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Thursday, Novembers, 1990
The Battalion
Page 7
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Dreamy jazz
Marsalis hypnotizes audience
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By JOHN RIGHTER
Branford Marsalis, part of jazz’s
legendary first family (along with
brother Wynton and father Ellis),
brought his renown quartet to the
, University of Texas’ Performing
i Arts Center election night to cast his
vote for modern jazz.
Performing just a week after
Time magazine made a much-to-do
cover story about him and brother
| Wynton (“The New Jazz Age"),
Branford evinced the monumental
1 proof that a lifetime exists between
the tradition-via-modern-flair jazz
J he delivers, and the contemporary
re of more known, but falsely
bed artists, Kenny G, Najee
and Harry Connick Jr.
It had been rumored that legend
ary pianist Kenny Kirkland would
not be performing with the Bran
ford Marsalis Quartet, thus knock
ing it down to a trio. Not knowing
how the trio would sound, I was
Concert Review
pleased to find the quartet intact,
with Kirkland providing the schizo
chords on the more plebiscitary
numbers and added tranquility to
the ballad-like airs.
The real stalwart of the evening,
though, was drummer Jeff “Tain”
Watts. The fact that Watts was a blis
tering, yet tempo-precise performer
was certainly not suiprising, but the
demonstratory and flair that he dis
played was captivating and exciting.
Equally adept was bassist Robert
Hurst, who strung several hard-tem-
poed solos together as interludes to
Marsalis’ saxophone parts.
Of course, Marsalis was great. Al
ternating between tenor and so
prano, he combined with Kirkland,
Watts and Hurst for a tranquil,
dreamy ambience, heightened by
the center’s surreal stage lights. On a
few songs, such as “Little Stevie,” the
band let loose with jittery, frag
mented solos that somehow glued
together behind Marsalis for a syn
chronized, epic finish.
The unfortunate aspect of the
evening was its atmosphere. One,
Marsalis’ mikes were insufficiently
amped, allowing undue competition
in the more uptempo numbers.
Also, the Performing Arts Center
was the wrong location for what
should have been a more intimate
setting. The center was too large and
narrow with a long stretch to the
back. This made the quartet’s energy
and relation more difficult to con
vey.
It’s probably a bias of mine, but
the smaller Rockefeller’s (Houston),
where Marsalis will play this week
end, is a more appropriate setting.
Tables, drinks, smoke and conges
tion — all were missing. Stereotypi
cal? Yes. But it’s hard to disagree.
SONDRA N. ROBBINS/The Battalion
ie Players win awards
for acting, sound design
TEXAS A & M
FOOTBALL-ygyi H:%.
; ARKANSAS
12th Man Foundation
BUS TRIP to Fayetteville, Ark.
Nov. 16-18 I
Contact Steve
at the 12th Man.
846-8193
Cost: $100 INCLUDES:
- Football Ticket
- 2 nights/Hotel
- Round-Trip (Bus)
Stamp
Out
Swine
Fever!
HoggaMoMiu* J
v RaiortxcK
Aggie Blood Drive November 12*16,1990
Commons 10-8 Academic Plaza 10-6
SBISA 10-6 Med. Sci. Library 12-8
Blocker 10-6
• \ £ i? 5 .t | * ' ? ; J •' -ih
Another service of Alpha Phi Omega, Omega Phi Alpha, and Student Goverment
THE
BLOOD CENTER
at Wadley
Supported by
A
&
vO?*
O' jw.
days, a
dune
By JOHN MABRY
Aggie Players picked up awards for Best Sound De
sign and two acting awards for its production of “My
Children! My Africa!” at the American College Theatre
Festival’s Northeast Texas division.
Freshman theater arts major Beverly Nelson re
ceived an award for the festival’s Best Sound Design,
and Acting Excellence Awards were given to sopho
more theater arts major Jessica Lowe and senior theater
arts major Billy M. Thomas.
Both Thomas and senior theater arts major Oliver
Tull were chosen to represent Texas A&M at the re
gional division of the festival at the Irene Ryan schol
arship auditions. The winner at the regional level is
awarded $1000 and the national winner is awarded
$2500 in scholarship money.
The festival, held last week at Tarrant County Junior
College’s South Campus in Fort Worth, is part of a na
tionwide competition in which over 800 productions
and 17,000 students participate each year. Productions
are chosen from a primary level for eight regional festi
vals. Six productions from, the regional festivals are
then chosen to perform in Washington D.C. at the Ken
nedy Center for the Performing Arts.
The cast and crew spent the week in Fort Worth per
forming, attending productions from other compet
itors and sitting in on critiques given by playwright/pro-
fessor Dr. Jerry L. Crawford of the University of
Nevada at Las Vegas.
Senior theater arts major Rick Boultinghouse, stage
manager for the show, says the festival is a great oppor
tunity for anyone interested in theater arts.
“During the festival you’re totally immersed in eight
different shows. Nowhere else can you see eight shows
of such quality in such a short time period for free.”
The group of eight theater students that attended
were able to view everything from the fluffy “You’re A
Good Man, Charlie Brown,” performed by Weather
ford College, to the TCJC South Campus’ suspense-
thriller “Cat’s Paw.”
One of the most unusual productions of the festival
was Chekhov’s realist classic “The Three Sisters” staged
by the University of North Texas as a John Ford west
ern.
The three productions nominated for regional com
petition by the directors of the eight shows and Craw
ford were Texas Wesleyan University’s Under-Milk-
woodish “Judevine,” TCJC North Campus’ “The Boys
Next Door,” and the audience-pleasing finale to the fes
tival, Texas Woman’s University’s melodramatic “Daisy
Pulls It Off.”
[3^11 Brazos Writers supports novice efforts
^ of local would-be Hemingways, poets
By JOHN MABRY
Even Mark Twain and Charlotte
■ Bronte had to start somewhere. If
■ you think you’ve got what it takes to
I be a writer, but just don’t know
I where to go, the Brazos Writers’
I next workshop might be worth
I checking out.
Brazos Writers, a non-profit orga-
I nization and member of the Arts
I Council of the Brazos Valley, will
| hold a workshop titled “Write Non-
I fiction That Sells” this Saturday
I from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Mark
I Francis Room in the Veterinary
| Medical Administration Building.
The workshop will be led by Can-
I dace Leslie, a well-known freelance
I writer. Leslie has written for several
I magazines and newspapers and is
I the author of a recent travel book,
I “Hidden Florida Keys and Ever-
I glades.” She is also a contributing
I editor of “Hidden Florida,” winner
1 of the 1989 Lowell Thomas Award
| for Best Travel Guide.
Her workshop will address va-
I rious aspects of writing nonfiction,
I including marketing, targeting pub-
I lications and editors, tight writing
I and dealing with rejection. A short
I writing excercise will be included.
Holly S. Coast, publicity director
for the workshop and a writer her
self, says that anyone interested in
writing in the Brazos area should re
alize that living in a small writers’
market isn’t really a hindrance any
more.
“You don’t have to live in a big city
to write,” she said. “Technology has
allowed writers to do their work
through the phone or on a modem.
It doesn’t really matter where you
are.”
Coast said one of the purposes of
the workshop is to let writers know
that there is a market outside Bryan-
/College Station for their work.
“I think there are a lot of people
who like writing,” she said. “They
have good ideas, but don’t know how
to go about getting published. Popu
lar publications like Ladies Home
Journal are hard nuts to crack. Peo
ple don’t realize that there are lots of
smaller magazines out there that
love freelance work... All they need
is focus and direction.”
The cost of the workshop is $15
er person. Participants should
ring a sack lunch. Beverages and
snacks will be provided. For more in
formation call 693-7545.
are he in £4 taken
OQCDXW
Juniors: through
November 16
AR Photography
707 Texas Ave Suite 120B
(next to Taco Cabana)
Monday-Friday 9-12;1-5pm