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Dynamic
Duos and Trios You have to feel sorry for American classical music composers in the 20th century. With a few exceptions, such as Aaron Copland and George Gershwin, many of them spent years writing music that they seldom, if ever, got to hear performed more than once.
They were overshadowed by the magnificent rise of American pop music, including Tin Pan Alley in the 1920s and 1930s, and then jazz, rock, and soul. Even the concert halls where you'd expect their music to find a home neglected them, victims of conservative, elitist music directors (except for honorable exceptions like Leonard Bernstein) and blue-haired patrons who equated musical quality with European origin. As a result, some of America's finest musical voices were effectively censored for decades. The Oregon Festival of American Music has long been on a mission to rectify these omissions. On Thursday, May 25, OFAM's American Symphonia will present chamber music by William Grant Still, Amy Beach (each of whom suffered the double discrimination of being, respectively, black and female in addition to the sin of American birth), Norman Dello Joio, Quincy Porter and Livingston Gearhart. They'll be played by UO music prof and violinist extraordinaire Fritz Gearhart and pianist John Owings. Gearhart has long specialized in this area; besides his dad's music, he's also recorded works by Still and Porter. Some of this music is as rewarding as any other mid-century music, American or otherwise, and fans of classical and American music who want to hear something different than the usual fare should check this out. On May 31, The Shedd brings back another American musical duo, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, who vaulted beyond the folkie subculture into national consciousness when Ken Burns chose their "Ashokan Farewell" for his Civil War documentary. For awhile, it threatened the Taco Bell Cannon, er, Pachelbel's "Canon," as most overplayed instrumental. But their soundtrack to the film Brother's Keeper and performances on shows like A Prairie Home Companion showed the pair to be more than one-hit wonders, able to cover swing, country and even original tunes with aplomb. Fans of American folk, Appalachian, and Celtic music should be there. For some contemporary American and Oregon sounds, check out the CD release party by Eugene's own Toby Koenigsberg trio at Luna on June 9. Now a professor at the UO music school, Koenigsberg studied at the prestigious Eastman and Peabody music schools and has a broad and deep appreciation for American jazz from all eras. His new trio disk covers standards and jazz classics by the likes of the great Bud Powell, but also some originals. The emergence of a fine original jazz player and composer in our own neighborhood is certainly worth celebrating. Another pair of original Oregon musical voices returns to Eugene on Wednesday, May 31, when Portland-based keyboardist Asher Fulero and turntablist Joel Barber bring their duo project, Surrounded by Ninjas, to Jo Federigo's. Having opened for Sound Tribe Sector 9, Galactic, and J. Fred Jazz Odyssey, Surrounded by Ninjas can be categorized as part of the burgeoning electronic/jam band trend, but that's really too limiting a label for a band that explores a wide variety of dance beats, tunes and textures. Yet it's all created live, with the musicians frantically fiddling with turntables, knobs and keyboards to unleash nervous, skittery, slippery rhythms and seductive, spacey ambient sounds. Speaking of Oregon originals, the Seventh Species concerts that gave valuable exposure to so many musicians from Eugene and surrounding areas have followed founder Gary Noland to Portland. On May 25 and 27, the collective will present concerts featuring the work of Eugene composers Paul Safar and Guy Tyler, Portlanders Jack Gabel and Tomas Svoboda, and others, including classics by Debussy and Messiaen. See www.artixpdx.com/7th-species/7th-species.05-27-06.html for details. Finally, world music fans and anyone who grooves to those omnipresent drum circles at Country Fair and elsewhere in Eugene should get to Cozmic Pizza on May 31. Arab-Israeli-American ensemble Raquy and the Cavemen unveil traditional drumming from Egypt, Turkey and nearby lands as well as other sinuous Middle Eastern sounds on various instruments from the region. Raquy has studied tabla and dumbek in India and Egypt and composes her own music. Their shows pulsate with real passion and summon a heady atmosphere.
Help
On The Way
Numerous local musicians will gather for an evening of blues with the proceeds going to help Curtis Salgado battle his recently diagnosed liver cancer. One of Salgado's favorite charities, FOOD for Lane County, will benefit from the two cans of perishable food, requested by organizers along with the admission price. Salgado, who speaks to young people about alcohol and drug abuse and has been sober for 17 years, has no health insurance. The popular blues artist was born and raised here in Eugene, where he has performed countless times and has deep ties to the local blues community. Most blues fans already know the story: In 1977 Salgado played harmonica and sang with fellow Eugenean Robert Cray. John Belushi was in town filming "Animal House," and both Salgado and Belushi ended up at the Eugene Hotel, which at the time had a Monday night blues jam. Salgado gave Belushi the low-down on blues-ology, so when Belushi later formed the Blues Brothers, he basically lifted his whole act from Salgado, right down to his onstage chit chat, dark glasses and singing style. Local blues musician Jerry Zybach heard that Salgado was in a tight spot and organized the benefit concert featuring Bill Rhoades and the Party Kings, Ellen Whyte Trio, Terry Robb, Walker T. Ryan, Barbara Healy, JC Rico, Deb Cleveland and many more. "The music community is closer knit than you might think," Zybach said. "When we have someone in our 'family' who needs help, we try to help them. When the news came out about Curtis's illness without insurance, it wasn't even a conscious decision to do a benefit." A silent auction and raffle will also be held.
Don't Be Afraid Giant Bear is a toe-tapping, head-spinning good time. Technically the band belongs in the increasingly popular roots/Americana category. But it makes more sense to consider the long list of instruments appearing on their EP (flute, harp, cello and mandolin in addition to the usual suspects), throw in that they've been compared to the New Pornographers, and conclude that such a combination of sounds could only go in a stellar direction. While Giant Bear's sound has a twangy, bluegrassy appeal that's all the rage these days, the blend of male and female vocals and layering of soaring flute over staccato rhythms sets them apart as a band cultivating an artistic vision rather than a band trying to reproduce a sound that has worked for a lot of other people over the years. Giant Bear also manages to maintain a raw simplicity in their music without ever getting sloppy — impressive considering they're coordinating the skills of six members playing instruments that don't traditionally end up on stage together. Lyrically, their EP New American Wilderness takes you from love in a small town to the discovery of pregnancy to judicial bribery. Don't be afraid if you meet this bear down at your local watering hole. Giant Bear plays 10 pm Friday, May 26 at Sam Bonds. — Adrienne van der Valk
Having Sex to the Blues On their website, Hillstomp claims they play something called north Mississippi trance blues, and maybe they do. I don't have a clue what trance blues is; I've never heard of it before. On their current CD The Woman that Ended the World, I could hear the Mississippi influence, but it didn't put me in a trance. Was it supposed to? Reading further, I learned that they mix their trance blues with a chaser straight from the hills of Appalachia and punkabilly to create "... a raucous hill country blues stomp with a fiery youth and vigor ... " and et cetera. It's just the sort of word-salad press release that can make this job such a drag sometimes. Cut through it all, and all I can say is that the blues have been around a long time. And though I didn't hear anything that I found revolutionary, I did hear a lot of good music. Why can't that be enough for these young bands? Sheesh. What I admired about Hillstomp is their jump-right-in, down-and-dirty approach to the blues. The duo, Henry Kammerer on guitar and most of the vocals and John Johnson on a homemade drum kit consisting of a cardboard box, plastic buckets and a BBQ lid, revere the blues without worshiping them. In this way, they do bring a punk sensibility to their playing. Their music is fresh, entertaining, slightly original, but not yet groundbreaking. That might, perhaps, come in time. Hillstomp will be joined by Seattle blues duo Sugar Free, a similar band whose word-salad free bio states in its entirety: "We want you to want to have sex while listening to our music." I'd call it Seattle sex-trance space-grunge blues, but then I'd be the one coming up with the hated adjectives. Hillstomp and Sugar Free perform at 10 pm Friday, May 26 at John Henry's, $4. — John Ginn
Shining Starr
Garrison Starr has tasted commercial success and decided she'd rather make albums her way, thank you. First hitting the mainstream music scene in 1997, she had a radio hit with a song called "Superhero" … and then she disappeared. To the relief of her fans, she reappeared five years later, a little older and much more confident in the kind of music she wanted to make. Currently touring in support of her fourth album, The Sound of You and Me, Starr continues to move audiences with unapologetic lyrical intensity and commitment to truth-telling, regardless of how painful (or commercially unpopular) the truth may be. "[The Sound of You and Me] was made because it's beautiful and intense and sad and lonely, and that's how I feel a lot of the time," Starr has said. The album was made in Nashville, a new location for the singer/songwriter, and chronicles her journey through a series of relationships searching for that elusive mistress, perfect love. Rather than describing scenes, her lyrics often speak to the listener as if he or she was the subject of the song. beautiful, kiss me again you taste like cigarettes and spearmint you've come to me out of nowhere it's hard to write, it's up in the air it's perfectly up in the air Starr sings with an unassuming clarity that sets her apart from female vocalists overly focused on vibrato or overly complicated runs. Her album includes plenty of rock 'n' roll ("Beautiful Los Angeles" is one of the more hum-able tunes), but she isn't afraid to hunker down and get quiet on songs like "Pretending" and "Big Enough." The Sound of You and Me is startlingly personal, but that is certainly part of its success as a cohesive collection of songs. Remarkably, in spite of Starr's commitment to her own vision, or perhaps because of it, her latest endeavor is both triumphant and accessible, containing songs varied enough to please a range of audiences but subtle enough to be enjoyed by true fans of finely crafted songwriting. Garrison Starr plays with Tim Easton 7 pm Sunday, May 28 at John Henry's. $10. — Adrienne van der Valk
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