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Jamiroquai
Return of the Space Cowhoy
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On Jamiroquai’s “Return of the Space Cowboy.” the heart and the social awareness is still intact, but the juice and soul have
been beefed up.
n 1993, Jamiroquai laid
down the foundation.
Emergency on Planet
Earth was the first funky
steptowardbuildingabrave
new world of beats and conscious
ness. The album debuted at the
#1 spot on the UK charts but,
more importantly, the
Jamiroquai groove got hold in
the USA and singer Jay K
emerged as a soul child with a
mission.
In 1995, Jamiroquai delivers
on the promise of Emergency on
Planet Earth with Return of the
Space Cowboy, the group’s sec
ond Columbia Records release
and strongest declaration of
rhythm and reason to date.
Emergency on Planet Earth
married eco-politics to seductive
and fluid grooves. On Return of
the Space Cowboy, the heart and
the social awareness is still in
tact, but the juice and soul have
been beefed up.
“All of the attention to what we
were saying and what we were
wearing was great,” offers Jay,
“but it also siphoned people’s at
tention away from the most inte
gral aspect of Jamiroquai: the
music.” One of pop’s more irre
pressible and outspoken charac
ters, Jay K may have grown up,
but he hasn’t calmed down. Well,
not much. “Yeah, the goofy hat is
gone,” he laughs, now a wise old
Dead Hot Workshop sends ‘lool’ from desert
After years of perfecting a
sound that blends the mournful
world of classic country music
with elements of rock and folk
music, Dead Hot Workshop make
their TAG Recordings debut in
late June with 1001. The album,
produced by Jim Scott (AC/DC,
Tom Petty, John Hiatt, Johnny
Cash, Robbie Robertson, Sting),
is one of the first releases from
Atlantic’s newly established TAG
Recordings.
Borne of the same area which
produces such diverse groups as
Gin Blossoms, Meat Puppets, Soul
Mission, The Refreshments and
Alice Cooper, the Tempe/AZ-based
quartet has earned “Best Alterna
tive Rock Band” kudosin the Phoe
nix New Times two years running
while prompting Request to vote
them one of the best college bands
in America. Dead Hot Workshop,
says Request, has “paid enough
dues to shatter most soon-to-bes
... Admitted aficionados of "70s
geezer of 25.
“This time I wanted to get away
from all the trappings. The first
time around I'll admit I got a
little full of myself and that’s not
a good thing. But now that I've
gotten a little older, I've realized
that I can still let people know
what I really believe in, without
preaching. I also realized that if
you don’t try and break away
from constraints soon enough,
then people will try and hold
you. That’s what the whole acid
jazz scene is, and that’s why we
don’t want to lump ourselves in
with any one scene. People are
gonna get trapped by that and
we refuse to be trapped, by any
thing. I mean one year it’s acid
jazz, the next year, it’s jungle.
What I want to do with this band
is to make music.”
Make music is what Jay and
the boys in the band do, with a
vengeance. “This record seemed
to come easier for us,” Jay K
explains. “I think that on the last
album we got caught up in the
entire package and in introduc
ing ourselves to America. This
time we're just letting music step
forward a bit.”
What Jamiroquai serves up on
Return of the Space Cowboy is
more freewheeling, with an ex
pansive sense of song structure,
and a bit more off-the-cuff. The
emphasis is on space: the space
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| W L ’%‘9‘ LRI |
Dead Hot Workshop bring their ‘sardonic silliness and plead
ing anarchic despair’ to Squeaky’s Tip Top May 22.
cheese — Kiss, Lynyrd Skynyrd,
and Black Sabbath — Dead Hot
colors that loopy lineage with tints
of Byrdsian jangle, a punky will
ingness to get loud, and a quiet
out there and the space that lin
gers in between the downbeats.
“We felt we didn’t have to prove
anything. We didn’t have to get
all complex, or introspective, or
what have you. We just let it
flow.”
That sense of freedom and of
letting the grooves fall where
they may starts with the CD’s
title, and extends through the
songs and their titles as well.
“Look down the list,” explains
Jay. “Mr. Moon,” ‘Light Years,’
‘Space Cowboy.” They all rein
force that sensation of spacious
ness and extending boundaries.”
The first single is “Space Cow
boy.” “It’s about a personal sort
of high, and of course that means
different things to different peo
ple,” Jay says with a wink, “and
I think we’ll just leave it at that.
The one thing that these tracks
share is that they all, in some
way or another, speak about
struggle, about personal quest, a
search for truth and peace and a
place where it just feels ... ‘right’
... you know what I'm saying?”
People caught on to what
Jamiroquai were saying as soon
as they heard the band’s debut.
The son of a British jazz stylist,
Jay K grew up inhaling the mu
sicof Stevie Wonder; Earth, Wind
& Fire; and the great jazz vocal
ists. He formed Jamiroquai in
1992, taking the name from a
moodiness. Lyrically, the band
swaggers between sardonic silli
ness and a pleading anarchic de
spair.”
In addition to last year’s Seed
art e music ¢ literature o theatre
permutation of the Native-Amer
ican tribe “Iroquois.” Trumpeted
as the Next Big Thing from the
Land Over There, Jamiroquai
scored a club and chart hit with
the intoxicating “When You
Gonna Learn,” a poignant shout
out addressing the plights of the
planet. The video was turned
down by MTV, due to its confron
tational content, but that only
convinced Jay and the crew that
they were headed down the right
path to musical liberation.
Now with the hype at a more
bearablelevel, and with ears more
receptivetoa cross-cultural cross
pollination of sounds, Jamiroquai
isback with another self-produced
journey into the land of limitless
sonic possibilities.
Not that Jay K takes any of
this all that seriously. “Look,” he
says, “... at the end of the day this
album isjust a sliver of what this
band, and myself, are capable of.
If all we’ve accomplished in this
life were these two records that
we’ve put out, then fine, judge us
by that but ...” And here, Jay
can’t help but chuckle. “I was
signed to an album deal and that
means | think of my creative
output as a box-set of eight.
Which means we still have six
more to go then, don’t we?”
Stay tuned. Jay K and
Jamiroquai don’t make promis
es they can’t keep.
Records debut EP, River Otis,
Dead Hot Workshop put out
White House and an eponymous
full-length, cassette-only release
on their own Bong Records. Over
the past five years, the band has
cultivated a devoted Southwest
following through a rigorous live
scheduleincluding packed-house
headlining club gigs and open
ing sets with such groups as
Candlebox, the Gin Blossoms, the
Pretenders and the Spin Doc
tors. The band has just complet
ed an extensive West Coast tour
with Blue Rodeo and is soon off
again to conquer the Carolinas
and the Deep South.
Preceding the release of 1001,
TAG Recording will ship Dead
Hot Workshop’s cut “A” toradioon
May 5.
Information on Dead Hot
Workshop and their activities
will be available via the Internet
on the new TAG web site
(www.tagrec.com).
AUGUSTA FOCUS
Choral Society presents Pops
Along the Savannah May 20
The Augusta choral Society will
complete its 1994-95 concert season
on May 20 with another of its popu
lar “Pops Along the Savannah” con
certs.
The program will be a musical
excursion from Vienna to Broadway
with stops in between. The 100-
voice choir will open the program
with Rogersand Hammerstein's“lt’s
a Grand Night for Singing.” Then
come delicacies from Vienna, in
cluding Adele’s Laughing Songfrom
Die Fledermaus and lilting waltzes
by Johann Strauss, along with the
lovely “Vilia” from Lehar’s “The
Merry Widow.”
Forthegrand finale thetwochoirs
will join together for John Rutter’s
rousing Dixieland jazz version of
“When the Saints Go Marching In.”
On hand will be a superb trio of
s A
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Pacad 2 .4
Rappin’ 4-Tay comes to
Mayfest this Saturday
Although he’s just now mak
ing his mark nationally, Rappin’
4-Tay — along with MC Ham
mer, Too Short and Spice One —
was part of the first wave of rap/
hip-hop talent to emerge from
the Bay Area. A talented instru
mentalist as a youth (valve trom
bone, baritone horn and trum
pet), 4-Tay (born Anthony Forte)
discovered his rhyming skills
before he reached his teens. By
1986, the young musician
turned-rapper could freestyle
with the best of them, and when
Run-DMC and Wheodini visited
San Francisco with the historic
Raising Hell Tour, Whodini, said,
“You're so young, but you're in
credible. Nomatter what anyone
ever says, don’t stop.” And 4-Tay
replied, “I won’t stop.”
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1. Name the internationally ac
claimed trumpet soloist, band
leader, clinician, with the ini
tials C.T.
2. What is the name of the big
band drummer formerly of the
NBC Tonight Show Orchestra
that performed with the Augus
ta College Jazz Band on
Riverwalk?
3. The great trumpeter Herb
Alpert launched the Herb Alpert
Jazz Endowment Fund with ini
tial contribution to the National
Association of Jazz Educators.
What was theinitial amount con
tributed?
4. The Herb Alpert Endowment
is dedicated to the memory of
what four Jazz Musicians?
5. What do Bud Shank, Pete
Christlieb, Don Lamphere and
Med Flory have in common?
6. Who is Jimmy Heath?
7. He was the most respected
president of the American Fed-
May 18, 1995
soloists. Atlanta Soprano Beth
McCool returnsto Augusta after her
successful performance with the
Choral Society in February. Mezzo-
Soprano Sandra Walker, whose in
ternational career has taken her to
the world’s leading operatic stages,
including the Metropolitan Opera,
will sing, among other things, a stir
ring arrangement of irving Berlin’s
beloved “God Bless America.” Bari
tone David Milholin comes back to
Augusta from engagements in Chi
cago and Natchez to sing the Phan
tom’s “Music of the night.”
Tickets for sl2 for adults and $lO
for seniors and students are avail
able at Sacred Heart Cultural Cen
ter at 826-4700, and at Trinity-on
the-Hill United Methodist Church
at 738-8822.
With a hook and a message
lifted straight from the Spinners’
original “I'll Be Around,” Rappin’
4-Tay strikes the airwaves of
WFXA with positive vibes and
dynamic chords.
“The ghetto ain’t nothin’ to
dream about/ Tryin’to get out now
that’s something to think about,”
the San Francisco group says in
response to the trend in rap/hip
hop to romanticize the ghetto.
4-Tay will be showcasing his
dazzling skills as a smooth, free
flowing and versatilereality rap
per at Augusta’s May Park, per
forming selections from his top
selling debut album Don’t Fight
the Feelin’.
4-Tay is on his way to mega
success. Come out to see him
along the way.
eration of Musicians. What was
his name?
8. What do the following have in
common: Claude Thornhill, Duke
Ellington, Count Basie, Woody
Herman and Les Brown?
9. Name the members of the 1938
Count Basie Rhythm Section.
10. Identify the following: Roy
Eldridge, Charlie Shavers, Har
ry Edison, Cootie Williams and
Clark Terry.
11. Outside the love of music,
what was an interest of Harry
James and Jack Teagarden?
12. How old is the great Lionel
Hampton?
13. Where did Lionel Hampton
celebrate his most recent birth
day?
14. What instrument do the fol
lowing musicians play?
15. Which name doesn’t belong
in the following set: Ron Carter,
Wayne Shorter, Cedar Walton,
Benny Golson or Jesse Norman?
16. Who wrote the standard jazz
tune ‘Round Midnight’?
17. Who is this young, bright,
bold, creative and forward think
ing female musician? Born in
1957, a graduate of Cass Techni
cal High School in Detriot, she
is truly a great talent.
18. Fred Wesley formerly for the
James Brown band was a mem
ber of what renowned Big Band?
19. What instrument is Kenny G
famous for playing (be specific)?
20. A saxophonist played for some
35 years before returning to the
acoustic piano with his group.
His initials are O.C. What is his
name?
W answers on page 18
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