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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 13, 1980)
Page 6 Portland Observar November 13, 1980 ENTERTAINMENT IT HAPp By Nyewtni Askari SOPHISTICATED FUNK JACK McDUFF ( On November 2, 1980, renown jazz artist "Brother Jack M c D u ff" gave a rousing performance at Jazz de Opus. During the intermission of the first show, and after playing for almost four straight hours, M cD uff talked briefly with the Observer.) Observer: Brother Jack, how long have you been playing jazz? M cD uff: Forever! (laugh) Naw, 1 started playing back in 1946, and have been playing constantly since then. Observer: Has jazz changed much fro m when you firs t started? M c D u ff: Yeah, yeah. The best way to explain it is this way. There are two kinds o f jazz, as well as, two kinds o f jazz players. There is the kind o f jazz you play, all o f us, for the love o f it. So, you don’t care if people come in to listen, or you don't care if you make money. Then there is the kind you play that you try to make money with. I call it the new jazz, such as you hear George Benson and Tom Browne playing. I t ’ s funky, and a lot o f the new, young jazz players are playing it. Observer: One o f the outstanding features o f your music through the years has been the presence o f the saxophone. Why is this? M cD uff: That’ s because someone has got to state the melodies. It’ s like five singers singing as a group; somebody has got to sing lead, so throughout my career, I have always used the saxophone as the lead, altho I play the Organ. Observer: Speaking o f George Benson, did he ever play in your band? M cD uff: For real he did! George played w ith me fo r about three years. When he firs t started, he couldn’t read a note it seemed, but he could master whatever piece o f work you gave him. This was back around 1963, 64. There was also Grant Green, Joe Henderson, Jim my Forrest, a whole bunch! Observer: Tell us some more about the new trend in jazz. M cD u ff: First o f all, I like the new trend. Check out Herbie Hancock, George Benson, George Duke, Tom Browne, they are playing it. That’ s the new jazz. It’ s straight ahead, make you wanna move jazz. In the last two months, I have went out and listened to jazz groups, and they were playing music like " A l l T heT hings You A r e " " "Sweet Georgia B row n" "Stella By Starlight" and works o f that nature There are very few people I know o f these days, who wants to go out and hear "Sweet Georgia Brown. " You see, with things the way they are these days, the gloomy economic picture, the corruption in politics and governments, the m ajority o f the people wants something new something that speaks to their spirit their soul and body. The new trend in jazz does just that. The young people are movers, they are not into being kicked back, or layed back I t ’ s good to be kicked back, but that’ s not the way the human spirit is composed, so music makers like Benson, m yself and others, are always striving to keep the spirits o f the people moving in a straight ahead direction. One o f the reasons I have lasted so long in this business is by moving with the trend. See you have players who say, “ We aren’ t going to play it” and you find them w orking every F riday or Saturday night. And you have those players who are playing the new music and filling up concert halls George Benson, right now, can fill up a stadium playing jazz as i relates to the spirit of the listener. You see, the new music is today tonight, right now music. You find a lot o f young players trying to learn how to play it now, whereas before the music they were playing was so simple. What they did was, devise a quick method o f playing. They wanted to play right then, and not study for five, ten, or fifteen years. Rock music was one way out. It didn’t require a lot of knowledge to play. Now these same youngsters want to play the new jazz and many are wishing they had acquired the knowledge needed to play it. It’ s good for seasoned players like myself. You see, I broke in to organized playing in 1946, at Simms C orner in G ary, Indiana. I was m aking five dollars a n ig h t, six nights a week. That was a whole lot- ta money for that time, but in this day and time, things are different. The cost o f living has skyrocketed Now, with young players setting a new trend, it allows older players to make a living, draw bigger crowds and move the music from the small coffeehouse type scenes to the con cert, auditorium type situations. Observer: It seems that you have an admiration fo r the spirit o f the younger players, do you? M c D u ff: Yes. You see, I am a musican, not necessairly a jazz musican. So, at this point in my life and in my music, I want to play funk. It moves me, it moves my s p irit, and w ith younger players around it allows at type o f fusion to take place. Some o f the younger players have been playing funk for a long time, but knows nothing about Be-bop, so while they are learning to play Be-bop, I am into getting down with the funk. It works out fine. For example, the group with me tonight is young. The bass player is eighteen, the saxophone player is nineteen, the drummer is twenty- fo u r, and the guitar player is twenty-six. M y knowledge keeps them growing, but it is their spirit that keeps me young and able to step into tomorrow! "C O N V E R S A T IO N S W ITH MYSELF' S to refro n t Theatre; Rick Jones as John and Ann Celsi as Mary. (Photo: John Steinkamp) Local playwright presents play Kevin K. Berry is a local playwright. His personal interests vary from Theatre and Film to Music and Dance to Architecture. In addition to his work as a playwright, Kevin’ s activity in Theatre has included directing - choreography, performing, and set/lighting design. He has performed in six musical productions o f which four were in the Portland/Vancouver area. He recently finished his second play Eastside Clinic (the scenario takes place THE M A IN SQUEEZE - New York model Karen Jacobs became in the VD clinic o f a large city); and he is currently working on the book for a everybody's "M ain Squeeze" when thousands of bus and subway musical. posters and billboards showed her in the "Main Squeeze" adver There have been three playreadings o f Berry’ s work Conversations With tisement for Smirnoff Vodka. Myself. It was read last May at the Firehouse Theatre, and this past June at Somebody’ s Place, a local Portland tavern. This past August, Conversations With Myself was read at the Theatre Rhinoceros in San Francisco. Berry has been working very closely with director Jerry West with the development and rehersal o f this play. Berry has also choreographed the dances sequences for Conversations With Myself. NEW YORK - Up to her shoulders in blue water, Karen Jacobs green eyes and half smile transmit a mysterious message. The play will run for 4 weeks Nov. 15th - Dec. 7th, 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. Tickets are $4.00. The play will be presented at 6 S.W. 3rd avenue. For more infor This already familiar photograph, for Sm irnoff Vodka’s “ Main Squeeze” advertisement, is seen daily by hundreds o f thousands o f subway and bus mation call 224-4001. commuters in cities across the country. And it has made Karen Jacobs, who has been modeling since she was eight years old, instantly recognizable in her native New York City. “ I’ ll be coming down the street, and people will yell at me, ‘ Hey! My Main Squeeze!’ It shocked me, because I don’ t walk around with wet hair,” she laughed. To photograph the ad, she posed for three hours, water dripping from her hair and face, in the water o il a beach in the Bahamas. The shoot began at six in the morning. “ I was freezing in the water. I never got out. I knew that i f I got out, I wasn’t getting back in,” she recalled. Thousands o f the ads for the “ Main Squeeze” — which, incidentally, is Sm irnoff Vodka and grapefruit juice - appear on bus and subway posters and billboards in the top 15 cities in the country. So Miss Jacob is now on the verge o f becoming as well-known as her older brother, Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, of the television “ Welcome Back, Kot- ter.” Both came from a family o f nine children that grew up in New York City. “ My mother was a dressmaker, and she was forever trying clothes on me,” Miss Jacobs said. Her mother helped her begin modeling for the American Agency in New York when she was eight, but gradually was unable to find enough time to raise nine children and take Karen to the necessary “ go-sees.” Miss Jacobs graduated from the Art and Design High School in Manhat This year for their fall drama production, Wilson High School proudly tan, with a m ajor in fashion illustration. Then she worked behind the presents: The G irt o f the Golden West. LaCoste counter at Bloomingdale’ s. This play will be directed by Julie Accuardi, and will show November 13 at “ This man came in to buy shirts. He kept'looking at me. Finally he said, 3:30 and November 14, 15 at 8:00. ‘ What are you doing behind that counter?’ He thought I was a model The G irt o f the Golden West, written by David Belasco, and first produced working part-time,” she said. in 1905, is the classic western story o f the girl who falls in love with a hand Shortly after that, she asked photographer Trevor Brown to take the test some stranger, only to discover that he is in reality a desparado on the run. photographs for her “ Book” - a portfolio to show to potential clients. And On November 14, 1905, The G irl o f the Golden West opened on Broad she credits Brown with giving her the encouragement to pursue modeling with way. Wilson’ s presentation will open exactly 75 years later on this date. It will the aggressiveness the New York modeling market requires. be a delightful and entertaining show. “ I just needed a push,” she said. “ Modeling is something I ’ve always wan ted to do. I like clothes. I’ m very vain...I think most women are vain,” she y Vu f f u ) Hiiiutu ( m it i (503) 2 8 7 4 0 2 9 C härtet i Mohart added with a chuckle. Genera' Menage' But even everyone’ s “ Main Squeeze” claims to have a problem that keeps her from working every day. 1006 N E Broadway Portland Oregon “ My look -- it's very unique. It’s an exotic look,” she explained. To thousands o f commuters, that’ s no problem at all. Classic Studios NEW YORK MODEL BECOME BIG SQUEEZE THE GIRL OFTHE GOLDEN WEST r M rs. C ’s W ig s Inc. j « 1 4 0 a> u p Hats Scarves & Accessories Styling 7 0 7 N E FM M ONT » O 0 ’ L *N (1 O » |7 tm • URBANS T.t sai esas MoMWoa C*aiui iac Brrr» C B B lue* MomMOoa« a in SEE SPORTS O N G IA N T SCREEN T V. JOE’S PLACE 1801 N.E. Alberta SC u v r o m WORLD CHAMPION CHARLIE TICKNER W IN ! TUES, NOV. 25 thru SUWOAV, NOV. 30 • C M lM w n n C K IT « *7 M -* « }e -*S .M ( V tM N O B TUCB-TMU. 7: (B P.10; Fri-B oi (P M . BUM (FBI M A T W C H FW -4PW . 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