music
BY BRETT CAMPBELL
New Sounds in Odd Places
Cellos in bars to jazz festivals
M
usicians — they just won’t stay
where they’re supposed to. A
prodigy who starred in some of
the world’s most prestigious concert halls,
cellist Matt Haimovitz was among the fi rst
classical stars to pack his axe and a box of
CDs in the trunk of his car and bring Bach
to taverns and bars, winning new audiences
for classical music. Haimovitz’s intimate
shows at Sam Bond’s are among the most
powerful I’ve ever experienced, and he’s
returning to the club on Jan. 22. Lately
the still-young cello master has turned
to rescuing the music of contemporary
composers — from centenarian modernist
Elliott Carter to electronica artists to
younger composers such as Steven Stucky,
Luna Pearl Woolf, Ana Sokolovic and
Gilles Tremblay — from clubby academic
settings and bringing it to clubgoers. He’ll
interweave those sounds (some featuring
world music infl uences) with a plangent
precursor to J.S. Bach’s celebrated
cello solos: Domenico Gabrielli’s Seven
Ricercare.
Back in the day, you’d have expected
to fi nd trumpeter Herb Alpert fronting
his Tijuana Brass, or later in the executive
suite of the enormously successful record
company, A&M, he founded and ran for
three decades. And you’d have heard
singer Lani Hall crooning with Sergio
Mendez’s band Brasil ’66. On Jan. 22, you
can hear the pair — married since 1973 —
performing with a slick jazz combo at the
Shedd. One of history’s most successful
recording artists (over 70 million records
sold, 15 gold and 14 platinum albums, 8
Grammys, etc.), Alpert’s still got the chops
needed to accompany Hall — in strong
voice — on the jazzy Brazilian and Latin-
beated North American standards (“That
Old Black Magic,” “Besame Mucho,”
“Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” et al) on their breezy
recent album Anything Goes.
Herb Alpert & Lani Hall
When stuffy concert halls and con-
servative academia rejected the pathbreaking
music of composers such as John Cage,
Philip Glass, Steve Reich and many others,
they found a welcoming home in art
galleries and artists’ lofts. In Eugene, DIVA
has proved to be such an open-eared venue,
and on Jan. 28, the downtown art center
showcases the experimental intermedia art
of Kevin Patton and Maria del Carmen
Montoya . The show features structured
improvisations in which the pair manipulate
various electronic and other instrumental
sounds using wired glove controllers,
found objects, guitars and more. This
sort of conjunction of digital technology,
multimedia art (Montoya works in sculpture
and video, too), and improv is a hallmark of
21st century creativity, and this experience
— “concert” seems too restrictive a term
— should offer glimpses into several of
music’s futures.
Traditional venues still have much to offer.
On Jan. 21 at the Hult Center, the Eugene
Symphony presents one of the 20th century’s
most powerful orchestral statements: Dmitri
Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 5, which has
occasioned much debate about whether
its stirring fi nale represented a sell out to
audiences, a capitulation to Stalinist artistic
repression that jeopardized the composer’s
life — or a sneaky subversion of that system
encoded in the score. What shouldn’t be
overshadowed is the sheer power of this
magnifi cent piece. The concert also brings
pianist Mihaela Ursuleasa as soloist in
Beethoven’s pulsating Piano Concerto No. 3.
The venerable stage at the UO’s
Beall Concert Hall also hosts a couple
of worthy shows. On Jan. 31, the
University Symphony ’s afternoon concert
boasts a splendid program featuring a
recent work, Bruce Miller’s 1999 Serenade
for Soprano Saxophone and Orchestra
with UO prof Idit Shner as soloist, plus
Igor Stravinsky’s two suites for small
orchestra and the lively suite from Walter
Piston’s 1938 ballet The Incredible Flutist.
The next evening, the same venue hosts
the Eugene Symphonic Band playing
more Shostakovich, Leonard Bernstein’s
popular, rollicking Candide overture and
music of Sibelius, Bruckner, Grainger,
Bach, Morton Gould and more.
Jazz fans should clear their weekend
calendars for the annual collaboration
between the UO and LCC jazz programs.
The Oregon Jazz Festival brings high
school jazzers from around the state to Lane
Performance Hall and Beall Concert Hall
to learn from and perform with some of
the region’s fi nest pros, including saxman
Dan Gailey, trumpeters Thomas Marriott
(whose Seattle/Portland quintet featuring
celebrated Portland pianist Darrel Grant
and veteran drummer Alan Jones plays
Saturday),Vern Sielert, trombonist Dave
Glenn and drummer Gary Hobbs. The UO
and Lane jazz ensembles will also play, so
it’s a weekend of jazz joy for both students
ew
and fans.
FRIDAY FEB 12TH EUGENE WEEKLY &
MUSICIANS EMERGENCY MEDICAL ASSOCIATION PRESENT...
SAY
I LOVE YOU
WITH
THE BOE
ORCHESTRA
ROCKIN SOUL AND GET READY TO
DANCE TO TUNES BY:
COLD BLOOD, BONNIE RAITT,
DELBERT MCCLINTON, JANIS JOPLIN
AND BOE ORCHESTRA ORIGINALS
COZMIC PIZZA
8-11 FRIDAY FEB 12TH. $5.
SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL JAM
1ST AND 3RD WED.
BILL SHREVE & PAUL BIONDI AND FRIENDS
HANK SHREVE, GAYLEE RUSSELL, DEB CLEVELAND, THE FRITZ
2ND AND 4TH WED.
MICHAEL TRACY AND THE DOWNTOWN BLUES BAND
NOW IN ITS 4TH YEAR
DIABLO’S DOWNTOWN LOUNGE
BLUES JAM EVERY WED. NIGHT
WWW.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM • BLOGS.EUGENEWEEKLY.COM
EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 21, 2010 29