BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Charlie Hunter Trio
plays WOW Hall
Monday.
Guitar Greats
& Soul Brothers
Jazzers
Jazzers and
and OFAM’s
OFAM’s ’50s
’50s fare
fare this
this week.
week.
R
©2004 Pabst Brewing Company
CONCEPTION
With influences like Tool, Primus, Red Hot Chili Peppers,
Deftones, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin how could you go wrong?
Throw in a fog machine, a mosh pit, a talented new drummer and
you have the extremely popular Eugene band, Conception.
Cameron (guitars), Ben (bass), Kevin (vocals) and Brian (drums)
make up this melodic hardcore group. If you haven’t seen
Conception lately, this Saturday would be a great time to catch
them. Check out Eugene Weekly ’s clubs page for more details.
2 2 AUGUST 5, 2004
ecently, a New York promoter
called the great English guitarist
John Renbourn , asking if he
knew the music of Robert Johnson. Before he
could answer, the promoter explained that a
large check would be forthcoming if
Renbourn would perform at a tribute to the
pioneering American bluesman. Of course, he
knew Robert Johnson’s music, Renbourn
replied, neglecting to mention the fact that the
Robert Johnson he knew served as the lutenist
to Queen Elizabeth I half a millennium ago.
The promoter needn’t have worried —
Renbourn, who appears at Café Paradiso on
Friday, Aug. 13, is a master of blues, folk, and
most other traditional music for guitar from
across the centuries. A key member of the
1960s British folk revival that also produced
Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, the
classically trained Renbourn earned a solid
reputation for his first few solo albums. Then
in 1967, he met the great blues guitarist Bert
Jansch and the spellbinding singer Jacqui
McShee, and they formed the superb folk-rock
group Pentangle, which used haunting English
ballads, American blues and other traditional
forms as a takeoff point for jazzy improvisa-
tions on ancient modes that surpassed most of
the indulgent jams of the period.
Renbourne’s subsequent solo career con-
tinued his fascinating fusions — variously
incorporating Indian, Celtic and many other
influences. He’s collaborated with other great
musicians like Robin Williamson, Larry
Coryell and Stefan Grossman, and his
nuanced, incomparably fluent fingerstyle
playing complements his earthy singing style,
taking listeners across oceans and centuries
through ancient and recent songs and stories.
His appearance at Paradiso with McShee was
one of last year’s highlights; this show will
especially enchant fretboard fanatics.
As will the Charlie Hunter Trio ’s appear-
ance at the WOW Hall on Monday, Aug. 9.
Another great guitar innovator, Hunter’s eight-
string axe improvisations startled jazz fans in
the 1990s with their simultaneous bass, lead,
and rhythm lines, and his funk grooves brought
in a broader, younger audience, Medeski,
Martin & Wood-style jamfans. His stint in the
Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy and appear-
ances at Lollapalooza further showcased his
variety, but his current trio (including sax and
drums) seems to be heading in a jazzier direc-
tion. A musician this adept should be experi-
enced by any fan of guitar music.
Another pair of virtuosos appears at Far
Horizons School on Thursday, Aug. 12. The
Mysore Violin Brothers play classical
music of South India. Although the Indian
classical music tradition stretches back at
least 1,500 years, the violin is a fairly recent
addition, introduced less than 200 years ago,
and adapted to provide controlled improvisa-
tional elaboration on the ancient ragas, often
accompanied (as in this show) by a two-
headed wooden drum.
Another band of musical brothers comes to
town this month as the Nevilles inaugurate
downtown outdoor concerts at Broadway/
Kesey Plaza. After all these decades, these vet-
eran New Orleans groove masters can still get
feet moving and hearts pounding, thanks to
Art’s funky keyboards (he’s a founder of the
funkmeisters The Meters), Charles’s sultry sax,
Cyril’s gritty vocals and percussion, and
Aaron’s sublime tenor voice, which has graced
hits from 1967’s “Tell it Like it Is” to duets with
Linda Ronstadt.
With an audience that includes Deadheads
as well as soul men, they’re immensely popu-
lar in Eugene, and the feeling is mutual, as
Charles used to live here and still regards the
town with affection. The brothers are set to
release a new album in the fall, and they’re
about to tape another Austin City Limits
appearance, so we can expect to hear some new
sounds to go with the classics, perhaps along
with cuts from Aaron’s imminent solo album.
And don’t forget the Oregon Festival of
American Music’s wayback machine to the
1950s this week. The big concert is Dave
Brubeck ’s show at the Hult on Saturday,
Aug. 7, but there’s also the opening gala con-
cert on Thursday, Aug. 5, a folk revival show
on Tuesday, Aug. 10, a bop and Beat poetry
concert on Thursday afternoon, Aug. 12,
show tunes that night, movie music on
Friday the 13th (all at the Shedd), and the big
closing concert featuring the Legends of
Doo Wop and a tribute to rock and roll song-
writing legends Leiber and Stoller (they craft-
ed so many fabulous songs for the Drifters,
Coasters, and others), and a bunch more con-
certs, films, talks, and a big new production of
ew
My Fair Lady — with live orchestra.