Wednesday, april 26, 1978
page 12
daily nebraskan
o arts ancL
(fiisffmi(fi)ili(fi),5
Jazz guitarists' album has a refreshing brilliant sound
By Jeff Taebel
"It is refreshing after the barrage of
electronic and synthesized sound that has
characterized the last decade of contem
porary music, to hear two brilliant, mutual
ly attuned musicians once again exploring
the resources of the acoustic guitar, cer
tainly one of the most ravishing and exhil
arating instruments in music."
The preceding quote from Mike Hennes
sey, editor of Jazz Journal International,
appears on the liner notes of Twin House,
album
an all-acoustic collaboration of jazz guitar
ists Larry Coryell and Philip Catherine and
it describes the music of the album very
well - refreshing.
Twin House represents somewhat of a
departure from the musical style of each of
these artists and the dual acoustic guitar
format on which the songs are based is one
which has not been explored a great deal.
However, coming from Larry Coryell,
nothing should be unexpected. His music
has been spotty at times in his career, but
never predictable.
When he was still playing with Eleventh
House, Coryell combined elements of pop,
jazz, the classics, blues and heavy metal in
to his songs, provoking some very power
ful responses from his listeners - either
they loved it or hated it.
Coryell seemed to be equally satisfied
playing with jazz men, fusion players or
rock'n'rollers, as exemplified by his cele
brated London blues jam with Eric Clap
ton, Ron Wood and Freddie King.
Occasionally he plays with such exquis
ite touch and such powerful emotion that,
as some have said, he seems to actually be
come the guitar. But other times he sounds
complacent and bored.
Philip Catherine, from Brussels, has
built himself a strong reputation on the
jazzrock scene in Europe. He has worked
with keyboardist Joachim Kuhn as well as
doing a stint as the lead guitarist of Focus.
His playing often is wistful and melodic,
but still retains a strong jazzrock flavor.
Both artists take turns with their solos,
but Coryell winds up dominating the al
bum with his powerful playing. His leads
have a rich tone quality and seem to be
built from the core of the songs, whereas
Catherine's solos tend to have an airy feel
ing, dancing around on the periphery.
In general, the slower tempoed, more
melodic numbers fare much better than the
upbeat or hard-edged tunes, mainly be
cause the guitars get more of a chance to
work together. On the funkier songs, es
pecially "Twin House" and Keith Jarrett's
"Mortgage On Your Soul," they seem to
just be jamming, trading licks rather than
really communicating musically. However,
these two numbers are the only low points
of the album.
Some of the other songs are made inter
esting by both guitarists' use of a twelve
string guitar, tuned in fifths rather than in
unison and octaves. Coryell's "Ms. Julie"
and Catherine's "Airpower" each feature
this technique and the results are quite
unique. These songs should be surprising to
many as far as their general sound quality.
The best tunes on the album are Cather
ine's "Homecoming," "Gloryell," which
was written for Coryell by Jimmy Webb,
and "Nuages," by the immortal jazz guitar
ist Django Reinhardt.
"Homecomings" is based on a haunt
ing chord progression and features Cather
ine's best playing on the album by far. His
delicate solo on this song is compliment
ed perfectly by Coryell's rough, bluesy
playing that follows it, causing the song to
undergo a fascinating mood change with
out changing in structure.
"Gloryell" has a fine melody and fea
tures excellent solos by each guitarist, end
ing with some spectacular runs by Coryell,
who can be extremely dynamic without
losing his deft touch and sense of melody.
His prowess is further exhibited on "Nu
ages," on which each guitarist takes a beau
tiful solo. The song climaxes with an im
provisational section that ends in some nice
harmonics that evoke a dream-like feeling.
In general, Twin House is a very good al
bum, however, I suspect with a little more
care in its assemblage, it could have been
better. The liner notes state that it was re
corded several days after Coryell and Cath
erine gave an impromptu duet performance
at the Berlin Jazz Festival and some of the
songs do sound as though they were creat
ed rather spontaneously.
Yet, despite some occasional flaws, the
musicianship displayed by Coryell and
Catherine make this quite a refreshing mu
sical experience.
Royal Winnipeg Ballet is marred by technical errors
By Charlie Krig
At best, the return of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet was a
mixed blessing. Certain moments in the Saturday per
formance were as good, if not better, than the company's
January appearance in Pershing Auditorium for the Lin
coln Community Concerts series.
On the other hand, some parts made me wish the Penn
sylvania Ballet hadn't cancelled its tour and forced a
replacement.
dance
rvi
Most of the problems were technical. Lighting cues
were noticeably off, especially in the opening Festival and
the false start on Women. The follow spots just weren't
following performers which made it more of a game to
watch the fast-footed dancers outrun the light than to en
joy the motion.
But then Festival wasn't much to appreciate. The small
Kimball Hall stage seemed to have a psychological effect
on the dancers: the movements were sluggish, wary glances
helped avoid collisions and some of the expanding diagon
al movements were confined by the restrictive stage width.
The orchestra didn't help either. Kerry Duse, assistant
musical director for the Royal Winnipeg, conducted the
musicians in the piece which he arranged. Duse tried his
best but only received sour notes and loud distortion. Fes
tival could have been a pleasant opening number but the
poor music and uncoordinated dancing made it a farce.
There was slight improvement in Glinka Pas de Trois.
Again, the dancing lacked feeling and texture. The dancers
acted as if their movements were routine drugery and not
exciting classical leaps and turns.
Another distraction was the audience. Frequent ap
plause kept the dancers at work and the audience awake
but their performances weren't deserving of that much at
tention. Roger Shim was the featured male dancer in Glinka Pas
de Trois and he also danced the title role of Sebastian, the
story of a Moorish slave who accepts death in reverence
for his unaccepted love. He lacked fire in that first piece
but had some emotive talent in Sebastian.
It was a demanding part that required almost constant
appearance on stage and, as a result, it offered two
glimpses of his talent: his stamina for long work and his
inability to maintain energy. Shim carried the story along
but the performance ended after several spurts and ex
haustions of force.
The best work of the evening was Women but it, too,
suffered from the small stage. The five female dancers
maintained their intensities during the long choreography
(set to a selection from Grace Slick's Manhole album), and
made the piece a coherent work. The movement was suit
ed to the music so that the women's frustrations were evi
dent. But the feeling of loneliness and isolation was lost in
the close proximity of the dancers forced by the small
dancing area.
The music (since it was on tape) was flawless which no
doubt made the work stand out above the other three
pieces which were accompanied by the orchestra. Blame
another problem on the lighting.
Having to open the curtains and then close them again
because someone forgot to turn off the lights in the or
chestra pit did nothing but create an unnecessary restless
feeling in the already bored audience.
To say the least, it showed a lack of professionalism
that was rectified by powerful dancing by the quintet of
ballerinas.
Professionalism seemed to be the missing element in
the evening's program. The arrangement of dances was a
bit absurd in that an intermission followed the first num
ber - a scant 20 minutes after the program began.
I doubt anyone was in need of a bathroom break that
soon so the result was only confusion as people either
shuffled in and out of the aisles or else stayed in their
seats and experienced diminishing anticipation of the next
work. A logical alternative would have been one break in
the middle of the four-part program but that would have
deprived the socialites an extra chance to mingle with
their friends in the lobby.
Maybe the Royal Winnipeg will forget Lincoln for a
few years and return with something new to offer. The
people who saw the company's Community Concerts per
formance were no doubt expecting much greater artistic
results. Those who attended for the first time probably
were disappointed after hearing about that recent success.
In either case, time will heal the wounds of the imper
fect performance and a later appearance might revive
some interest and respect for the- usually excellent company.
7 -: . slvr
B Library Book Sale n the New
1 Friday ami Saturday Auditor, urn,
J AprH28&29 Martin Public
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1 9 ajn. - 6 p.m.
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Royal Winnipeg Ballet principal dancers Joost Pelt and Bonnie Wyckoff.
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