1 he P ortland O bserver • D ecember 14, 1994 -7 '. t & í / á ENTERTAINMENT > 'jlìortlanh (©bseruer Richard Elliot What The Press Saijs About Thug Life Thug Life recently shot their second video “Cradle From The Grave" with Director Ricky Harris (comedian, actor, cousin of Snoop Doggy Dogg) in an abandoned Los Angeles jail. Thug Life's album, Volume I is quickly approaching gold status, after being released only five short weeks ago. Pictured L- R are: unidentified Homeboy, 2Pac (Thug Life), Picky Harris (Director), Syke (Thug Life), Unidentified Homeboy, Macadoshis (thug Life, Little Macadoshis I and II, The Rated P (thug Life), and The Little Rated P. “..Volume I crackles with ki netic energy.” - Entertainment Weekly “...It’s superb.” -Los Angeles Times “Thug Life moves beyond ur ban m achism o and into real storytelling, with tales ofcrime, pov erty, and broken childhoods taken to a very personal level." Details “Volume 1 isaflat-out groove...” -NY Newsday “The way the samples are uti lized without drowning the song and without overusing them makes this as good a rap album as there’s been in a long in a long time. Tupac illus trates here that he’s one of the most artistic rhymers on the block.” -BRE “This group is going to be living large in the rap world...” -Yo “Thug Life’s debut album, Vol ume 1, is true hardcore with slammin’ hard beats, deep-ass bass lines and more flow than a faucet. Ski 1 Iz come in copious amounts as 2Pac’s musi cal genius hooks up with four dope prospects to drop the ultim ate megabomb!” -Crusader “The blues guitar licks on the first single, “Pour Out a Little Li quor, are the wind behind Tupac’s lyrical sails...” -Vibe 99 iia e v e Kenny G 's forte is making mu sic people love. One of the few musicians in recent years capable o f crossing over from the jazz to pop charts - with instrumentals, mind you - Kenny is a member in that rarefied stratosphere o f pop musicians:#! instrumentalist o f all time. (He has accumulated record sales ofover 20 million.) With this, his latest release, MIRACLES, Kenny combines his prominent sax sound to something else the whole world loves: Holiday music. “The Holiday Songs that I chose to record here, in my opin ion, are some o f the most beautiful melodies ever composed,” says Kenny. “Their melodies are know throughout the entire world and it was an honor to be able to record them.” For his new Holiday project, Kenny wanted to look to trad itional as well as original seasonal songs. Thus, the 11-song MIRACLES in cludes such Yuletide classics as Silent Night,” “Away in a Man ger” and “White Christmas,” as well as contemporary Kenny G orig- inals, “ M iracles” and “ The Chanukah Song.” Kenny G. Kenny’s trademark jazz/pop/ R&B sound vibrates the seasonal melodies. From the alto sax on that is very childlike.” ‘Greensleeves’ to his sweet, hyp Kenny's most recent album, the notic rendition of “White Christ 1992 mega-hit Breathless, earned him mas,” to the tenor sax hum on “Have numerous industry' awards, multi- Yourself A Merry Little Christ Platinum status and has sold well mas,” Kenny covers the winter over 10 million copies worldwide. sounds. His two original composi His duets with Aaron Neville, “Even tions, the rich and emotional “Mir If My Heart Would Break" and Peabo acles" and "The Chanukah Song,” Bry son, "By The Time This Night Is done in flowing Talmudic rhythm, Over" added to Kenny’s career team- are both standout tracks ups w ith a distinguished list of vocal “I wanted to include a couple ists. Aretha Franklin, Whitney Hous o f originals and am proud of the ton, Smokey Robinson, Natalie Cole, way they complement the already Dionne Warwick, George Benson, know songs,” explains Kenny. “The Michael Bolton, Celine Dion and Chanukah Song- is very special to Johnny Gill. me as I wanted to create something After graduating from the Uni that one would immediately identi versity of Washington with an ac- fy with the Jewish holiday. MIRA counting degree, Kenny Gorelick was CLES is a dedication to my son. hired by Jeffl.orber to join his pop Max, and has an innocence about it ular Portland-based band, the Jeff Richard Elliot For saxophonist Richard Elliot, “ the inspiration for my music doesn’t come from introspection. It comes from interaction with other people. Touring and performing, seeing new things, these are important elements of what inspires me to write." After Dark, Elliot’s third album for the Blue Note Lables (and his eighth solo release overall) reflects the rich and varied experience of his 100-performance-a-year internation al touring schedule as well as a vari ety of influential collaborators-ffom old friends like the Tower of Power horns, to new associates such as vo calist Jeffery Osborne and producer Todd Terry. It also marks the further development of Elliot’s tenor saxo phone sound, which has grown—in the ten years since the release of his first solo album-into adefining voice along the landscape of contemporary jazz and instrumental music. “Street Beat” opens the record ing, landing on the pavement ofNew York City. It’s a place Elliot has performed in many times, first as a member o f the Yellowjackets and Tower of Power, and later leading his own bands. “I love playing in New York,” Elliot says. “It’s got a dynamic all its own.” That dynamic is mirrored in the urgent rhythms of drummer Dave Reinhardt, bassist N aoki Y anai, k ey b o ard ist Ron Reinhardt and guitarist Richard Smith, all members o f Elliot’s regu lar touring unit. “Song for Her” is a collabora tion with songwriter and instrumen talist Cliff Downes. “Cliffhas worked with me on the last two recordings,” Elliot comments, “and he primarily writes vocal tunes. I asked him to write an instrumental tune with the soul o f a vocal.” Downe’s response epitomizes Elliot’s preference in bal lads. “The ballads I respond to,” he says, “aren’t the ones that tickle your heart with a feather, they’re the ones that reach in and wrench it out ofyour body.” “The Boys From the Bay” is an original composition, dedicated to the seminal rhythm-and-blues band Tower of Power, o f which Elliot is a former member. The famed Tower of Power horns perform on the track, and Elliot is quick to credit their influence “That was the most influ ential period o f my career,” he says, reflecting back on his beginnings. Hooked on music during his for mative years, the Scottish-born Elliot (who grew up in Los Angeles) settled on saxophone at an early age, focus ing eventually on tenor sax. After landing an audition for a summer job touring with Natalie Cole and The Pointer Sisters, Elliot returned to the U S. and spent two years with the trend-setting fusion group Kittyhawk. Elliot began getting calls to work from some o f his musical heroes— Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops and The Temptations, among them. 'Lou Rawls Parade Of Stars 55 Celebrating Its 50th Birthday Lorber Fusion. A serendipitous gig, he spent fouryears with them, shin ing so that Arista Records(Lorber’s label) offered him his own solo deal which led to the release of Kenny G in 1982. With a subsequent move to New York, Kenny began work on his second album, G Force. Pro duced by K ashif and Wayne Brathwaite (Billy Ocean), the al bum led to the making of his third album. Gravity, which mixed vo cals (such as the initial Kenny G and Kashif duet single “Love on the Rise”) and instrumentals (“Japan"), as Kenny demonstrated his virtuos ity on soprano and alto sax, flute and synthesizer, as well as the lyricon, an wind-activated synthe sizer. From jazz jam to gospel fest, from rap to rhythm and blues, the hottest stars in the industry are keep ing up the tradition o f making the Lou Rawls Parade o f Stars the best musical entertainment show on tele vision. This 15th birthday show will be no exception. Gladys Knight, Boyz II Men, MeshellNdegeOcell, Rachel I Farrell, George Duke, Daryl Hall, Ray Charles, Andre Crouch and many more will join Lou Rawls for a cele bration benefitting the United Negro College (UNCF). The party begins January 7,1995 for seven hours of glittering enter tainment broadcast from the famous Apollo Theatre in New York City and CBS studios in Los Angeles. The show will include inspiring messag es by and about students at several of our nation’s historically black col leges and universities. In its 50th year, the “Lou Raw Is Parade o f Stars”, America’s only national telethon for higher educa tion has already raised more than $110 million for UNCF’s 41 mem ber colleges. Last year the show raised $11 million. Proceeds generated from the “Parade o f Stars" help the Col lege Fund provide the educational opportunities for our youth need as well as helping to upgrade facilities. With strong support from indi viduals, corporations and founda tions, the College fund has raised nearly $ 1 billion since its founding in 1944. As UNCF's most significant fund-rasing event, the “Parade of Stars" has played a major role not only in raising much-needed funds for UNCF, but in taking its message of the impact of black higher educa tion to the nation “The future of America depends on the future of our youth," says host Lou Rawls. “We have to help these young adults be come educated, useful human be ings.” Music Millennium N 32nd & E.Burnside 231-8926 23rd & NW Johnson 248-0163 Boogie Cal P ro d u c tio n s P res e n ts 'Tfoutuut Scfiacdten, Every Wednesday At Parchman Farm 1204 SE Clay 9:00 pm -1 2 :0 0 am GOOD, LOW VOLUME MUSIC, FINE FOODS, AND NO COVER CHARGE The Norman Sylvester Band “Northwest Original R&B” Performance Schedule 24-Hour Blues Hotline #281-5989 I Hi M