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At
one time I heard sounds like a group of people hollering.
I didn't know where the sound came from or how it
was produced, but it sounded like a powwow. Letting
my imagination run wild, I could picture the natives
of some exotic land circling around, dancing, chanting,
and singing. Just before we went to Yoshi's a Rotarian
exchange student from New Zealand had showed us a
New Zealand Aboriginal dance. Quite a coincidence
and a pleasant surprise. The music was unique, refreshing,
and very interesting.
With
four hands going flippety-flop, Geoffrey Gordon (the
percussionist from Stephen Kent's group) and Ian Dogole,
each on a dumbek (a drum that is placed between the
knees of the drummer) opened the piece with a stampede
of sound. It was intense and exciting, laying down
the groundwork for Bill Douglass's wooden African
flute. This flute produced an interesting sound, flat
and squeaky, but Douglass managed to give it a melody.
Stephen
Kent's hollow-sound didgeridoo joined in, this time
sounding like a mouth organ. Dogole abandoned his
dumbek, which he plays between his knees, for another
drum on the floor and retreated into a slower tempo
and heavier blows. Gordon complemented him lightly
on the trap drum. Eric Golub joined the group with
the jing-hu (a Japanese stringed instrument) and opened
up another world. Stephen Kent's singer joined in
with a wordless vocalization. Everyone got a chance
to do his or her thing, and they came back to finish
up and then fade away.
A
dramatic drum duet on the dumbeks with Ian Dogole
and Curt Moore started in the balcony of Yoshi's and
progressed down onto the stage on the main floor.
This began the third section of the evening's performances.
When the rest of Global Fusion joined in, the piece
was identified as "Afro Blue," and the audience
responded enthusiastically. The warm sound of Ben
Goldberg's bass clarinet filled the room, mixing with
the unique, twangy lower register of the instrument.
Gary Fisher made use of his left hand chords for a
rich sound while his approach to the piano reminded
me of Erik Satie's music. All this time, the group
was pulled together by Douglass's bass and directed
by the relentless drumming of Curt Moore and Dogole,
who also led them onto the recap of the theme.
Dogole
then moved to the udu, an African clay pot. You wouldn't
think a pot would give so many different kinds of
sound, but Dogole made it vibrate and sing. The group
was together. The sound was rich, thick, and beautiful.
When they stated the theme from Miles Davis's Bitches
Brew, the audience exclaimed. With an electronically
rigged viola that created a wow-wow sound, the bass
clarinet and the udu running intensely together, it
was like a big pot boiling and bubbling on an open
fire. Bill Douglass on his bass and Curt Moore on
a regular drum set never faltered, keeping their patterns
and the group in one place. Turned out the piece was
Dogole's "Miles Beyond."
Then
Douglass and Dogole played a duet on Ornette Coleman's
"Turnaround." Dogole was playing his African
Talking Drum. He controlled the sound by depressing
or releasing the strings that surround it. The drum
was not struck by his hand, but by a thin little stick
with a hammer-like head. By hitting different parts
of the drum and depressing the strings or damping
the skin with the other hand, he made it sing. He
made it sing the melodies, not just the rhythm, although
the rhythm ranged from delicate to thunderous. If
you haven't heard this fantastic drummer, try it,
you'll like it.
Dogole's
partner on this piece is the accomplished Bill Douglass.
I know Douglass gets to play with Marian McPartland
a lot, but I would like to see him play with many
more people. He knows his instrument. He has superb
technique and a wonderful sense of melody and phrasing.
He has no problem running his fingers from one end
of the fingerboard to another, and he touched on the
theme just to let you know that he was still within
its realm, always offering beautiful melodies. Dogole
and Douglass created a beautiful piece together, using
the drum and the bass not as backup instruments but
rather as two melodious counterparts. Beautiful!
Dogole's
composition "Totemo" was inspired by Japanese
food, but the group played it with a Latin beat.
Fluegelhornist
Dimity Matheny was invited to join the group. His
mellow-sounding fluegelhorn added more color to the
already colorful group, but Matheny's deliberate hesitation
on some of his notes and the triplets he played in
between the beat built the energy of the group to
an even higher level. His fast notes were like raindrops,
dotted by occasional rests and displaced accents.
While Golub chorded his viola like a guitar, Ben Goldberg's
clarinet offered outstanding melodies. The rhythm
section provided a warm, dense, and solid foundation,
keeping up with the intensity and drive but never
forgetting to swing.
The
following pieces were just as amazing. First, Dogole
played the kalimba, an African thumb piano while Douglass
played a contraption made of a curved, black pipe
about two to three inches in diameter, which the group
referred to as "the plumbing." The unfamiliar
sound and the swiftness of Dogole's thumb on that
unusual piano were mind-boggling.
Then
Golub played the Chinese fiddle while Dogole sat on
the floor with his set of Chinese opera gongs. These
instruments reminded me of going to the opera with
my grandmother when I was a child. And tonight the
same feeling came back.
Curt
Moore's drum solo came late, but was no less superior
for that. With his right hand driving at the cymbal,
his left hand played the melody of the tune on the
rest of his drum set.
The
instruments that this group use were unusual and interesting;
however, these players made them all sound very pleasant,
melodious, warm, disciplined and controlled. Don't
expect an out-there group. They can play out, but
they are still in, because you can still follow their
themes, and there is rhyme and reason to what they
play. Besides, it is pleasant, and it is joyful. Saxophonist
Aaron Repke remarked that he came away happy and relaxed,
having forgotten the frustration and stress he experienced
earlier in the day. That's what good music can do
for you.
By
Stella C. Brandt
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