Word: davidson
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...last Thursday night, Lowell Davidson had already gone full circle in his style. Before playing with Ornette Coleman in the summer of 1964, his music was tonal, metrical, and fairly conventional except for his obvious technical mastery. Then, last fall at Kirkland House, he played in short, tension-filled jabs at the keyboard that left his audience mostly puzzled. But with the Spring Concert at Quincy House came longer phrasing and a lyricism that echoed earlier styles, although the rhythmic anarchy was still there...
...Davidson now seems to be working toward a synthesis. There was a tonality in most of the numbers. But its emphasis was slight enough so that melodic improvisations were not heard solely in relation to the key--or chord movement--as they are in conventional jazz. The instruments played together, unlike last year when they would start and end together but go off in their own rhythmical directions in the middle. Still, there was no "beat," and I don't think I noticed any foot tapping in the audience. Although Davidson's compositions could hardly be called tuneful, there were...
...usual, the most impressive thing was Davidson's technique. He plays with the high wrist and dangling fingers that you often see on Russian pianists. The sound is pretty percussive, and it is hard, with this technique, to be lyrical. But there is an ease on the fast pasages--the pianist gives the impression that he is gathering the keys rather than playing them--that is enviable. When Davidson was pushed from the opening contemplative mood in "Little Sun" to a driving one by his ever-energetic drummer, he began playing octaves in a hard and fast manner, getting that...
...more difficult to judge experiments to which the ear is not yet accustomed. The less thoughtful critics, commenting on the attention surrounding Coleman a few years ago, exclaimed that "the Emperor has no clothes." But the real task, it seems to me, is to distinguish the serious musicians like Davidson from the charlatans--the guy who's had his saxophone two weeks and becomes "new school" so he won't have to worry about making mistakes--rather than to dismiss all experimentation...
Dowling has thrown seven touchdown passes this year. He was 10 for 16 against Columbia, amassing an unbelievable 235 yards. In that game he hit Norm Davidson with two scoring bombs of 75 and 45 yards...