THE EDMONTON JOURNAL, Sunday, July 10, 1988

Arts & Entertainment

abwe oddities stop Westerners in tracks
,LA

and

imon deZimbamade its
mt at a
:, oddities
the same
:d-out the
,f

ntroduced
sound of
: included
ns on his
1e he said
ing it for
owing beniliar and

,thers' two
aim. The
their guiwas twonitive '50s
sponsibilnes unlike
1 band's.
Iessly re-

peated a circular riff while it was
bassist Never Mutare who led us on
tangential excursions. The drummer
and bandleader Marashall Munhumumwe, who sang lead vocals,
seemed to follow rather than drive
the beat.
The off-peat rhythm was nonetheless immediately'infectious and eminently danceable (although organizers must be roundly crit~cized for
As -it turned out, tenorist Halley
calling it a dance-party and leaving a
and associates . trombonist
sell-out crowd of 650 liftle !DOre ·
Thomas Hill: pianist Geoff Lee,
floor space than three -bus· shelters ,
drummer Will Thomas, altoist Gary
would consume). But after half a set,
Harris, bassist Philip Sparks those lead guitar lines became far
came across as a serious, studious,
too predictable.
,.,
, 1iighly focused ous ensemble, one
That is easily ~xplained by :the
who·se inspirations lean far more to
Zimbabwean practice of pl;iying
Charles Mi11gus, say, than that other
several two and three-hour sets durinfamous band of reptiles, New
ing an evening's labor. You can't
Yotk's Lounge Lizards.
blame a band for some recycling. ·
Playing to an appreciative audiBut while The Four Brothers'
ence of 70, Halley's Oregonians
won't do for African music what
presented a two-set, I I-tune proRich Halley
Bob Marley did for reggae, their ingram that effectively mixed intri. .. lead Lizard Brother
clusion at the festival made fpr a
guing arrangements of covers (Miles'
horizon-broadening and certainly Rich Halley band are also kno n as Serpent's Tooth, Strayhorn's Lush
pleasant evening.
the Lizard Brothers. Ifs a pretty Life, Mingus' Eclipse) with appealfreaky moniker and it leads op.e to ing originals like a 15-mjnute suite/The Rich Halley Band
expect some pretty freaky m ~ical tableau called A View of the World
Chinook Theatre
goings-on. It didn't happen En day from Third and Burnside.
To his credit, Halley - a reedevening, at least not in the precious,
concept, if
For reasons probably known only self-consciously avant-garde way man whose personal
not his tone and actual execution,
to themselves, the members of the one might have anticipated.

sax

owes a lot to Sonny Rollins - has
fashioned something more than just
a virtuoistic blowing vehicle here. In
effect, his sex.tet functions as a small
big band, with detailed arranging
serving to integrate bantering ensemble passages with lavish solo expression.

F7

Today in
Jazz City
The ninth annual Jazz City International Jazz Festival closes
today with free afternoon performances in Churchill Square:
• Blue Sky, 11 :45 a.m.-1:15
p.m.
• Dave Turner Quinte~, 2-3
p.m.
• David Friesen Trio, 3:30-5
p.m.

left in the old "fusion music" carcass.
In fact, saxman Coat Cooke, guitarist Ron Samworth, bassist Clyde
Reed and drummer Gregg Simpson
have concocted a compelling ensemble sound from diverse inspirations
- Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny,
Lunar'Adventures
John Scofield (circa the Bar Talk
Centennial Library Theatre
LP), Captain Beefheart, John Sur.
. · man, even Celtic music.
Nine days of Jazz City concerts m
All these elements came together
the basement of the Centennia~ ~i- in a very heady brew Saturday, from
brary came to· an end Saturday with the catchy Coleman-esque funk of
the cry of an alto sax, the swelling Cooke's Ranul, to the rollicking
feedback of an electric gllitar, a bass' strains of Simpson's Celtic Calypso,
bagpipe-like drone.
and to the foreboding and feedback
The sounds were courtesy of V~- of Brooklyn. Occasionally it all
couver's Lunar Adventures. Playmg sounded like the mating -.calls of
to a, ahem, crowd of 35, the quartet rogue police sirens but in every inprovided ·one of the more interesting stance these "free" tendencies were
performances of Jazz City '88 - and balanced with winning lyrical
demonstrated there's still some life touches.