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PERFORMING ARTS
Elizabeth Baber was "Her," Brian Cummings was "Him" in American Opera Theater's "Ground" at Georgetown University's Gonda Theater.
(By Greg Mcleskey)
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"Awakening," however, would have to be counted among the ensemble's misses. Despite hard and apparently sincere work by all participants, the production simply sinks under its own pretentiousness. From the microtonal keening of the adhans (Muslim call to prayer) to the first violinist's movie-monster voice-over during the attack sequence (music by the Berlin band Einstuerzende Neubauten; the name means "new buildings collapsing") to an interminable section of distorted tape loops of children describing the catastrophe while the quartet played mind-numbing ostinatos, to an actual children's choir appearing beatifically just before the end, the evening was an exercise in overproduced inanity.
With the lighting design, the staging, the excessive electronics and overdubs, I would be tempted to say it had everything but the kitchen sink -- except it did have the kitchen sink, along with utensils, scrap metal and other detritus being destroyed by the quartet members with sledgehammers and power tools during the attack sequence. Instead of stunned horror, the piece drew titters from the audience.
-- Robert Battey
Rashied Ali
Rashied Ali is the drummer who snapped the pendulum -- a free jazz legend who refused the role of timekeeper in favor of improvised clatter.
He created some monumental noise with Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Don Cherry and Albert Ayler, but made his boldest mark in 1967 when he joined John Coltrane for one of the final recording sessions of the saxophonist's life. Later released as the album "Interstellar Space," the collaboration yielded a series of stunning duets with Ali's righteous racket jostling against John Coltrane's cosmic braying.
Stylistically, the 72-year-old Ali returned to earth decades ago, but at Twins Jazz on Friday night, his drumming still flickered with the unhinged energy that made him his name. You could hear it on John Coltrane's "Liberia," as Ali's quintet toggled between traditional swing and energetic spontaneity.
Ali kept his mouth clamped shut for most of the performance (which included a smoky take on the old Thelonious Monk chestnut " 'Round Midnight"), but not during James "Blood" Ulmer's "Theme From Captain Black." As his quintet ventured into its wildest playing of the night, the drummer bent those creased lips into a smile. Forty years after revolutionizing rhythm, Ali still seems happiest in the chaos.
-- Chris Richards
Rashied Ali returns to Twins Jazz on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1.
