music
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
Asylum Street Spankers
Good Humor Bands
Traditions converge in Eugene
J
azz big bands all but died out
after WWII, but since then, a
few ample aggregations — Dave
Holland’s large group, Either/Orchestra,
Lincoln Center’s band, Sun Ra and Gil
Evans’ ensembles, government subsidized
European jazz orchestras, etc. — have
somehow managed to defy economic
pressure and present large-scale, improvised
music of considerable complexity and heft.
One of the more intriguing is the Portland/
Southern California-based Industrial Jazz
Group, whose very name hints at founder/
pianist Andrew Durkin’s wry humor and
ambition. Dismissing “jazz, the Institution,”
Portland’s self-described “hack composer
and pseudo intellectual” creates what he
calls “avant-garde party music” that can
Lissa Schneckenburger
remind a listener of anyone from Raymond
Scott or John Zorn to kitschier parodies
like Spike Jones — Kurt Weill meets
Oliver Nelson, perhaps. Maybe Durkin’s
doctoral studies at USC contributed to the
sense of absurdity that produced his blog
named “Jazz: the Music of Unemployment.”
Heavily infl uenced by Frank Zappa, Charles
Mingus, Duke Ellington and more, Durkin
has scored fi lm and stage works. The 15
member ensemble, which has recorded six
albums, toured across the U.S. and last year
ventured to Europe, plays spirited music
that’s a lot of fun without descending into
silliness. They’re crowding the stage at
Cozmic Pizza on Sept. 3.
38 AUGUST 21, 2008 EUGENE WEEKLY
Another band that assiduously avoids
capital-S Seriousness is Austin’s Asylum
Street Spankers, who return to the
McDonald Theatre on Sept. 1. The eclectic
octet gazes back to vaudeville and old
timey music for its multipart harmonies
and stage schtick, but its yuks and satire
are entirely up to date, and the band’s
skilled musicianship allows it to throw a
musical party without making a musical
mess. For still more big-band fun, this time
alfresco, catch the Eugene Symphonic
Summer Band’s free “light classical”
concert in Washburne Park this Sunday,
Aug. 24, featuring music of Sousa, Joplin,
fi lm and stage tunes, and more.
Still more summer nostalgia is in the
air as Vermont fi ddler/singer Lissa
Schneckenburger
returns
with old-time New England
traditional tunes, some whose
history stretches back a couple
of centuries. For info on this
Aug. 26 house concert, email
paschalla@lanecc.edu
Music from an entirely
different tradition — Southern
Africa’s Shona people — alights
at Cozmic Pizza this Saturday,
Aug. 23, as our Zimbabwean
summer continues with yet
another pair of fabulous mbira
players: Cosmas Magaya is
a familiar and always welcome
visitor to Eugene, where’s
he’s often performed and
taught workshops in Zimbabwean music.
He’s taught all over the U.S. and helped
research and write an important scholarly
study of that magical, gourd-encased,
plucked metal instrument. The harp-like
mbira is especially well suited for playing
interlocking melodies, and Magaya will be
joined by another renowned mbira scholar-
performer. Musekiwa Chingodza also
dances and sings, and together, these two
mbira masters should weave fascinating
tapestries of sound. They’ll be preceded by
Eugene’s own Zimbabwean large ensemble
Kudana, whose upbeat, irresistible marimba,
vocal and other percussion sounds will have
everyone dancing in the heat.
ew
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