Culture club

The A-No-Ne Band's Far East groove

by Bob Gulla

It's easy in Rhode Island to get complacent with our jazz scene. Casual fans of the genre, which most of us are, can get our fix with the considerable but limited-in-number talent pool we have here that includes guys like Moretti and Allmark, Abate and Parillo, and a few quality players around the university scenes. But fans of serious jazz, especially of the straight-ahead sort, don't enjoy the benefit of a venue showcasing national acts. Chan's does a capable job, of course, but short of the Newport jazz festival and an occasional show at the up-and- coming Odeum in East Greenwich (which recently featured Joshua Redman), we can't muster up the audience or the reputation to attract top-flight acts.

Once in a while, though, something squeezes through. On Saturday night, the Japan Language and Culture Center of Rhode Island will host a benefit jazz concert at Rhode Island College's Roberts Hall, featuring Hiroaki Honshuku and the A-No-Ne Band, with special guests Paul Austerlitz and the Peter Jeffrey Quartet. The Japan Language and Culture Center is a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to helping develop cooperation and understanding between the Japanese community and the citizens of Rhode Island. The talent line-up, arranged by Vince Johnson, should make this a tremendous night out for jonesin' jazzers.

"My god is Miles Davis," says an affable Honshuku, who goes by "Hiro," "but my music doesn't sound like any of his stuff." With a bass player from Argentina and a drummer from Surinam, Hiro finds the flavor of his trio -- part Brazilian (his taste), part Latino, and part Caribbean -- a little difficult to describe. "With our various influences, we create completely opposite rhythms than what you'd expect."

Add to that the fact that Hiro began his musical life as a concert flute player in Japan who had little sense of traditional jazz and you have an interesting checkerboard of influences and styles. "I had interest in American music; I loved blues and at one point I was playing bass and guitar, singing the blues in Japanese on TV."

When Hiro grew infatuated with jazz in Japan more than a dozen years ago, his first teacher gave him some sobering news. "I remember when he told me to never expect to play jazz. I was from the Far East and he said we don't have what it takes to play true jazz." That's when Hiro began writing his own music.

What resulted was an intoxicating hybrid, a fusion of straight-ahead, convincing compositional skills, dexterous improvisation, and one more thing: "My music has to groove," he says. "It's not dance, but more like swing. It has to have a really fundamental groove. You need to feel it."

Among Hiro's other heroes lie the inimitable guitarist Wes Montgomery ("His lines are so beautiful, so perfect, and he's such a great melodicist") and Michael Brecker. "A lot of people imitate Brecker but most are just technical imitations. Brecker had something different to attract audiences. He tells convincing stories. He has a high level of technique, but he uses only about 80 percent of it."

Hiro's own band, A-No-Ne, which means "give me a break" in Japanese, has released a few recordings so far, including a surprising Christmas effort and Are You Blue? He'll be drawing his set list from those albums as well as some other more serendipitous stuff. "It'll be my regular show, versions of my arrangements, a combination of Giant Steps and samba stuff. I like to recreate standards."

To round out the evening, Honshuku will jam with members of the jazz faculty down at URI, which could ignite some intriguing fireworks. "You never know what's going to happen at a show like this," he says. "That's why they're so much fun to play." And, we say, to watch.

The presentation starts on Saturday at 8 p.m. at Rhode Island College. Call 273-3266 for details.

DOING DOUBLE DUTY. A couple of interesting musical developments have arisen locally recently. First, Bill Machon from the Fantastics reports that beyond his primary outlet, the boys in the band are doing double-duty as the Fox Point Soundsystem. All five members of the band will be DJing under that moniker; their most recent show went down last weekend at the Green Room. Based on that night's overwhelming success, they'll be doing it on a biweekly basis and it looks to Machon and company as though FNX is in as a sponsor for the night. Machon goes on to say that the brothers will "spin techno, big beat, soul, electro, UK garage, house, disco -- basically anything dancey that fits into the wide-mouth jar of electronica." One of the best bands in town also doubling as DJs? That sounds like a helluva dance night to us.

Also doing double-duty is Chris Daltry from our prized Purple Ivy Shadows. Daltry and Will Rice from that band, along with Tyler William Long, formerly of Seattle's the Kent 3, and Chris Hulbert on guitar, vocals and clarinet, will make up the core of the new ensemble, which we're sure will be pleasantly shambolic as well. So you can watch out for them -- they'll go by the name of the 'Mericans, and made their Providence debut last week at the Green Room.

WANDERING EYE. For many years now, the Spellbinders, that nationally-known collective of local storytellers, has made All Hallow's Eve a very special occasion with their annual appearance at Stone Soup. But this year will be special even by the Spellbinders' standard. On Saturday, October 28, they'll be telling their stories of ghosts and goblins in a place already populated by them: Stone Soup's atmospheric new home, the Slater Mill in downtown Pawtucket. Appearing this year at the storytelling fest will be many familiar masters of the art form: Ramona Bass, Len Cabral, Bill Harley, Don Kirk, Carolyn Martino, Marilyn Meardon, and Valerie Tutson. The tales start at 8 o'clock; admission is $8.

The place to be Monday the 30th is unquestionably the Safari Lounge. Purple Ivy Shadows will be headlining the show with one of my old faves Idaho opening. You already know what you need to know about PIS. But Idaho, Jeff Martin's evocative, longstanding sadcore outfit, is a band you should catch, or at least listen to. One of his newest albums, People Like Us Should Be Stopped (Live Volume One), is a superb example of the sadcore genre, saturated with Martin's relentlessly dark world view and swollen melancholia. For those who like to spill a few tears in their beer -- but absolutely despise C&W -- this may be the best place to plant your ass for the eve.

Bob Gulla can be reached at b_gulla@yahoo.com.

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