Eugene weekly., April 01, 2004, Page 39, Image 39

BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Maria Jette sings at
the Shedd on April 2.
Too Much
Music
Shedd, Luna, UO offer more
than you can catch.
B
race yourself.
For great music coming through
Eugene, April is definitely the
coolest month maybe ever. Most of it hap-
pens at The Shedd.
On Friday, April 2, one of Eugene’s fa-
vorite musicians, singer Maria Jette, joins
Eugene Symphony cellist Sylvie Spengler,
pianist Sonja Thompson, and the
American Symphonia cello ensemble for a
rare and most welcome program of Latin
American classical music.
This program features the most renowned
of Heitor Villa-Lobos’ Bachianas Brasileiras
(lovely fusions of indigenous sounds with the
music of J.S. Bach), this one for Jette’s so-
prano and eight cellos. Mexico’s finest com-
poser, Carlos Chavez, is represented by a
lovely Madrigal for cello and piano, and the
show also features piano music by his coun-
trymen Rodolfo Halffter and Jose Rolon.
Thompson will also play piano music by
another great 20th-century composer,
Argentina’s Alberto Ginastera, and the pro-
gram also includes music from Cuba and
Venezuela. Although we’ve been lucky to
hear some South American orchestral reper-
toire in recent Eugene Symphony programs,
the chance to hear these rarely played
American chamber works is one that no fan
of world music or classical music should
miss.
On April 13, The Shedd hosts one of the
finest jazz musicians to emerge in the past
decade, Brad Mehldau and his trio. The lat-
est white pianist to be dubbed the next Bill
Evans, Mehldau has a distinctive sound and
phenomenal technique that can imbue even
the hoariest standards with new life. And on
his recent albums, like the revolutionary
Largo, Mehldau found an innovative way to
bring contemporary rock and pop music (in-
cluding electronica effects) into jazz, result-
ing in one of the most compelling jazz al-
bums of the new century. His reinventions of
Radiohead and the Beatles, as well as his
original compositions, appeal to casual fans
as well as hardcore jazzheads, and neither
group should miss this show.
Any other time, Mehldau’s concert would
be the jazz pick of the month, maybe the year,
but essential as it is, it’s not even the jazz
show of the week at The Shedd. That honor
has to go to the concert the very next night,
April 14, featuring the Wayne Shorter
Quartet.
Except for Sonny Rollins, it’s hard to
think of a more historically important jazz
master who’s still active and vital today.
Shorter’s mysterious, otherworldly composi-
tions on a classic series of 1960s Blue Note
recordings alone would guarantee his status
as one of jazz’s finest composers. But add to
that his vital contributions to the Jazz
Messengers, the second great Miles Davis
Quintet and Weather Report, and you get one
of the true paragons of American music.
After some years of creative doldrums
and even silence, Shorter made a strong
comeback last year with his award-winning
Footprints Live! CD and a new, young band
that seems to have inspired him to new
heights. This is a chance to see one of the
great, pathbreaking grandmasters at a time
when he’s found renewed vitality.
The Shedd isn’t the only source of strong
sounds this month. The UO’s spring term
kicks off with some superior concerts. On
Sunday, April 4, the UO’s World Music
Series brings the Shoghaken Folk
Ensemble to Beall Concert Hall. The group
employs fiddles, zithers, drums, oboes and
various woodwinds, as well as singers and
dancers.
On Tuesday, April 13, UO faculty flutist
Gary Lewis performs delectable music by
J.S. Bach, the early American composer
Charles Griffes, Henri Dutilleux, a flute-gui-
tar duet by the great Spanish composer
Joaquin Rodrigo, and more.
And on Thursday, April 15, the Ethos
Percussion Group plays one of the coolest
concerts of the year, with South American-in-
fluenced music, drumming and more. I know,
I know, how can anyone have the time or
money to attend yet another concert after all
the above-mentioned marvels? But this one
should be quite different from all of the
above, and anyone interested in a wide vari-
ety of music on the edge should check this
show out. There’ll be plenty of time this sum-
mer to rest your ears.
ew
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