1 he P ortland O bserver • D ecember 14, 1994
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ENTERTAINMENT
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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
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