The Cavalier daily :: Tuesday, March 3, 1970 :: University of Virginia Library

Friday night, March 6, the
PK-German Dance Society will
present "Dreams" in a concert and
light show in Memorial Gym. The
combination should be very effective
since "Dreams" is a group
which can easily stand on its own
musical ability without a visual
display.

Recently featured at the Fillmore
East to standing ovations,
"Dreams" could tentatively be
labeled "jazz-rock," but such labels
are rarely adequate and often
unappreciated by those who are so
labeled. To quote Joe Klee from
Rock Magazine, "Most people presume
that jazz-rock began with
"Blood, Sweat and Tears," but it
just isn't so. The Byrds were
playing John Coltrane-influenced
sheets of sound as far back as
"Eight Miles High," and the
Mothers of Invention were into jazz
while Al Kooper and Steve Katz
were still Blues Projectors. Nor is
BS&T in my opinion the best
jazz/rock group in existence. On
the night of Tuesday, January 20,
1970, at the Fillmore East's New
Contest Night, it certainly
seemed like the prize in that
category should go to a new group,
'Dreams.' "

As can be guessed, "Dreams" is
a horn band. Randy Brockner plays
one type of horn, and he does it
very well. He won the Downbeat
Critics Jazz Poll for New Star on
Trumpet in 1969, and was just
named best Pop Trumpet Player of
the Year by Jazz and Pop Magazine's
International Critics Poll.

His brother Mike has been called
"one of the best young tenor
saxophonists heard anywhere, jazz
or rock or otherwise," by Don
Heckman of the Village Voice. He
is not necessarily a jazz or rock
player but a musician whose freshness
and passion make waves
wherever he is heard.

Cited in Jazz and Pop's International
Critics Poll, Bill Cobham, Jr.
has earned his reputation as one of
the top drummers in the world
today. He's also recorded and
played with James Brown, The
Supremest, Joe Tex, Horace Silver
and Mites Davis.

Barry Rogers was called "the
most inventive trombonist in the
profession" by The Saturday Review.
Barry's fire and originality as
a soloist have carried him into areas
where the trombone had rarely
been heard as a solo voice. He has
worked extensively in the R&B,
Rock, Jazz and Afro-Latin fields.

Two of the group share the
songwriting and arranging for the
most part. Jeff Kent is an organist,
guitarist, vocalist and composer
with over fifty songs to his credit.
His range runs from folk ballads to
hard rock, to R&B to country
tunes, sometimes mixing elements
and sometimes creating something
entirely different. Doug Lubahn is
also a songwriter-vocalist who plays
bass and acoustic guitar. While
working for Elektra, he played bass
with the "Doors" on three of their
albums. He has appeared with the
"Monkees" and "The Crazy World
of Arthur Brown."

But what makes "Dreams" stand
out above the many new groups
entering the "Jazz/Rock" field? Joe
Klee said that "the band is not
over-arranged (one of Blood, Sweat
and Tears' problems). It doesn't
sound like a bunch of session men
reading parts. Kent, Rogers, and the
Brockners are solo voices whose
improvisations are not jazz or rock,
but individual musical personalities
playing their thing. Another difference
is the songs written by
Lubham and Kent. Whereas BS&T
relies on previously written material
for the most part, "Dreams" does all
originals."

"Dreams" is now based in New
York, and will be in the Memorial
Gym Friday night from 8 to 10.
For a group that has been together
for only three months, they sound
like a potential big one, so see them
now before the price goes up.
Friday night will only cost $1.50
for what looks to be a great show.