University Daily Kansan
Friday, March 21, 1980
7
All that Jazz
By RICK HELLMAN Reporter
Bv RICK HELLMAN
Stan Keporter
Carole Corer and Dianne Gregg had no idea they were making history when they organized the first Women's Jazz Festival three years ago.
"If we'd realized that," said Comer, "we might have gotten scared off."
But, of course, they didn't and, thanks to their efforts, the third Annual Women's Jazz Festival will be held this week in Kansas
The idea of a jazz festival for women occurred to co-directors Conner and Gregg in 1977 on the way from home to Wichita Jazz Festival.
Corner and Gregg then decided to put together a concert featuring female jazz artists.
"We were lamenting the fact that Kansas City didn't have a festival of similar stature." Comer said, "and we were struck by the fact that there was a noticeable lack of women in the Wichita program."
They called their friend, pianist Marian McPartland, who was enthusiastic about the idea. According to McPartland spread the word of the festival wherever she saw playing and soon they were receiving calls from women all over the country who
To accommodate them, clinics and workshops were added to the concert program and the first WJF was born.
Corner said the snowballing effect was "like giving birth to a baby and chasing it before it learns to crawl."
With two festivals under their belt, Corner and Gregg think this one will be the best yet. One reason for the good feeling is that this year's man's concert will be held in the Music Hall in Kansas City, Mo. rather than the acoustically inferior Memorial Hall in Kansas
Laine, who can sing everything from opera to pop, will be appearing with the John Dinkworth Quartet. Dunkworth and his friends will perform in the park on Monday.
Also making its first KC appearance will be the Carla Bley band Bley and her husband, trumpeter Mike Mantler, have been involved in the free jazz movement for many years. Bley has lent her compositions to groups like the Gary Burton Quartet, the Liberation Music Orchestra and the Jack Bruce Band. Bassist Steve Gorby has contributed the Gary Burton Gurp group is featured in Bley's band.
Returning for the second year to the main concert will be the Joanne Brackeen trio. Brackeen has stuck with acoustic jazz and has been compared to piano purists like McCoy Tyner and Keith Thomas. She also assists Eddie Gomers, a long-time member of the Evans bills Trio.
The fourth and final act of the night will be the Women's Jazz festival All-Stars. Each year women are chosen from across the country to attend.
The leader of this year's group is *Jibra McManus*, a New York pianist. Also in the group are: Barbara Merjan, drums; Louise Davis, bass; Stacy Rowley, trumpet; Jane Fair, reeds and Janet Lawson, vocals.
The main concert will start at the Music Hall at 7 p.m. Sunday
Ticket prices range from $7.50 to $9.50.
Although the main concert should be spectacular, it is not the only event of interest this weekend.
One of the main purposes of the WJF is to give women from around the country a chance to jam and measure themselves against their peers. Therefore, several jam sessions have been set up at the Crown Center complex.
Tonight from 5:30 to 8 a.m the International Cafe in Crown Center will there be a student-apple jam session to give students
The big jam session will take place tomorrow from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. in Crown Center. The first half of the session will be open to men and women, but the second half of the program will be restricted to female players.
Corner explained the restriction was to ensure that all the women who came to the festival would get a chance to play. All were allowed.
The other main business of the day Saturday will be the clinics hein offered from 10 a.m. to 4 o.m.
There will be clinics for advanced and beginning reeds, brass, vocals and rhythm instruments.
One of the most interesting clinics should be one on the business of jazz from 3 to 4 Saturday afternoon
The leaders of that session will be Carla Bley, who has her own record label. Watt Works, and noted jazz critic and historian
Feather, publisher of Downbeat magazine, has been a long-time supporter of women's jazz. He has been the encer at the two annual concerts in Atlanta.
Feather has always thought that women get the short end of the stick in music. Corned, and has done more for women in jazz
"They were relegated to voice and pi:no." Corner said. "They had no role models playing bass and drums, which we have provided."
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN the arts
Bobby Bell not just a figurehead but a worker, at new barbecue
By JON BLONGEWICZ Kansan Reviewer
One learns quickly that this is not a case of celebrity casing in on fame and just lending his name to a business
number 78 of the 'glory years' tor Kansas City Chiefs football team, Bobby Bell, bells much more than his name to Bob Bell's B-B-Quack. 121 Yale St.
Bell, at 6' 4" and not far from his playing weight of 228 pounds, could be the world's biggest waist.
On a normal day at the fast food barbecue restaurant, Bell, a former All-Pro linebacker, can be seen cleaning tables, bringing out orders and supervising the
"That's the price you pay when you run the place." Bell said.
Bell stops to chat with customers with an air of genuine concern and unmistakable friendliness. He greets each customer with a smile, and often assures him that he lives as lard as the slab of ribs he serves.
Yet, this past week at his grand opening,
his main activity was chatting with
the kids. He made sure to furnish
tures for the kids that flocked to his place.
He was joined by former teammates:
quarterback Len Dawson, place-kicker J茎
Stenner and offensive lineman Jim Tyer
"The first job I had was when I was 12 years old in North Carolina at a barbecue place." Bell said.
Bell moved from table to table, domestating the small room, which has a seating capacity of about 75 people. The church is a place for the Church and some pictures of Bell in action.
"I love it," Bell said. "I love meeting all the people, making people happy."
Yet, Bell tells that the barbecue and talking to people. After retiring from football, Bell worked for three and a half years at Gates and Sons' B-B-Q in Kansas City.
But why open a restaurant in Lawrence after achieving fame in Kansas City? Bell pointed to the large number of barbecue restaurants in Kansas City.
"There are not that many barbecue places in Lawrence," Bell said. "Lawrence is a good town."
This week's grand opening was not the real opening of the business. Bell's restaurant has been open since December, and it has had only one out-of-KU and many students are out of town.
"People told me I was crazy to open up with the students out of town," Bell said. "But the townpeople have to eat it."
At Bell's they can pick from a variety of animals, but the chief ingredient is beccaped chicken. Yet, the specialty is beef. Bell said that all the meat was prepared on the spot and that it was purchased either for the soup or the burrito.
traditional Kansas City barbecue land-
scape. But that's not what Sainsbury's, but it does follow the KC tradition of plain white bread for sandwiches and an excellent sauce. The main problem is that it tastes better with marinara.
Bell's beef does not match-up to such
On several trips to Bell's, the size of the
beef portions varied, and were usually a little on the small side.
Although the size of the beef portions may vary, there is little variation in the quality of the aroma that greets you outside and the flavor of the beef comes from the big man that greets you inside.
Autograph hound
Bobby Bell signs autographs at the grand opening of Bobby Bell's Bar-B-Que.
FRIDAY
MUSIC: The Secrets, 8 p.m. Lawrence Opera House, 7th and Massachusetts.
ART: Painters Invitational, The Gallery in the Marketplace, 745 New Hampshire, through April 4.
Print from the Boydite Shakespeare Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art, South Balcony Gallery, through March 20.
Gallery installation and reception for Brian O'Doherty; Patrick Ireland, 3 p.m. Spencer Museum of Art.
SATURDAY
MUSIC: The Secrets, 8 p.m. Lawrence Opera House, 7th and Massachusetts.
THEATER: "The Cat Who Walked by Himself," 1:30 Lawrence Arts Center, 9th and Vermont.
ART: Lecture: Brian O'Doherty, 3 p.m. Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, Mo.
SUNDAY
MUSIC: Chick, Corea and Friends, 8 p.m. Midland Theater, Kansas City, Mo.
KU Chamber Choir and Lawrence Chamber players doing Haydn's Theresa Mass, 3:30 p.m. University Theater.
ART: Lecture: John Szarkowski, "Ansel Adams, Alfred Sieglitz and The Wilderness," 3 p.m. Nelson Gallery, Kansas City, Mo.
WEDNESDAY
MUSIC: Iggy Pop, 8 p.m. Lawrence Opera House, 7th and Massachusetts.
THURSDAY
MUSIC: Two movies, "Unmade Beds," and "The Foreigner," starring Deborah Harry, 8 p.m. Lawrence Opera House, 7th and Massachusetts.
LECTURE: Alien Neuharth, president, Gannett Co., 8 p.m. Woodruff Auditorium.
Fans 'born to be wild' for Steppenwolf show
RVKEVIN MILLS
By REVENA:
Kansan Reviewer
Stepwellpw. Goldie McJohn, keyboards; Kerry Ray, guitar and vocals; Nicky Graham, guitar and lead vocals; Lawrence Crowhill, bass guitar. Conrub, bass guitar. With The Clean; Shawn Kelly, keys and lead vocals; Jay Francis, guitar; Mark Waltrip, drums; and Todd Kitchen, bass guitar and vocals. 327 New Hampshire, Sound by Rev Barnes.
The crowd was crying wolf in anticipation of one of rock's legendary supergroups. And
when Steppenwolf finally appeared onstage after several false warnings, the wait proved worthwhile.
Three hundred-plus fans had crammed into the 280-seat Off-Wall Hall to hear the band that spawned "Born to be Wild" the carpet Ride; "rock anthems of the early Carrie."
This was not the same Steppenwoll, to be sure. Only keyboardist Goldie McJohn remained from the original. But it didn't matter. What mattered was that the new song was written on the old, despite being plagued by sound problems through the first half of the show.
Wolf Calls
Steppenwolf performs to a howling crowd at Off-the-Wall-Hall Tuesday night.
The quartet, whose members are KU
material, is based in the town. Town was reminiscent
the Animals "House of the Rising Sun" and
"The First," the group's best chart, should
be the third.
What's more astonishing, they succeeded without their own instruments and equipment. To save expense and set up time, they acquired equipment from the opening act, The Clean.
The Clean clearly was the wrong choice to open for a Steppenwolf crow. The band's new wave sound was their own, with the band's third renditions of rock standards like "My Generation," "The Kids Are Airtight" and "Blue Suee Skies" to elicit much
Most of the Steppenwolf fans seemed amused at the proceedings during the Clean's set. Dancers clad in tattered clothes wristedly spathed on the floor, occasionally crashing into the subdued audience with their frugal, talk about your generation gains.
Steppewolf wolfished the crowd from the outback, launching into "Hey Laudy Wama" and "Magic Carpet Ride." *Sadly*, both songs echoed the loud public problems that obscured the lewd vocals.
The mixture of old material and new struck gold with the heavy-metal-derived crowd. By the time "Born to be Wild" was played, the crown had abandoned its seats.
Further sound deterioration forced an early intermission, but it was worth it. The band's keyboards at last could be heard, and the band radiated a new confidence and finally
The group followed with "The Pasher" and some new songs that seemed more skilful than the past. And now they are old. Only Kerry Ray's blistering blue guitar raised these songs above the orchestra.
After the show, McJohn, the sole survivor of the first group, seemed oblivious to the crowd's response.
"It's the saddier situation of a group that means so much," he said, in reference to the group's small-town tour.
An audience that had been in hiding since the demise of heavy metal and the advent of New Wave was reluctant to leave. But no amount of protests could change the law.
The band has planned a tour of Europe, however, and Stallion Records in London will make an album from those appearances.
After one encore, the lights were back on and drummer Lawrence Hammett said, "We'd like to play more, but these places close early in Kansas."
McJohn said the original Stepenwolf disbanded because of mentality conflicts.
"The lead singer went off on this 'star on his own trip,' he said. "He wanted to quit in the summer and not play." We finally drifted apart in 74, and there have been many comeback attempts since.
The new combination has been together for only a month and a half. McJohn said he met the other members in Savannah, Ga.
"There's a possible fusion of blues here," McJohn said. "I was raised in Toronto, and the other guys are from the South. Maybe we come together to form something better."
McJohn is cautious about the group's prospects of returning to the limelight. Their music is contrary to what is popular nationwide, he said.
"I've been in the L.A. area recently, and every pub there books the same old crap," he said. "Everyone's under this one per person, so it catches the same fish with different names."
If the Lawrence concert was any indication, the core of Steppenwolf's popularity is still thriving. This just might be the comeback attempt that succeeds.