Eugene weekly., April 17, 2003, Page 31, Image 31

M U S I C TO DAY F E S T I VA L & FAC U LT Y A RT I S T S E R I E S O F T H E U O F O S C H O O L O F M U S I C P R E S E N T S
BY VANESSA SALVIA
SENÕR MOUSE An Evening of Acoustic Chamber Jazz
CHARLES DOWD,
VIBRAPHONE.
TRACY FREEZE,
MARIMBA.
THE CHARLES DOWD JAZZ MALLET-KEYBOARD DUO
featuring Tracy Freeze
Jazz works by Chick Corea, Cal Tjader, Mike Mainieri, Keith Jarrett, Matthias Schmidt
and original compositions and orchestrations by Charles Dowd.
“Sparkling” ...SS an F ra nc is c o C hr on ic le • “Dowd is a bundle of energy!” ....SS tu tt g a rt Z ei t u n g • “Virtuosic” ...T h e Ne w Y o rk Ti m es
T H U R SD AY EV E NI NG , A P R I L 1 7 , 8: 0 0 P M
GERLINGER ALUMINI LOUNGE • 1468 UNIVERSITY ST., 2ND FLOOR • UNIVERSITY OF OREGON CAMPUS, EUGENE, OREGON
TICKETS $7 GENERAL ADMISSION, $4 STUDENTS & SENIORS; AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR.
Info: 541-346-5678; music.uoregon.eduu
•
Lazoo plays
Luna on Friday.
Lazoo’s Last
Abaté heads home to France.
L
ocal band Lazoo is preparing to
enter a new phase of its 10-year his-
tory. Vocalist and guitarist Eric Abaté
has plans to return to his native France in
May. “I’ve been here for 14 years and I feel
the call to just be around the family these
days,” he says. Abaté also wants to redis-
cover Europe and hopefully bring the band
into a new era of its existence.
Lyon is a centrally located city within
easy reach of Paris, Switzerland, Italy, and
Germany; perfect for a touring band ready to
swim the ocean and go global. Three mem-
bers of Lazoo, percussionist Edwin Coleman
III, bass guitarist Will Moye and saxophonist
Dave O’ Toole, will relocate to Portland,
while guitarist, percussionist and vocalist
Brent Bosworth will remain in Eugene. The
band plans one more Eugene show, Friday,
April 18th at Luna.
Future shows will take place in France
and surrounding countries. Abaté says he
may come back to Eugene for shows occa-
sionally, but that he will focus on bringing the
band to him. “It’s time for us to explore that
side. I think our music will work really well
in Europe,” he says, although he admits he
doesn’t know how quickly his goal will be
achieved. “There’re mixed feelings, because
we’re not going to be playing as much as we
are now, and we’ve been playing together for
10 years.” Lazoo is leaving fans with one last
gem, the newly finished Up Downtown,
which will be available at the Luna show.
Abaté has three solo CDs available, the
newest completed within the last few weeks.
Coleman and Moye also have a CD available,
Drum and Bass. Abaté has been in charge of
Eugene’s ProArts Studio, which may or may
not continue to stay in business. While Abaté
is, of course, excited to return home after so
long an absence, he is wistful about leaving
Eugene and the many fans Lazoo has here.
“I’m going to miss Eugene a lot. It’s a won-
derful city musically and has great people. I
love Oregon. It’s been a great journey.” Abaté
promises to keep in touch. Au revoir!
Kooken ’n’ Hoomen. What does it
mean? What does anything mean? Why are
we here? Perhaps the magic of innovative
electronic music has the answers. It does if
you’re one of Kooken ‘n’ Hoomen’s six
members. Nate Germick plays rhodes, synths
and melodicas, Brian Mundy performs on
While Abaté is, of course,
excited to return home
after so long an absence,
he is wistful about leaving
Eugene and the many fans
Lazoo has here.
guitars, basses and tweeklies, whatever that
means, Felipe Caballos handles drums, per-
cussion and superphones while Rob Gwin
picks up another bass and more synths. The
four are supported by a crew of two: Robyn
Hartzell provides a visual link to the music
through artwork, slides and television, while
Michael Diltz runs the business and audio
tech end of things.
Describing Kooken ‘n’ Hoomen’s music
requires talking about jazz, electronica, psy-
chedelia and rock. The music incorporates
some ideas of jazz in which rhythms slip and
slide, submerge and reappear, but instead of
the abrupt punctuations of trumpet or saxo-
phone. K ‘n’H give us the bleeps, blips, loops
and manipulations of electronic music. The
band has two CDs available, Escuela and the
brand new second effort, Gopal to Starwin.
Kooken ‘n’ Hoomen have visited our area
many times in the past, and are especially
popular in hometown San Francisco. Critics
call them “groove-oriented space/dance” and
“one part light-footed Tortoise, a pinch of
sampler fun, and a dollop of open-ended jam
band style.” K ‘n’ H will perform Friday,
April 18th at the Wild Duck along with
Portland duo Surrounded By Ninjas,
composed of keyboardist Asher Fulero and
DJ Joel Barber, who bring along 14 pieces of
equipment to create downbeat grooves, dub
and ambient electronica.
ew
APRIL 17, 2003 27