ENTERTAINMENT
MY TUNE
by
Obataiye B. Akinwole
What is passionate playing? In the
simplests terms, passionate playing
can be defined with three words: New
World Trio. On Friday night my wife
treated me to an evening that I won’t
quickly forget: a concert featuring
the New World Trio. The trio which
includes Kash Killion on cello, Eddie
Marshall on drums and recorder and
Durham native India Cooke on violin.
A pleasantly curious effect was pro
duced by this combination. The group
“blends the roots of African
American blues and jazz traditions in
a unique contemporary style.”
The combination of violin, cello and
drums allowed the performers a
sense of freedom not obtainable in
most groups. They were unrestrained
by traditional combinations. The
musicians were in total control of
their instruments. They produced
rhythmic and melodic combinations
that I thought not possible for violin,
cello and drums.
A program widely diverse in its
content began with a Monk/Mingus
medley. Monk and Mingus would
have been proud of the group’s inter
pretation of their pieces. India was
featured on a piece she penned titled
“6.23.83” that should have ended the
program, or so I thought until 1 heard
“Sirus A&B,” a cello solo on a violin
pedal point. The moving rhythm of
“Halifu’s Hat Dance” featured tradi
tional African polyrhythms played by
drummer Eddie Marsha!! in conver
sation with the violin and cello. The
interplay between the instruments
was unreal. These folks know each
other... spiritually. An upbeat rendi
tion of Charlie Parker’s “Donna L»e”
ended the first set.
The spiritual is a form that we as
musicians seem never to get enough
of. A special feature of the evening’s
concert was “I Want Jesus to Walk
with Me,” which was arranged by my
old piano teacher, Barbara Cooke;
yes, India’s mother. The influences of
the spiritual tradition and Barbara’s
longtime friend Don Shirley came
through clearly, but there was
enough of Ms. Cooke there to make
for a wonderfully refreshing arrange
ment.
The melody was simple, the
rhythm was simple, and the effect on
the listener was highly complex.
India continued her mastery of the
violin on “Ahh Ummbug.” There was
an amazing mood swing when in the
niiddle of the second set Eddie Mar
shall switched to recorder for an ef
fective piece of playing on Thelonious
Monk’s “Ruby My Dear,” which hap
pens to be one of my favorite stan
dards. Kash Killion and India hooked
up on Mai Waldron’s “Soul Eyes.”
These two know how to extricate a
song’s underlying emotion. Both are
amazingly dextrous on their in
struments. The set closed with a
piece by Kash Killion (“Killion
Trillion”) which seemed to snap
everybody awake. Now if you can im
agine not being asleep in the first
place and being snapped awake,
that’s the kind of effect the piece had.
My only criticism of the concert
was that it was not well put-together
technically. The drums were over
powering at times. The regal and
splendid interplay between the violin
and the cello was often lost in the
rumble of the snare drum. The violin
and cello should have been amplified
so that we could have heard more of
that wonderful sound.
JON LUCIEN
Lucien Re-enters Music
Scene With New Albums
Jon Lucien, international perform
ing and recording artist, musician,
cofnposer and arranger, re-enters the
music scene with a brilliant new
album, “Listen Love:” his debut
release on Mercury Records.
Smooth and easy, with a pleasing
afterraste that gently caresses the
tastebuds, Jon’s new album frames
the magnificence of this rare per
former. His warm, rhythmic lyrics
and melodies reflect the essence of
his native St. Thomas, where, as a
young boy, he learned the musical
skills of his father, Eric, an ac
complished classical guitarist, and
ms motner, Eloise, a singer.
Dubbed “The Architect of Aural
Seduction,” Jon’s the frontrunner to
musical seducers like A1 Jarreau and
Luther Vandross. Jon was nominated
twice in the same category for the
Grammy Awards for his composi
tions “Lady Love” and “Rashida”
froin the album of the same name.
His distinctive voice has been
featured in more than a dozen televi
sion and radio commercial en
dorsements including Air Jamaica,
Almond Joy, Burger King, Diet Seven
Up, Exxon and U.S. Virgin Islands.
Now, after a self-imposed hiatus
lasting almost a decade, Jon Lucien,
the man whose seductive tenor
baritone vocals put the quiet in the
storm, is back with “Listen Love,”
which he produced and wrote. Jon
also utilized the remarkable talents
of Jeff Lorber to produce two of the
cuts.
During his absence from the
forefront of the music industry, Jon
retreated to tne laid-back Caribbean
sanctuary of his native St. Thomas in
the Virgin Islands. He stayed there
from 1965 to 1969, a period during
which he says, “I just stopped sing
ing. I played my bass in little jazz
combos making 9100 a night. That
might sound crazy but it was just
something I needed to do.” It wasn’t
until he moved to the rural hills of
Puerto Rico (where he still resides)
that the urge to record once again
surfaced.
Living peacefully in the solitude of
the beautiful rain forest, he enjoys
the luxury of island living where he
finds the tranquil beauty to be
creative and where he deals with the
industry more on his own terms,
where maturity has calmed his fears
of new musical trends such as rap
and hip-hop, preventing his music
from being heard. “I can’t worry
about that now. America speaks
several different languages. You
know, there’s the street, the intellec
tual, the rich, the poor, the white col
lar, the blue collar, and so forth. I just
speak my language as best I can
through my music.”
With such rhythmically sensual
romantic songs as “Sweet Control,”
“Nothing Lasts Forever,” “Listen
Love,” and “You Take My Breath
Away,” there’s no dobut that this new
album will place Jon Lucien back in
the forefront of the music scene. “I
can’t let the fear of musical barriers
hinder me,” he adds, summing it all
up. “Because in the final analysis it’s
humans that are listening and they
are going to make their own choices.”
Dance Festival
Receives Grant
Reader’s Funds
The American Dance Festival has
received a $300,000 grant from the
: Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Fund
; for the production and touring of its
Black Tradition in American Modern
Dance program.
The three-year, grant will support
twin goals: the reconstruction of
modern dance classics by African
American choreographers and the
touring of these works to audiences
around the country.
Since 1968, ADF’s Black Tradition
in American Modem Dance project
has reconstructed works by Donald
McKayle, Eleo Pomare, Talley Beat
ty and Pearl Primus, and presented
them to ADF audiences. Many of the
works were set on the Dayton Con
temporary Dance Company, whom
the choreographers cited repeated
for the quality of its dancers. Thus,
DCDC now has in its repertory such
works as McKayle’s “District
Storyville” and “Rainbow ’Round My
Shoulder,” Pomare’s “Blues for the
Jungle” and “Missa Luba,” and
Beatty’s “Mourner’s Bench” and
“The Road of the Phoebe Show.”
During the next three years, the
Dayton company will tour the coun
try performing these and other
masterworks, while a panel of dance
experts will select additional classics
by African-American
choreographers for reconstruction on
the company. Each year, DCDC will
also perform at the ADF in Durham
(in 1991, it performs June 13-15).
ADF is also offering a
humanities/audience education pro
gram to complement the Black Tradi
tions performances and place the
works in the context of American
culture. These public panels and
discussions, to be presented before
each performance, will bring
together a team of scholars led by Dr.
Gerald Myers, professor of
philosophy at Queens College, whose
long association with ADF on other
audience education projects has been
highly successful. The humanities
program will be tailored to the
specific needs and interests of the
community ; sponsors may use it as a
tool for broadening and diversifying
their audiences.
The Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest
Fund promotes the growth and ap
preciation of the arts in America
through projects of national impact in
the performing, visual and literary
arts by encouraging interactions bet
ween artists and communities. Thus,
fund-initiated programs often incor
porate community outreach, partner
ships, and collaborations to support
artistic endeavors. With annual
grants totaling more than $20 million,
the fund is one of the largest private
funders of the arts in the United
States.
Award Named For
Compser Goes
To Fitzgerald
NEW YORK (AP) — Ella
Fitzgerald gets the Cole Porter
Centennial You’re The Top award at
Radio City Music Hall.
Margaret Cole Richards, a cousin
of the Indiana composer, presented
Miss Fitzgerald with an engraved
crystal sculpture during the jazz
singer’s concert at Radio City.
She was honored for “outstanding
achievements for sustaining the Cole
Porter legend.” The award is named
after one of *he composer-lyricist’s
most popular hits.
d .. ....
help build a Children's Musaum About tbe World in
downtown- Raloigh. In a apodal salute to Raleigh’s
International population, more than 150 Raleigh
youngsters have boon invited to join the cast tor two
unforgettable children’s sonos.
Gee Morris Leads innocence Into
Unique Territory With House Rock
Innocence is more than a group. In
nocence is a state of mind. Chosen as
the moniker for a talented group of
British soulsters, Innocence has carv
ed out a unique territory that might
best be called Ambient House Rock.
Fronted by a suave and super
sensuous lead singer named Gee Mor
ris, the collective boasts London’s
triumvirate production team of Anna
Jolley, Mark Jolley and Brian Harris.
Together their aim was to create
music as listenable as it was
danceable, and since house music
kept dubgoers on the dance floor and
soul music defined feeling, Innocence
married the two into an intoxicating
and hypnotic sound.
Their debut release on Chrysalis
Records, “Belief,” weaves 10 ir
resistibly melodic compositions into a
soulful tapestry that covers a wide
musical spectrum. The LP’s first
single, “Let’s Push It," alternates
between rhythmic dance grooves fend
lullaby-soft guitar, passages. “Silent
Voice” is a riveting, jazzy mood
maker whose lyrics, explains Morris,
“suggest the silence of children, inno
cent parties who can’t do anything for
themselves in an adult world.”
Topping the charts all over Europe,
“Nature! Thing” is an anti-apartheid
song with a distinct romantic edge.
And “Riders on the Storm" is an at
mospheric update on the classic
Doors track.
Connecting all the songs is in
nocence’s signature positive
message: uplifting, encouraging,
self-aware. Morris says, “I don’t like
to shock people into listening to what
I have to say. Music should be per
tormed for people to relax into. It can
be tough for people struggling to
achieve their goals, so I believe we
should thrive off each other’s
energies.”
Morris’ philosophy on music
developed when she started singing
at age 14 with a local band, having
previously sung in her church choir.
The group gave her an entree into
commercial performance, and also
into songwriting. “I was always more
i ... mu.nit i i.ii-ttmiiHirfhMaiiMiMMMMiMMMaiiii j lib'-minr
into writing,” she confesses, “but
get a buzz from performing.” Sh<
became affiliated with Innocenc*
when her longtime friend, Pau
Johnson, asked her to help out with i
project.
The result is “Belief,” an albun
that has already gone gold in the UK
With five top 40 hits. The sound of In
nocence has also topped the charts ii
Germany, Spain, France, Japan an<
[ Australia.
> “I think I’ve been very fortunate,”
> remarks Morris, on the international
I success of Innocence to date.
i Now, “Belief” is about to hit U.S.
stores, with key tracks newly mixed
i for the American audience. But the
group’s special energy is a constant:
“Innocence is all about the right at
i titude,” concludes Gee Morris. “It’s
I about positive vibes.”
: Rap Show Canceled
!
HAMPTON, Va. (AP)-Friday
night’s scheduled concert by Run
DMC, which became the subject of a
lawsuit by the city, was canceled
after just 53 people showed up' to hear
the rap group perform.
Promoter Ron Holt thanked those
who showed up at Legion Hall and
refunded their ticket costs.
Holt, who said he had expected a
crowd so large that people would
have to De turned away trom uie
1,125-seat facility, declined to com
ment on his decision to cancel the
The city had filed a lawsuit asking
that the concert be barred from
Legion Hall because of the building’s
size and proximity to residential
areas and small businesses.
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