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Thursday, September 20, 1934
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By Mena Z. IXoppelxnsxi
Dtily Netrxskia GerJor Eeporter
T"JJ" Tfiooo-ccc, it was sizzlin
( down at the Garden.
V V Heat lightnin crccklin
soft on percussion, cicadas do-in
shoo-wahs backin up the be
boppin crickets. They was tiot,
they ivas sojl, they was sizzlin
like eggs, easy over.
BA WP blew the sax man, tryin
out the lowliest note, like a fog
horn on the Mississippi
Bawp, be-do-bop-bow-BEEP he
ran through the middlin notes
fingers flyin up to the tip-top
squeak.
Even the crickets backed down
when the sax man started to
blow...
Some nights, when it's nice out
side, you can walk by Sheldon
Sculpture Garden and hear the
sax man blow.
You can see him, -hoisting his
horn up in the moonlight, playing
licks from jazz classics. He hangs
out under the bridge that spans
the Garden facing the wall,
just blowing.
"It's like an echo chamber down
here," he says, doinjj a lick from
John Coltranes' "Giant Steps." He
stops now and then, cocking his
head to listen before he finishes
his tune.
Sax man Matt Wallace started
playing at the Garden a year ago.
Seeking a cool place to practice,
he wandered around UNL& city c&m
pus with horn in hand until he
.found the Garden.
"I blew a few notes, and the
sound was incredible," he said. "It
was like playing in the shower.
Now I play there a lot spring,
fall, summer if I have the time."
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Spare time is something the
sax man has precious little of.
Splitting time between his music
and college life, 22-year-old Wal
lace seems to be two people: Matt
Wallace, student, former ASUN
president, fraternity member
and Matt Wallace, musician. Even
this interview must be squeezed
between class and practice, out
side of Broyhill Fountain.
"It's like being an actor. I have
two different roles, different
scenes," Wallace said. "I dont think
the best musicians are those who
think about musjc 24 hours a
day. You can get too burned out"
Wallace barely finishes his
sentence before he's interrupted.
He answers halloos from three
directions. A Husker football
player, someone from the cam
pus activities office, a sorority
member Wallace smiles, shakes
hands, counsels friends' love lives.
This man is different than the
smokey-eyed sax man seducing
his horn in the Garden. Now his
hazel eyes sparkle, his blond head
tilts forward socially, his posture
is a study in relaxed attentiveness.
"Call me sometime, well get
together..."
rip-tap-tippHy drummin on
thestcering wheel with aril
his fingers spread Mm mm
huh-hmm humming under his
breath the broom brushes 'swisky
beat
Head swingin side to side to
side to side with tiie taped music
of his horn
Street lights sparkin the rain
drops on the windshield
"...its like that when I play,
you know, all those little lights,
like a whole spectrum just cool
and smooth and its so good
&orld
3 nWrW.GftO
"I think about the old nature
nurture question," Wallace said.
"Was I born with this, or did my
environment make me the way I
am? I think it's probably a mix-
V
ture cf both."
Wallace said to some degree
music is in his blood. Ilia parents
adopted him when he was a few
weeks old. He knows that hi3 bio
logical mother graduated from
college with a degree in music,
and he thinks both biological
parents may have been perform
ing musicians.
But Wallace emphasises his en
vironmental influences more than
any innate musical gift he may
have.
He talks .about grade school.
Like every other lO-ysar-oId boy,
he wanted to play the drums. But
fortunately an adviser told him
every other 10-year-old boy want
ed to play the drums. He decided
to opt for the saxophone.
He talks about high school at.
Omaha Westslde. Competition
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Hours: 12 to 5 weekdays
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SJudontsSeolor O'toons. .
Adults
man...
i
was fierce in the big school with
lots of talented students. He naa
to be dedicated. He learned early
how to divide time between high
school social Ufe and music.
He talks about his parents most
of all, two people who support
him no matter what direction his
musical interests take him.
Decisions had to be made. Wal
lace could have gone to music
schoob like Northern Illinois out
side of Chicago, North Texas State
at Denton or the Berkeley Con
servatory of Music in Boston.
But he wanted the best of both
worlds, academic and musical
He decided to major in political
science at UNL He liked the de
partment, the campus, the fra
ternity system. And he wanted to
take up some offers by local jazz
orchestras. .
During hi? career here he was
played with a variety of groups:
Neoclassic Jazz Orchestra, Resur
rected Swing and the Dave Bacon
Big Band; commercially, the Guli
zia Brothers, Shades of Danger
and the now-defunct Star City
Players, a rock top 40 band; and
the ska-influenced Danny OTCane
and the Model Citizens Club.
"g""77 is name i3 circulating, and
j y even limited fame pays off.
. JLil He earned a spot in the
horn section cf Third World, a
regsaa bznd that performed at
Pershing Auditorium last fall Al .
Jarreau's band sat in with Wal-.
lace and the Gulizia Brothers at
Julio's West in Omaha this sum
mer, and Mr. Myers, are33
band based in Chicago, offered
Wallace a horn spot on this year's
tour.
His varied interests jazz, blues,
reggae, rock and new wave
make jazz fusion comfortable for
ij ;i
- h
BETRAYAL by Harold Pinter
October 4. 5. 6 A 8 thru 13 at 8:00 p.m.
TEE HOSTAGE by Brendan Behan
Ocfc5or2& 26. 27k 29 thru November 3 at 8:CQp.m
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February 14. 15. 16 & 18 thru 23 at B OO p.m.
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March 7. 8, 9 5c 12 thru 16 a 20 thru 23 at 8.00 p.m,
and March 9, 16 & 23 at 3:00 p.m.
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April 25. 26. 27 A 29 thru May 4 of 6 00 p.m.
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Wallace.
"Fusion b probably closest to
where I'm at riht now as a player,"
he said. "Fusion v3 a very natu
ral process for me. I grew up on a
diet of everything from Glen Miller
to John Coltrane to the Beatles to
Earth, Wind and Fire."
He said many mainstream jazz
artists have tried to write com
mercially and failed, because
fusion wasnt natural to them.
But some artists succeeded, and
Wallace said their music helped a
broader audience appreciate
some of the elements of jazz.
"Jazz is stimulating to the aud
ience as well as the players," he
said. "Jazz b spontaneous. On
any given niht, you dont know
who the players will be, or what
tunes will be played. So the
audience and the players must be
ready for anything."
Little bar, tkwe or four pieces
playin, there s the sax man. His
horn isprayin, prayin the blues.
He feds how hard we try all the
time. lies like a schoolteacher
with that horn, a preacher.
Everybody else, they feel it too.
They shake they heads, tap tttey
toes, the groove is unmistakable,
everybody here is jazzy.
Now we 're all leanin, we Ye all
jumpin, we're all just swsatin,
it 's so crowded. And the sax man
grabbed that horn and hoislid it
up and blew. His head is movin
side to si-da and his jaws are
workin hard and fast and his
fingers are grippin and dancin
and tappin thai horn. Then he
holds it real close so he almost
pulls ,it inside and just when
we 're all near ready to die he lets
go with some designs that make
us all jump and rcszd with cur
inzidss.
CoatJansd cn Page 10
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