECORDS
Continued from page 8
Cypress Hill
III (Temples ofBoom)
Ruffhouse/Columbia
Just like their performance on last
summer's Lollapalooza, Cypress Hill's
new album is pretty boring and way too
full of marijuana references.
One or the other of these things prob-
ably wouldn't be too bad. While boring
from the more laid-back nature of the
album, there's still some interesting mu-
sical and vocal manipulations. "Illusions"
is a downward spiral of vocals in the
chorus, making for a spine-tingling bit o'
sing-songness. Most of the songs are not
as innovative, however, and sort of fall to
the ground and lie there like so many
unconscious potheads that have lost their
athletic physiques by eating too many
cream-filled treats. Not surprising con-
sidering the huge bong that was the cen-
terpiece of the group's stage set.
Cypress Hill's last album, "Black Sun-
day," had plenty of annoying pot refer-
ences, but still had the energy to over-
come that obstacle. "UI"'s evil-acting
songs don't even have energy. "No Rest
For the Wicked" is one of those "no
thanks to..." songs, but it just runs on on
asimplisticbass-line and very little elseto
prop it up. Simple repetitive bass-lines
are a mainstay for the album. That can
work, but it is the main thing you can hear
a lot of the time, and it just wears on the
listener.
"Make a Move" starts out promisingly,
with eithera sample of Samuel L. Jackson
giving his Ezekiel 25:17 speech or some-
one imitating his delivery, and the song
begins as if it is going to break into
something energetic. But it doesn't. The
whole album just remains chronically
mired in some sort of musical swamp.
The album's virtually ambient. Well,
I'm surethepot faithful will enjoy it, from
the opening "Spark Another Owl" to the
last strains of "Everybody Must Get
Stoned." It'll be interesting if the frat-
hopsters were to get into real ambient
from this album. Nah, they'll probably
just listen to more of the Grateful Dead or
something.
- Ted Watts
Nteeoteb i Sotoaity kusl?
Corse dkeck out the yews oioity at
Gamma Phi Beta
1 eg O~e 1Jikstea 1 kk
Thursday 7pm
at the I'DB house
1520 S. University
Casual Attire
Information 761-1520
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