University of Virginia Library

'Man, It Has No Name'

Prism Features New Music Approach

By Rod MacDonald
Cavalier Daily Staff Writer

To those students who are fans
of the Slithy Toves, the name Chet
Blackstone means psychedelic guitar
and the sound they have produced
so well here at the University.
And to those regulars at the
Prism, the name Bob Crawford
means one of the finest new folk
music talents in the area. Yet Saturday
night they collaborated to present
a new type of music at the
Prism Coffeehouse that the University
had not seen here before.

Most folk artists have added
supplementary instruments to their
recordings, but what made this
group different was the blend of
musical range, from psychedelic
guitar to jazz rhythms to blues
vocals. The overall effect was fresh
and strikingly different from folk
music or jazz.

Spontaneous Jazz

"Man, there's no name for it,"
said Mr. Crawford after the performance.
What happened was that
the two artists combined their special
talents, rock and folk, to produce
a spontaneous sort of jazz,
close in some ways to Richie
Havens and then at other times
more like Frank Sinatra and Carlos
Jobim. Mr. Crawford's voice, which
is excellent and true, and Mr. Blackstone's
guitar work, inventive and
subtly driving, blended very well in
the process.

According to Mr. Crawford, the
format just happened. "We were
down at Hope House for Project
Hope and they didn't have any
equipment there, so we borrowed a
speaker and set up. We began jam
sessions and got deeper into the
field. Tonight's concert was spontaneous,
though, because we're still
in the jam phase."

"People want to jam," he said.
"After hours we learn quite a bit
around here. Chet taught me all this
stuff in these jams - I'd never
played jazz before."

Jam Session

The jam-session quality of the
concert gave each song a vitality
that kept the audience interested.
One drawback, however, is that
songs to fit the mold are hard to
find; in the end the due played
some songs that didn't fit, notably
"Eleanor Rigby." Here the spontaneity
made listening interesting, but
the average listener wouldn't enjoy
this arrangement of the song a
second time.

Mr. Crawford played an acoustic
guitar, strumming simple jazz
chords. Filling in the instrumentation
was Mr. Blackstone, whose
guitar work came close at times to
psychedelic, complete with runs
and wails. The difference, however,
was in the volume level, as the quiet
tone of both instruments provided
background for Mr. Crawford's fine
voice.

The duo came in with "No
Experience Necessary, No Opportunity
Guaranteed," a cut from
Richie Havens' second album. This
was a hard opener in the "come on
strong" tradition, and lacked the
spontaneous quality of the other
numbers. In addition, Mr. Blackstone
played a flute rather than a
guitar, and the song lost appeal
accordingly.

The second number was the
"One Note Samba" played by Stan
Getz. The transition from Havens'
jazz to samba was easy for this duo,
and the arrangement lent itself well
to this type of song. Mr. Blackstone's
guitar work had an unusual
favor as jazz played electric.

Sentimental Blues

In the third song the group hit
the high spot of the concert. "One
For My Baby," a slow blues done
by many singers, was an ideal song
for this combination, and they put
all the pieces together. Mr. Crawford's
voice was perfect, combining
the half sentimental, half sad
atmosphere of the song. In the middle
section, Mr. Blackstone awed
the audience with an impressive
series of guitar runs that somehow
fit the mood of the song perfectly.
It was no surprise that the audience
kept clapping long after the song
was over.

Summertime

The rest of the songs were fairly
usual, with two exceptions —
"Summertime" and "Eleanor
Rigby." These were the most ambitious
efforts, since the pair went
beyond previous arrangements to
create new moods and methods. In
"Summertime," the vocal was good
but was overshadowed by the instrumentation.
Mr. Blackstone put
on a real show in this song as he
went through a repertoire of runs
from psychedelic, blues, and finally
Spanish picking. The song built up
to a big climax that, unfortunately,
didn't come. The arrangement,
while interesting didn't seem to fit
the song.

Eleanor Rigby

In "Eleanor Rigby" the duo
went past the arrangement used by
Richie Havens to a point near obscurity.
Seeking something new,
they played the song on an off-tempo,
so that the words formed
counter-point to the music. The
arrangement, however, didn't lend
the compassion that this song
needs. Here Mr. Blackstone returned
to his flute, and was less
effective than on the guitar; the
overall effect was interesting but
difficult to accept.

After the concert Mr. Crawford
said "We set out to do that — that
song's been done every possible
way, even very slow. We wanted it
up-beat and off-beat; that's the
point."

Striking Success

The concert was an unusual
attempt at spontaneity, and succeeded
on the basis of its novelty
and freshness. Both Mr. Crawford,
with his fine singing, and Mr. Blackstone,
with his highly skilled guitar
work, were brilliant. One drawback
is that this type of music could lose
its appeal as the newness wears off,
since most songs done in this bag
have either a hit-or-miss nature
about them. Nonetheless, the concert
Saturday night was a striking
success — a first for the University
in spreading its musical artistry into
new areas, and once again an indication
of the talent being brought out
by the Prism.