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Xovemher, I97V
Ampersand
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(Continued from page 17)
Michaki. Jacks* >\
< )tl the Wall (t.pui
Like mini gir.ii popular singers.
Mu hael Jackson has .in immediately
recognizable voice. Thai um<|ur in-
Mrurneni has never been so well used
as on Off the Wail, Jac kson's first solo
album since leaving Motown four
years ago. Along with the c redii due
Jac kson, high praise is also clue pro
ducer Quincy Jones, who found lor
Jackson a perfect balance of gritty
funk and slick Rtf B
Dance numbers dominate Side
One, leading with the smash "Don't
Slop Till You Oct Enough." Jackson
wrote or co-wrote three of the side's
four songs, each ot them striking an
adventuresome yet contemporary
sound. "Rock with You," written by
Rod Tempcrton of Heatwave, is a
perfect commercial groove, already
being played as the album's second
hit. Side Two, with uneven mate
rial. is less compelling Still, it's a jov
to hear Jackson come into his own.
outside the famous family grouping
This is also a giant step for Quincy
Jones, for most of all this is an album
cd mood, where the colorings and
shadings of the production set
Jac kson's bouvant voice off with sub
tlety and brilliance.
Tom Vickers
Van Morrison
Into the 1 Music (Winner Bros.)
(iive an open ear to Astral Weeks. St.
Dominic's Preview, luprlo Honey or
most anv of Van Moriison's albums
and it becomes c leat the Bellas!
hlucsman has been living on the
edge, beyond the fringe and into the
ether longet than any of us has even
known that stuff was out there.
Which inavl>c is why it's so hard to
understand what he's doing. Since
splitting from Marin County's
tnellower-than-thou lifestyle and
re-absorbing spititual hits Irom his
Irish homeland. Van Morrison has
released thtee eclectic albums —
Period of Transition, Wavelength and
now Into the Music . Where cat Is Van
Morrison was brilliance crystallized
and middle Van Morrison was
murky but soullul, the c ui rent stuH
sort cd isn't. It these* albums do share
a direction, it's toward rebirth, celeb
ration and religion. "Moving from
the daik end of the street to the
blight side ol the road." as Into the
Music's fust ly rics put it. Maybe they
encompass our clinic belief system,
who knows? I think this is a great
album, and knowing has nothing to
do with that realization.
Merrill Shindler
Bit f Stem
No More I oncly Nights
(infinity)
Blue Steel play a good ol' hat room
variety of rock tf toll, booze and
boogie music with its leel planted
firmly in the middle ol a road that
stretches back to the Killies and be
yond. These boys have worked the
roadbed thoroughly, having indi
vidually toured and recorded with
Kondstadt. the Eagles and Jackson
Browne to name a few, and it shows
up to theit advantage on this debut
album on Inhnity, California rock
and Southern Boogie are the two
dominant forces here. The tunes
usually end up with some heads
down, no-nonsense jamming that
indicates the live roots of this band.
I he songs — about rock tf toll, girls,
playing guitar, girls who won't, life
on the road, dope and girls who
would like to —are unlikely to ex
pand the consciousness of the lis
tener. But that is of lesser impor
tance to the goodtiinr nature of the
music, which is well played with a
genuine spontaneity about it.
James Anzer
Woody Shaw
Woody III (Columbia)
Of all the c ur rent artists signed to
Columbia Records, cornetist-
Klugclhornist Woody Shaw is
foremost in preserving the jazz
tradition that was inspired by the life
and music of John Coltrane Shaw's
records are fiery and provocative,
yet pleasing to the ear.
Side one is a three-part suite,
Woody I. II, and III. all utilizing a
huge ensemble for compositional
diversity and broadness of sound.
Woody I varies between a tension
building vamp and straight swing,
with Shaw, pianist Onaje Allen
Cumbs and saxophonist Carter Jef
ferson playing with passion. II is
more uptempo and highlights the
rrmatkable trombonist Steve Tut re.
whose lat. trembling sound and
roc ket-like technique are only
sidelights loan unshakable rhythmic
sense that makes this artist the next
major voice on his instrument. Cur
tis Fuller, an elder statesman from
the generation before TUrre's, has
wattn tiombone phrases on Woody
III, a lovely and quiet piece that also
has enetgelic Klugelhotn horn the
leader.
Side two comes out of the hole like
a 5-second dragster with " In Rill a
Brick." a hell-bent blues that has
good solos from Shaw, (>umhs, bas
sist Buster Williams, and alto
saxophonists Rene Me Lean and
Janies Spaulding, all interspersed
between leadings ol tbe melody.
I hen the horns trade four-bar
pluases so that the coutlasting ap-
proat hes of these artists c an be
lutthei revealed. Drummei Victor
la-wis, heie as elsewhere, spaiks the
take w uh a vivid, plant mg t y mbal. A
lM-antiful segue is "Oigan (.under,”
a shimmering quartet sehitle for
Shaw's sassy, bright Hugelhoin and
guest pianist Ceorge Cables's
spread-out voicings and nimble-
hngcrcd lines. Vbu can play this one-
over and over, it just keeps light on
singing. I he closet is a'live'take
I loin New Vork's Village Vanguaid,
with the leader, reed man Jelferson
and Cumbs simply tearing up "Es
cape Velocity." the 32-Imi modal tune
based on Miles Davis's "So What." It’s
some heady stuff.
Zan Stewart
Study This
Great
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