:---EW ORCHESTRA WORKSHOP FESTIVAL
Centre C!llrurel Francc,-hone, Y:incouver
:'\o•-.:'.r.:-.er 25-28, 1987

the studios and pbying rock r,igs, as ·well as
beine
member of Pliml,,y's octet, but Thursd:;y cifht fr::md him for the first time le..ding a
group performing his owr, music. His array of
saxophones was joined by .'.faird and White for
a varied ~t. all o:iginals except for Jimmy
Garrison's Ascend.-nce. Interestingly enough,
whik playing $Opr:ino on that tune Ord avoided
the Ccl~ane ir.l1uence .:p;,,..rent in his ten~r
playing.
Fridzy night c,pen:>d wi:h Lu;iar Adventures,
powered by the a.ll-purpc$C ,hythm section of
Si111pson :wd Reed. This is a very rr,1<:,tsting
g;oup; I rw.ii.y haven't h~d ~:1ything e:~e like
them. Though showing in.'luenc--cs of rock, noise
music, Celtic music, and l'.:irmolodics, they
completely avoid fusion blandness. This night
they took a few tunes to· warm up - for their

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In the. r~ce of the consenatism rnd<·7llic to the
Car::id:.c.n j:iz.z scene, the Vancouver musiciJns
who ~e concerned with dcvelcping a more
pc:•,0.:1.31 expre-ssion have adopted a c,,operative
str"'.egy. The ~ew Orcl-,r,stra Workshop ,qs
orlginaDy .formed in 1977 by pianist P:iul
Plimky, drumm,-. Gregg SL"P-pson, bssist L.S.
La=r,-::llis, bra:::s- player ilal;,h Eppel, rnd
~xophori.st Paul Cram . . With only the in;:pir~tion- of the legendary Al 1\eil, who tutored
Sirr.pson, the :bi edition of NOW nroduccd
r:1any 1ecordings and perforrr.:rnces, ~he highlights being a collective recording emitled
"Up · Til Now .. and Paul Cr ... m 's "B!ue T,.ies
in Time.. , the latter ·: ver;rually rcl~'.!sed on.
Om,.ri. TI,e or&3nisatic,n la,:,sed after 1981,
UU{ ir. the past few y~s ~ow bs revived with
e· "~nft::;,ce thanks to the en~rgy of new
·1'1embers t,assist Clyde Rted, guimist Ron
Sa.m·.;,o,th, :rnd ;;;_-,,:ophonists Coat Cook·,
Gra~m Ord, aDd Bnice Fre,-.dman - Plimley
and Si;r.;,son remain..- . · ·
·
Wlth the ~uppc•rt of the -.:entre Culture! ·
Fran:-.:•phone, NOW h.:is :riou::·~.d se1;eril con- ·
· ,:crt ><!ries over the ;,:i.st. few y~cars. The la,est
c-Jlrr.~,~led v.rith a fow•aight festival ~t ihe
CCF \'.ovember 25-28. Cnique to Vancouver
~mcr:g C1rt2dian cities - and the ec)e-.ctic :ind
,d"enturc,us ;,rog::.::.:nmi..-ig by t.'ie Cca;.;:il .
Jazz and Blues Socie~y durir.g their t.ig-budi1et .
;t!ffir.ler feniv~ls UI'.3i.nly d;;s~rvcs so.r,e
for this - the ·so-called bc,t!ndaries between
. d;ffe1 rnt styles of jaz.z remain '.!x.:qtion2.Uy
permc:-,ble. ."Out~icers", t.'le Bc.b ~,~urphy
. Quart:t, _c_omposed _<"}f ,-udio f'.layers ~;;tretching _
out, ~ppeared on the first r::ght, and tte :
r'hfi(;,pe Lapc,inte Quimet with their New Yo:-k •
in-t!lc-f'vCket style, cpem·.d the !-e.=cnd night.
I . was unable to ·catch either, but f1om c..U ·_.
!e;,c,rts, :heir· more comm ere-~ Uy-or.it.nted styles .·.
were wekome.d by 2udience and per:ormers. :
The Coat Cook Quintet opened the Thursday ni&ht with a set m•.Htly of f:ee b1provisatic,n, This is 3 cha.11::reging formd for younger.
rr.Gsi:ians, and at ti.<1es a S.3.Illeness crept into ·
the !Iliddle ·of the pieces - didn't the last one
sot.;id like this _ toe:? Still, there were many
rewarding mc-ments provided by Cook, Sam-..orth, and three newromcrs to ~OW - I}aniel
Lzpp on trumpet, Scott White on b2ss, and
· Roger Baird ·on drums. Guest vocalist Kate
H3m.mett-Va:ighan 51:ep;,e.d out from ·. ner
!l~:11! tor~h-s~dz..: 1s tc provide several numbers
""i:h wo,d;ess vo-:al..& a la Jeanne Le.e •.1-ith
G!.:r.ler P.a..mreL : ··. . < ; ... ,_,; ~ ·.< :: .
That l:igt.7;/hts
of the most exciting ..
~sre-~ts ~-~ !1".~ :Jew Or~t,estra \Vc-rks:-Jop 7 . it .
provides per.;>rr.iers with a S'.!ppertive en-<'i::- •.
cnm~nt in ;;·t>i::h to stretch ~i;t rr.l!sic::lly: :
G~.1.'1.1m Ord
s;:,ent time =r:Jng. money in .

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music to work Coc,k's !.t:>.e, and S-.m·-orth •,
guita.r !-.ave to be as telepathic 3.S Omen~ :ind
Don Cherry. Jt's ~specially inti:resting to '!.~;,r
Simp!'-On's hig.h· energy harnersed to , he I!W,e
strucnued derilands of ~'lh r.iusic.
··
R.-ed and .Simpson s:ayed ,:,n th-e bnd,~nd
as the rhythm _,edon for Paul rlimtey, Plimley
seems ~.) be mo,i,,g into artistic r.iaturity, :he
multit::c!e of irifluences -· pa.rti;:::!arly tb.t of
Cecil Taylor ..:. me.]ded into a seamless whole
reflective of Pii..,1ley hi.·melf. Vezr inteiJecrnal,
· yet filled with ;-a~~k·n, and .. lways cb,ged wiih
that sly Piimley wit, tb~ ni:verend:,,g flew of
ide:is encomV-1sses rhc cr,tire ke-yb(j,:i :- d. Ur·:·.Jrtur.ately, the pt.no at the CCF is po.::!, but v,ith
the busy ·yet 5-Ui:'port:ve ~r..::Ju:ai;ement of
Reed end Si,-r.p;on, Plimky a!i<l the :iurlic:nce
didn'.t seem to mind, TI,ey we,e joi.c,ed by

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