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NOVEMBER 16-NOVEMBER 22, 1979

VANCOUVER FREE PRESS

New And Unusual Music
After last week's
successful concerts by the
English guitarist Fred Frith
and Toronto's CCMC quartet.
Vancouve rites once again
have the o pportunity to
C'Xpose themselves to new
and unusual forms of music
this weekend . when the
members of the New
Orchestra Workshop Society
will present the first annual
Vancouve r CreativC' Music
Festival. The three day
event. he ld on Friday the
16th through Sunday the
18th at 1616 W. 3rd (rear)
wili showcase 12 of th('
Pacific Northwest's most
innovativP new music
groups . duets. and solo
artists.
Friday night the lin('-up
includ es Randy Rain-Reusch.
the Contemporary String
Quartet. and the N.O.W .
Quintet. On Saturday. AKA.
Bob Bell. and the CORD
Orchestra will play. and on
Sunday the f('aturPd acts will
. be Bob Murphy. the Don
Druick/Lyle Ellis duet. and
Ikllingham·s Viktor Koncept.
Unkss you'v(' been n." adi!1g
these · pages regularly. you're
probably not familiar with
many or the above names .
They never gt't coverage in
the daily papers. and they
gd very littlf' airplay outsid('
ol Co-op Radio. but son](' of
the city·s best musicians. the
on<'s who pr<"ff' r to create
r;,ithcr than to mimic familiar

styles. can be found in their
ranks.

wonderful touch on the
instrument. and can spin out
melodic improvisations for
hours. Rain-Reusch also
plays khae n . a south -east
Asian reed instrument that
sounds like a cross· between
bagpipes and a clarinet. and
electric Hawaiian lap-steel
guitar.

AKA is developing a
reputation in new wave
circles as the band that
combines weird guitars and
saxophones with futuristic
lyrics and an insistently
funky. danceable beat. For
this New Orchestra Studio
appearance they'll be leaving
be hind their rock drum kit
and big amplifiers. to
concentrate instead on low
volume electric and acoustic
improvisations.
Bob Bell is a natural
musician . one of those
people who can produce
interesting sounds out of just
about anything. On Saturday
he'll probably be using
guitars. alto sax. and
vibraphone in a display of
his solo abilities.

Peterson with the energy of
avant-gardists Cecil Taylor
and Muha! Richard Abrams.
Murphy's music is always a
treat.

his assortment of
saxophones: and Ralph
Eppel alternates be tween
hair-raising bellowing and
punchy slide work on his
trombone . They' re a great
group.

CORD a distinctive sound
that's all their own.
Bob Murphy is one .of this
c ity's finest pianists, with a
solo style that combines the
best of bebop stylists like
Bud Powell and Oscar

tickets. at S3.00 a nigh:. are
also available. Anyone who's
interes ted in seeing a variety
of musical styles flourish in
this oft e n unsupportive c ity
should turn out for these

They never .
qet coverage
The Don Druick/Lyle Ellis
duet will probably be
in the daily
dabbling in the field of sound
collage as well as exploring
papers, and
more conventional styles of
duet improvisation. Druick is
The Contemporary String
they get very Quartet
a well-known _performance
two
little airplay violinists.contains
and video artist as well as a
one of whom
first -rate flautist. and Ellis. a
doubles on guitar. a ,violist.
·outside of
m emb,..r of the N.O.W . and a cellist. I haven·r heard
Qu intet. is an equally
them . but they play both
J
Co-op Radio, composed and improvised
accom plished bassist.
It's ha rd to describe
and at least two of the
but some of · music
Bellingham's Viktor
members are consi derably
Koncepl. as they draw on
the city's best talented.
almost the entire spectrum
The New Orchestra
•
•
musicians,
of creative music. from
Quintet may be the best
bebop to se rialist
modern jazz group in British
the ones who Columbia: at any rate they're The CORD Orchestra
compositional techniques. to
Miles Davis' modal
certainly the best I' ve heard
incorpor~tes both the
prefer to
here. Gregg Simpson is an
Contemporary String Quartet progressions. and even to
rock ' n'roll. The sensitivity of
sensitive and
and most of the N.O.W.
create rather astoudingly
inventive drummer: Lyle
Quintet. as well as a number the three musicians is high
enough that eve rything
is a strong bassist and
of others. in a thoroughly
than to mimic anEllisexcellent
comes out sounding like
composer: Paul
contemporary big band
nothing else but Viktor
familiar
Plimley has a phenomenally
sound. Their group
Konce pt. I find them
fast and fluid pian o
improvisations sometimes
styles, can be technique as well a s quite an echo pioneers like Sun Ra e njoyable and stimulating
listening.
for a memorable melody:
and his Arkestra or the
found in their ear
Tickets for the series are
Paul Cram is adept at
larger AACM groups from
S7 .00 at Black Swan Rec n,::js
drawing
a
number
of
Chicago.
but
the
use
of
ranks . ..
and Quintessence. and smglP
unusual vocal sounds out of
. bowed instruments gives
Randy Rain-Reusch is an
int('rnationally-acclaimed
dulcimer player. onf' of the
ff'w who can play both the
old traditional jigs and r('els
and inventive original
c ompos itions. He's got a

concerts.IA/ex Vart u