Eugene weekly., October 28, 2004, Page 31, Image 31

BY BRETT CAMPBELL
String Fever
Anticipating jazz and classical delights.
as the vielle and harp, and their engaging rap-
port with the audience.
Kammen, a member of two of the finest
early music groups, Ensembles Alcatraz and
Project Ars Nova, returns to the UO on Nov. 6
with her new band, Fortune’s Wheel, which
includes UO music professor Eric Mentzel
singing tenor, to celebrate the 700th birthday
of the great humanist, environmentalist and
poet, Petrarch. The concert will present Italian
and French music of the 14th century. Both of
these free early music concerts should be real
beauties, and it’s a joy to see so much splen-
did pre-classical music performed by such
accomplished musicians here this fall.
Other worthy UO concerts this month
include pianist Richard Zindars playing one of
the great works of American music, Charles
Ives’s first piano sonata (a celebration of his
Connecticut country childhood), on Sunday
Nov. 7; and harpist Laura Zaerr in original
music for Celtic harp (including one accom-
panied by tabla) and a romantic concerto by
Henriette Renie on Nov. 9.
Everybody knows the most influential
American band ever: New York’s legendary
Velvet Underground. But not enough rock
fans realize that its co-founder, the Welsh vio-
list John Cale, had earlier been a member of
an equally important American avant-garde
aggregation called the Dream Syndicate, with
the great composer La Monte Young. Cale
worked with everyone from John Cage and
Terry Riley to Brian Eno and Patti Smith to
the Stooges, and some of his solo albums are
landmarks of thoughtful, surprisingly accessi-
ble art music. Cale’s striking new CD, Hobo
Sapiens, which incorporates electronic tex-
tures and powerful imagery, is one of his best
efforts and one of the finest albums I’ve heard
this year. Cale is bringing a quartet to perform
music from that album at the Shedd on
Monday, Nov. 1, and any fan of intelligent,
adventurous popular music should be there.
That’s only one of a slew of great concerts
at the Shedd. On Saturday, Oct. 30, Steve
Bernstein brings his slide trumpet and his
wild and wonderful band Sex Mob back to
Eugene. One of New York’s most acclaimed
jazz ensembles and winner of two Downbeat
awards, Sex Mob has found a funky and
appealing way to combine experimental and
classic jazz influences, covering everything
from James Bond movie themes to Duke
Ellington. This is probably the concert of the
month for fans of jazz and adventurous
music.
ew
DEFAULT
©2004 Pabst Brewing Company
T
he phrase “string quartet” often sug-
gests images of fusty, tuxedoed types
playing dusty, mouldering music. But
in the 1980s, two fantastic foursomes helped
demolish that stereotype: The Kronos Quartet
(which played avant garde, rock and other
contemporary “art” music, spawning succes-
sors such as Ethel), and the Turtle Island
String Quartet, which brought American ver-
nacular, jazz improvisation, and world music
influences to what had been a European clas-
sical music configuration.
On Wednesday, Nov. 10, the TISQ returns
to the Hult Center’s Soreng Theater to per-
form a concert featuring the music of every-
body’s favorite jazz album: Miles Davis and
Bill Evans’ Kind of Blue. Certainly one of the
landmark works of 20th century music, that
record’s impressionistic, evocative atmos-
phere should make a fascinating transition
from the horns of Davis, Coltrane, and
Cannonball Adderley to the TISQ’s violins,
viola and cello. This is a concert that jazz and
classical fans alike should enjoy.
The next evening, the Turtle Islanders join
the acclaimed young Chicago-based classical
Ying Quartet for an equally intriguing concert
at the UO’s Beall Concert Hall featuring
music of Mendelssohn, TISQ originals, and
one of the great jazz-classical fusions, Darius
Milhaud’s delightful The Creation of the
World, which somehow blends 1920s New
Orleans jazz, African folk tunes, and French
classical traditions into a swinging brew.
That concert is just one of a promising
series of collaborations between the Hult and
the UO. Another occurs at the Hult’s Silva
Hall on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 31, when
Oregon Bach Festival founder and Music
Director Helmuth Rilling will lead the
University Singers, Chamber Choir, and
Symphony in a free concert featuring two of
the greatest works of European sacred music:
J.S. Bach’s Magnificat and Mozart’s Mass in
C Minor.
Back at Beall, on Tuesday, Oct. 26, the
wonderful duo of Anne Azéma and Shira
Kammen return to perform another free con-
cert, this one comprising medieval French
songs and poems about mythical animals, love,
the seasons, and other natural and supernatural
phenomena. Anyone who saw the pair enchant
an audience at the UO’s Gerlinger Lounge a
few years ago will remember Azema’s warm,
expressive voice (she’s one of the world’s lead-
ing early music singers), Kammen’s sensitive
playing on medieval stringed instruments such
Default is a collective of artists and musicians who get
together every other week to play improvisational hip hop with
flavor and pizzazz. It truly is an amazing showcase, which, at
any given time, can consist of members from SoundProof,
Eleven Eyes, Moksha, Reeble Jar, Abakadubi, and Champagne
Syndicate, among other local and visiting artists rockin’ the
stage. The next show is on Tuesday, Nov. 2 (Election Night);
see Eugene Weekly’s Clubs listings for details.
OCTOBER 28, 2004 31