Concert Review: Heliophonie at Charlotte Street Foundation

Adventurous passengers traveled the spaceways at Charlotte Street Foundation on Thursday, October 3. Heliophonie, the second of four performances in the Sonic Art Series overseen by Sun Ra adherent Dwight Frizzell acted as a celestial excursion.

Sound effects virtuoso Tony Brewer and multi-instrumentalist Patrick Alonzo Conway served as the centrifuge of the spaceship. Four additional musicians- saxophonists Frizzell, saxophonists Thomas Aber and Norbert Herber and cellist William Plummer- were positioned outside the concentric seats commandeered by sonic pilgrims.

Each four-minute and 48-second component of the suite opened and closed with the tolling of a gong and was augmented by dramatic lighting and video projections. The Sun Ra-inspired grooves featuring bass clarinet duets, Frizzell’s EWI saxophone and a plethora of Brewer’s noisemakers compelled one fellow traveler to noodle dance.

In his introductory remarks, Frizzell suggested Heliophonie is a religious work. The sacred rite invoking the sun god Ra was convincing. For a transcendent hour in the cosmic spaceship, I worshiped like an ancient Egyptian.

Concert Review: Black Crack Revue at Westport Coffee House

Just how weird can 100 Midwestern baby boomers get?  Very weird, if the assemblage at Westport Coffee House for the 40th anniversary concert of Black Crack Revue is any guide.  The free-spirited people who paid $15 for entry on Thursday, August 4, provided an outlandish visual counterpoint to the extraordinarily accomplished and often absurdist music of BCR.

The lack of inhibition displayed by fans of the self-proclaimed “Afro-nuclear wavabilly funk swing reggae Turska” band is rooted in the era prior to cell phones and social media.  BCR, an ensemble partially inspired by an extended Kansas City residency of the Sun Ra Arkestra in the early 1980s, acted as inspiring ringleaders.

The current edition of the interstellar jazz and alternative pop ensemble consists of original members including Thomas Aber and Dwight Frizzell as well as more recent additions like Pat Conway and Julia Thro.  The accomplished woodwind specialist Michael Eaton  joined the large cast during the 95-minute opening set.

BCR is just as inspiring and energetic as it was in the early 1990s when it was a fixture on the calendars of Kansas City nightclubs.  Then as now, the ensemble is best during its astral jazz excursions, but wacky pop-leaning songs such as “Teenie Boppers in Atlantis” and “Rappin' Kierkegaard” filled the dance floor on an extraordinarily peculiar night to remember.