Arts@Entertainment
Expressive jazz
Featured quintet scores with unlimited improvisation
By Chris Hain and Sarah Duey
Staff Reporters
Terence Blanchard has worked on
the music for five Spike Lee films
including the score from “Malcolm
X.”
However, it is performing live that
Blanchard enjoys most, he said.
Friday night, as the highlight of the
Nebraska Jazz Festival, the Terence
Blanchard Quintet performed the re
cently recorded—not yet released —
“Malcolm X Jazz Suite.”
Listening to jazz by the quintet for
two hours was anything but monoto
nous. The improvisation among band
members exceeded the limits of stan
dard jazz. Freely expressed musical
ideas were passed around between
saxophonist Sam Newsome, pianist
Bruce Barth, bassist Taurus Matecn,
percussionist Troy Davis and trum
peter Blanchard.
This wordless conversing among
instrumentalists added to the quintet’s
expressive power. Influenced by the
likes of ’60s jazz saxophonist John
Coletrain, the music of the Terence
Blanchard Quintet stands on the fore
I
ironioi tne contemporary jazz music.
Blanchard, a fine structuralist, said
the group used to work on the devel
opment of individual songs, but is
now concerned with the entire show.
“What we try to do now is take that
theory and (work) that into an entire
show so that the show has a develop
ment to it as opposed to being just a
collection of songs.”
Blanchard is coming back from
having to relearn his embouchure —
the formation of the lips on the mouth
piece of the trumpet — because he
had been playing incorrectly since
childhood and would often cut his lip.
He virtually disappeared from the jazz
scene while he worked on it.
“At first I couldn’t get a sound out
of the instrument, but it was an inter
esting thing,” Blanchard said. “I
learned a lot about myself, and I al
ways knew that it would get better, it
was just a matter of time.”
The quintet ended the show with
an up-tempo piece entitled “Perpetu
ity” and received a well-deserved
standing ovation before coming back
on stage for an encore of “I’m Getting
Sentimental Over You” and a small
segment of the “Mo’ Better Blues”
theme.
From Lincoln, the Terence
Blanchard Quintet will be traveling to
Bermuda and then to Europe.
----
Robin Trimarchi/DN
Terence Blanchard, Sam Newsome and Troy Davis of the Terence Blanchard Quintet headlined
the 1993 Nebraska Jazz festival.
Auditory hallucination,
harmonies orchestrate
Dinosaur Jr lyrics,
Judy bat s’ poetic love
Omaha band goes national
I The first was a demo tape, tilled
I “DAMMIT,” the second a compact
disc called “Unity.”
The band continued to improve.
“Hydroponic” was the EP they hoped
would gel them noticed by a label, SA
said.
“‘Hydroponic’ showedourgrowth,
our improvement and our increased
focus,” he said. “Our songwriling had
improved, and we knew what to do in
the studio.”
The album was finished in Febru
ary 1992. Less than a month later, the
band moved to California.
They left Omaha with a new EP,
enough money to live for six months
and a healthy dose of confidence.
“You have to have confidence, to
be sure of what you want,” SA said.
“Some people might think it’s atti
tude, but you gotta have it to make it
out here.”
Soon after arriving in Van Nuys,
the band became friends with Eddie
Offord. Offord, a well-known pro
ducer who worked with YES, had
listened to“Unity”and was interested
in working with the band. SA said
Offord’s presence was a contributing
factor to the band’s label deal.
In August 1993 the band was signed
by the Nashville, Tenn. based Capri
corn Records, a subsidiary of Warner
Rrr\c Thr* hr»nH r»nlr>rrrl lhf» diirlin
July, with Offord producing.
He proved to be an asset.
“He really knows what hc’sdoing,
and he’s really open minded,’’ SA
said. “He’s always up for something
different.”
The result of the collaboration, the
album “Music,” had band members
very pleased with themselves.
“It sounds so good,” S A said. “I’m
still ama/cd, it stays so fresh. And it’s
real consistent with the vision we
have for the band.”
With the album completed, the
band will head for the road. A tour is
planned, and it will probably start in
the Southeast, where Capricorn has
heavily promoted the band, P-Nut
said.
But Nebraska fans need not worry,
the band will hit the Midwest.
“Nebraska’s where we started,”
SA said “Omaha has always been the
place where the crowd’s energy is at
its strongest. We miss that.”
But enjoy the muse while you can:
Honest talent is hard to find.
“Where You Been” is pure Di
nosaur Jr, and there is no doubt
about it. Yet, as hard as originality
is to find with each new album,
Dinosaur Jr seems unique.
New instruments are tried and
tested in ways you thought un
imaginable. Orchestrated strings
are pulled and picked until a mix
ture of pain and pleasure is ab
sorbed by your senses.
The album appears more soft
and melodramatic compared to
early Dinosaur Jr, but with each
playing you reali7X5 it’s just an au
ditory hallucination. The power
strikes you with each individual
note and Mascis’ uneasy voice
smacks you around in the process.
If you’ve cherished Dinosaur Jr
through the years, you’ll only rel
ish them more. If you’ve never
paid much attention to them, start,
and welcome to the prehistoric land
of the Dinosaur.
c: _i.. “U/ko-a
Courtesy of Capricorn Records
Chad Sexton, Timothy J. Mahoney, P-Nut, SA and Nicholas
Hexumare311.
Courtesy of Sire/Warner Bro
Dinosaur Jr.
“Where You Been”
Dinosaur Jr
Sire/Warner Brothers
“Pain Makes You Beautiful”
Judybats
Sire
Dinosaur Jr has done it again.
This time it is even better than
before, and simply titled “Where
You Been.”
To experience such a well-en
dowed musician, such as J. Mascis,
in our generation is truly a blessing.
By Tom Mainelli
Senior Editor
When Doug Martinez left the Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln, he only
had one semester left before graduat
ing with an English degree.
Martinez wasn’t a quitter, just a
dreamer.
On Tuesday, Martinez, also known i
as S A, and his band 311 will realize a
dream — the national release of their i
first major label debut album, “Mu
• _ •>
sic.
‘‘I always fell like it was gonna <
happen, now it has,” Martinez said in
a telephone interview from Van Nuys,
Califi
The band is led by Martinez and
fellow rapper/vocalist Nick Hexum.
P-Nut handles the bass, Tim Mahoney
the guitar and Chad Sexton, drums.
All the members are from Omaha.
P-Nut said the band’s Nebraskan
heritage proved to be an asset in a
Dusincss wncrccvcryonc trictl lo sound
like the next band.
“Being from Omaha was a real
advantage,” he said. “We were shel
tered, in our own little microcosm,
free to create our own sound, with no
outside forces influencing us. There
wasn’t much competition; it let us just
be ourselves.”
311 look that freedom and used it
to create a sound distinctly its own.
P-Nut described the band’s sound
as, “all about rap, reggae, salsa, jazz
and funk. All the stuff that’s fun lo
play.”
Fun to play, and fun to listen to.
lust ask anyone who has seen the band
ear up a set at Omaha’s Ranch Bowl,
where the group first gained popular
ly
The band caught the attention of
Ranch Bowl’s Matt Markel and much
of Omaha’s music audience after its
first performance as 311.
On June 10,1990 the band played
at Omaha’s Sokol Hall. They opened
for veteran hardcore band Fugazi.
After the debut, the band kept busy,
rhey played almost weekly at the
Ranch Bowl and other local venues.
Afterabout two years of local play,
311 gathered a strong following in
Omaha and Lincolij. The group had
Will V IVWI Mil ivivwva »» "V«V
You Been” Tuesday.
Romance is so hard to find these
days, yel Feb. 23 the Judybats re
lease their third album, which
proves romance is still alive and
well.
‘‘Pain Makes You Beautiful”
kick starts your broken heart and
puts you back on the road again .
Songs like “All Day Afternoon”
combine the harmonic voices of
Jeff Heiskell, Johnny Sughrue and
Paul Noe with masterfully poetic
lyrics that demand loyalty, respect
and pure unadulterated love.
The album truly brightens the
soul with a catchy rhythm and a
blending use of the acoustic guitar.
The Judybats infectious tunes
are produced by Kevin Moloney
(Sinead O’Connor and 112) on Sire
records. “Pain Makes You Beauti
ful” should be bought by anyone in
the mood for love.
— Dana Franks