V CLASSICAL
The_ _ vanishing
bride-
\\ itli a title like [he lion's/ring Ht‘lrh'gt'r will. it seems llle‘VlILtl‘lL‘ Illtll there must lie some sort ols'torv liehind .ltidith Weir's new' opera.
w hieh will lie preiiriered liv Seottish ()pera lll ( ilasgow oil \‘vedllestlak~ l7 (ietoher. l low ev er. \Veii has taken not rust one stot‘_\ as her inspiration. lint three. and interwoven them to make a eontimious narrative through the pieee, Intrigued h} the l‘olk tales ol the w est ot Seotland‘s oral tradition. \\ eii has loeused her laseination on three stories l'rom .l l“. ('ampliell ol lslavs L‘UllL‘L‘llttlt ~ "lilte lnhei'itanee. "l he l)isappearanee’
Cross purposes
Listening to Jesus Jones‘ vocalist Mike Edwards casually reeling off the band‘s American tour dates, you know you‘re talking to a tour addict. He can well afford to sound optimistic— he's been tanked up on adrenalin forthe best part at the year. Chart success is just fine by him, butwhere the group fit in the business of being proper pop stars amongst their forays around Europe. Australia and Japan is anyone's guess. And there is the matter of Jesus Jones‘ involvement with ‘Bock for Romania‘ earlier this year. which made musical history and confused a rock ‘n‘ roll-starved population.
‘I think if you expect rock music to be encompassed by the sounds of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple, when a bunch like us get up on stage. then bewilderment definitely occurs. Being considered slightly left of mainstream in Britain puts you way beyond avant-garde in Romania and there were a lot of people very surprised. I was told afterwards by a few people that we‘d opened their eyes to somethings.‘
Somewhere along the line, the group found the time to write and record a follow-up to lastyear‘s ‘Liquidizer‘ LP. “The thing with this album is that there isn't a representative song, because there‘s so many different styles on it. in a way. it‘s a reaction against the first album, where we had a very definite point to make and hammered that home.‘
Some would argue that they have overstretched the point and turned in
an album full of ‘lnlo Freako‘s. Mike dismisses that attitude as ‘very much a British press point of view‘ but understands what fuelled those remarks. ‘The production was the same on pretty much every song so there was definitely an album sound, but then that was very deliberate. We wanted something to show the idea that mixing up this type of music could work well in a way that wasn‘t gimmicky and that sounded like a genuine rock band.‘ And it is as a rock band that they want to be perceived. None of this transient indie dance movementforthem. ‘l‘m considering burning my wah-wah pedal.‘ (Fiona Shepherd) Jesus Jones play The Network, Edinburgh on Wed 24.
With the growing stieeess olgrotips like l.l\. mg (‘oloi lw hose ieeeiit
seeondallittinwasoneot l‘fiill'sesseiitial pureliasesrthe fotindationsaie tieiiiglaid foragroundswellot ecleetie lilaek roek gioups. The waveot interestin them should attraet a large numher ot people tothe two loeal gigs ot I 17" Spy. (me or tew li\e hands that hav e emerged lronr the Ill—dominatedSouth Bronx. the group (consistingol siiigeiantl ‘tlrotrglitriiair l’eterlltrid. guitarist .lllltl l la/el. hassist Riel». \eatoie and drummer Anthony ‘Blglool'ltiltltstilll,ile' signed to the independent ln-lilleel Reeortls. distril'~trted lwt its. and have released l‘Miall‘les solar llte liist. the raw HrIrrI'i'rr/irui ion. was reeorded in Q3 hours and earned them the ‘hest hard roek grottp' award at the l‘i‘lllfslxt New \ ork
arid ' l he Stranger. .\ ktitlll‘; woman. not allowed to marrv the man she lov es. is toi'eed into an
Mtisie:\w;iitls :\ suhsetpient seven-and—
arranged marriage with a rieh man
w ho disappears into the hillside while on his w a} to register the liirth ol their daugltter. \lanv vears go hv and he re—enters the land olthe
liv ing retusing to heliev e what has happened until he meets his now grown tip daughter. She almost marries a stranger. the devil in disguise. hut is sav ed hv a passing preaeher. Direetor is lan Spink. best known as ehoreographer and direetoi' til Seeond Stride. Making his opera debut with The Vanishing h’r'rt/egi-ormi. he admits to being ‘a lot more seared about it helore I started rehearsale It‘s a w'onderlul eompanv ol singers to work with.‘ He deserihes the opera as ‘a ver_v interesting pieee to work on.
par tieularlv heeause ot' the way .ltidith \‘veir uses narrative and the
w a} the dil terent ehai'aeters ehange through the opera. lt‘s eas_v to understand and the musie is ver_v enitwahle, .\lv task is to hring the stories and musie together and to show them in the hest light.‘ Just doirt expeet it to he the sueeessor to h’rreudooh ~ there‘s onl_v one pieee of tartan. ((‘arol Main)
[he lion's/trite Bridegroom is at the 'lhi'utn' Royal. Glasgow on Wed 17 tun/Stirlfl.
34lhe l.ist l: 25 October l‘Nll
W
Very big ley
Carla Bley: amajorcoup For the second consecutive year, the Aberdeen Alternative Festival have pulled off something ol a coup within theirjazz programme. Having secured the only UK appearance of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers last time, they have trumped that by fixing up the Scottish debut— and only gig outside London — of pianist and composer Carla Bley with her Very Big Band, at the Arts Centre on Thurs18.
Bley explained that the Very was added to distinguish it in both size and musical approach from the Big Band she took on their previous European tour, and which gave us the superb ‘FleurCarnivore‘ album. She has written completely new material specilicallyforthis band, and the
concert promises to be one of the memorable jazz occasions of the year, and well worth the long haul northwards.
Otherjazz names include Carol Kidd. Stephane Grappelli and the Count Basie Orchestra, but the guitar trio of Dominic Ashworth, Nigel Clark and Graeme Duffin should be worth catching at the Festival Club on 12 October (10pm), now restored to its former home in the old Gloucester Hotel. Full details from The Festival Office, 10 Belmont Street, Aberdeen, ABt 1JE(0224 635822).
The Ounfermline Jazz Festival is rather closerto home, but no less interesting a line-up. The afternoon session features a cross-section of current Scottish jazz names. while the evening is given over to some heavyweightirnports.
Saxman Charles McPherson, who played some of the music in Clint Eastwood‘s Bird among his other claims to fame, heads the bill, butthe duo of pianist John Taylor and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler is no less fascinating. On the only occasion I heard this live, lwent in expecting a fairly low key textural examitation of their spacious tunes, only to lind a surprisingly acerbic and hard-driving dissection. See Listings for details. (Kenny Mathieson)
a-liall—iiionth tout tightened them up eoitsidei'alilt lieloie the reeording ot the new album. (rims/m Mil/wi/rrimr. rmore controlled aitd nrattiie effort than their first. and a sizzling mixture of hard rock. hip hop. reggae. ska and tau,
Support on the dates eomes front Stet. e Salas' ('oloreode. a ttrnk'v ioek hand ‘in l)an Reed Network mould'. Salas. a ZS-vear—oldguitarist and singer mov ed to l.;\ in 1985. meeting ( ieorge Clinton and liootsv Collins. and liasplaved with artistsasdiverseas Rod Stewart. “as l \{ot Was) and'l iaev
Chapman, l lis three—pieee
groupis aptlv named Salas. a Mexiean Ameriean lndian. tronts a Duteh Indonesian drummer and a hlonde—dreadltieked (‘aueasian hassist (Alastair \laliliottl
34—75pv; turtr' .Str'i t' .Srihiv (‘riliirt'm/r'pltri the Venue. Edinburgh on Sat /.i' and King Tut's H'uh H'uh Hut. Glasgow ("1510114.