WSW PREVIEW" _ __
Fm- l Sawn off
'ThesecretofIlu: T Sawdoctors. it was once ' said, is that they know
who they are. Pierce Doherty at least seems to have some idea. as he tells Gavin Inglis.
‘It’s a hard one. We ne‘. er set out to be specifically an Irish band. It just so happens that we sound Irish. Even though we sing about our locality. where were from and all that, we don‘t want to get this sort of “Paddy” vibe. I think The Pogues intended themselves to be beer-drinking Paddys. tricoltfur—waving. 'l‘he Sawdoctors are just writing songs about their own area.’ He laughs.
and continues. ‘We'd like to think of ourselves as along the same lines as Steve Earle or Bruce Springsteen. but maybe that‘s too romantic.‘
They aren‘t giving it away in their songs. either.
"I'he Sawdoctors take on a character in every song and sing about it. “I L’seta Lover”. that huge hit: we watched so many blokes in discos just walking out the door with their tails between their legs. pissed outoftheir heads. l'heydidn'teven try to chat the girl up. 'l'hey‘d just go straight to feeling sorry for themselves. All ofa sudden. everybody thinks “that‘s 'I'he Sawdoctors. But it‘s not. We're doing this comment on what we see. People get confused.‘
Perhaps we‘ll see who they are at their Glasgow gig. which coincides with the launch-date of their new album. All The It'd); Horn 'l’tumi.
‘It’s going to be hird for us to live up to. The Barrowlancl has a serious reputation. I think this time we‘ll be doing a few aCoustic songs as well. We're going to try to bring the show up. take a step on.‘
At present. they're the most commercially successful band in Ireland since UZ. And tomorrow. . . The Sawdoctors play The Barrowland. Glasgmi' on Mon 12.
30The List 9 — 22 October 1992
uplo-
Funkified
When it comes to tracing a jazz lineage for ex-JB's saxman Maceo Parker, you have to look not so much at the Parker-Rollins-Coltrane continuum as the boistrous rhythm and blues-based style of the likes of Illinois Jacquet, Gene Ammons, or Louis Jordan. Parker is a soul man at heart, and his recent dabblings with the jazz tradition never veer too far away from those roots.
‘All through my life it’s been funky music for me. That‘s the music I grew up playing— most kids wanna play like Coltrane or Sonny Stitt or Charlie Parker or Cannonball Adderley, and that’s probably why my style is a little different, because I didn‘t come up that way. i came up playing funky stuff-The Meters, James Brown, Ray Charles. My heroes were guys like Hank Crawford, David Newman, and King Curtis.‘
He is best known, of course, as James Brown’s No 1 confederate in brewing up the meanest, hardest- hifting soul horn section on the planet. He joined up with the Godfather as a baritone player, moved down to tenor (he is the tenor soloist on ‘Papa’s GotA Brand New Bag'), and ended up on alto. He has been in and out of Brown’s band over the years, and in one of those breaks in the 19703, he hooked up with George Clinton and Bootsy Collins to hone his funk connections.
Funk masters: Pee Wee. Fred and Maceo
Parker acknowledges that ‘l owe all my success and recognition to James Brown’, and the Roots Revisited road show reflects that debt in some of the material they choose to play, but he is equally determined to push his claims for recognition in his own right. His funky, fun, hard-blowing band, which features fellow ex-JB’s Pee Wee Ellis on tenor sax and Fred Wesley on trombone, has already taken him a considerable way down that road. (Kenny Mathieson)
Maceo Parker and Roots Revisited play City Hall, Glasgow on Wed 21, Music Hall, Aberdeen (with Van Morrison) on Thurs 22 and Queen's Hall. Edinburgh on Fri 23.
quitous
it seems no time at all since a
mini-testivalin Glasgowwas
; celebrating the 65th birthday of
Greek-born composer lannis Xenakis. ' This year, however, sees his 70th
3 birthday and, although celebrations in I Scotland may not quite reach the level of five years ago, Edinburgh
Contemporary Arts Trust (ECAT) is opening its 92/93 season with a tribute
to Xenakis, arguably the most
important and influential living composer in Europe today. Notoriously difficultto perform—some would say impossible—Xenakis's scores on this occasion fall into the hands of The Chamber Group of Scotland, who are
making only their second appearance on the concert platform, but promise to be a major new force in the continued burgeoning of contemporary music in
I Scohand.
With conductor Richard Bernas,
: ‘Phlegra’ opens the concert and
j ‘Epicycles‘, for solo cello and
f instrumental ensemble is given its
British premiere to close. in between
come works by Xenakis‘s teacher and two contemporary composers whom he, in turn, hastaught. Messiaen‘s ‘Ouartet ForThe End Of Time' is now a
f 20th century classic, but receiving its 1 first performance will be 'lchthys' for
ensemble and UPlC computer, by Scottish composer and ECAT artistic director PeterNelson.
The UPlC, a computer-based electronic system that converts
3 drawings into sound, was invented by
Xenakis in 1975 in Paris, where he is now resident as a French citizen and where Nelson has spent several periods of study. The programme as a
3 whole is indicative of ECAT’s
maintained strength of imagination. evident throughout their season, which has resulted in a further award from the Performing Rights Society for
enterprise in the programming and
performance of new music. The List will carry full details of the remaining
six concerts between November and . March. Watch this space. (Carol Main)
2 lannis Xenakis 70th Birthday
Celebration takes place at the Queen's Hall, Edinburgh on Tue 13.
an army of Zulu warriors
away from their rulcrto
nowsouth-western
V WORLD
Beats of the heart
Like South Africa‘s Lady'smith Black Mambozo. the group made famous by Paul Simon on the Graceland album. Black Umfolosi. perform a form OfZUIU music. from vigorous vocals as a component of dance to mesmeric a t‘uppt'lfrl harmony in the township choral style. 'l'aking their name from
who in the 1830s broke
found independent Malabelcland in what is
Zimbabwe. the group had
itstormationina
i Bulawayo boys school.
and base been very
successful in taking their
1 mtisictotltetopofthe charts in the dominant Shona culture.
In traditional fighting costume. performing the famed miners' gumboot dance. or in modern dress clothes. the eight men give
their all in a dynamic stage
show.
The new W'orld Music
- series at Glasgow‘s Centre
for(.‘ontemporaryArts,
' tot'merlythe'l'hird Eye. brings the band to their season of African concerts
‘ and Fiona \chllister of Heartbeat World Music
promotes them in a series of concerts run in
conjunction with Iitiinl'iurgh District
('i iuncil‘s Assembly Rooms. 'l‘hc Artseouncil gave its a first touring gt ant to help with the expenses. so we played places we could not Ill irmally afford to go to, like Scourie and
‘ Applecross. and got great audiences; but the Edinburgh series has no grant. We have to cover our costs in ticket sales.
‘Wifh the (‘CA in
(ilasgtm . the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen and a new promotion in St Andrews. we are forming a circuit where we can offer visiting artists the possibility ofa few Scottish gigs and keep the costs down. So the
organisation is all in place and the music's good. and
' we're going to carry it right through this time till
3 the spring.‘ (Norman
l Chalmers)
l Black Umfolosi play the
5 (IA. Glasgow on Tue 13
f and the Assembly Rooms,
| Edinburgh on Wed 14.