Show marks Lennon life
if one only fixates on the mel-
Musicians
come together
to celebrate the
music of iconic
Beatle
Now
HEAR
Elizabeth Shepherd is one of the musicians taking part in the tribute Imagine: A Jazz Tribute to
John Lennon (right). It takes place tomorrow at the Central United Church in Unionville.
“It’s never been This!
about replicating t:
Errol’s can’t-miss lis
music but rather
trying to reinvent
1
My kids had loads
of laughs at the
it in a way that’s irreverent production
creative while still of Beauty & The
Beast being staged at
expressing an the Elgin & Winter Garden
Theatre. And their parents
admiration for the had a ball, too! For tickets,
source material.” call 416-872-5555
2
Michael Occhipinti Sample Sisters
Euclid’s ace
musicianship at
Hugh’s Room Monday.
8:30 p.m. $20. 2261 Dundas
St. W. 416-531-6604.
3
How can you resist a
band that describes
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Funkadelic, Zappa,
dub and Mardi Gras vibes?
Brainfudge brings it all
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Thursday. $10. 268 Augusta
Ave. 416-840-0501.
Errol
Nazareth
Rhythms N Rhymes
It’s like Beatlemania all over
again.
This being The Beatles’
50th anniversary, everyone,
it seems, has devised a way to
pay tribute to the Fab Four.
There’s the crass — a furni-
ture company has designed
a unique settee to mark the
occasion. There’s the predict-
able — several musicians have
felt the need to join the ranks
of millions who’ve recorded a
Beatles tribute record.
And there’s the cool and
anything-but-predictable
— Imagine: A Jazz Tribute
to John Lennon at the Cen-
tral United Church in Union-
ville tomorrow sees several
top-flight local jazz musicians
putting their mark on Len-
non’s music.
The group features Michael
Occhipinti, Mark Kelso, Kevin
Turcotte, Roberto Occhipinti
and singers Laila Biali, Eliza-
beth Shepherd and Dominic
Mancuso.
Occhipinti says our famili-
arity with Lennon’s music is
“kind of liberating from an
arranger’s point of view.
“It’ll allow us to stretch out
and alter the songs in differ-
ent ways and open them up
for improvising,” he explains.
“And people will still be able
to reference the original in
their head.
“I’ve had a lot of fun over
the years with projects tack-
ling the music of Bruce Cock-
burn and Pink Floyd, and for
me it’s never been about repli-
cating music but rather trying
to reinvent it in a way that’s
creative while still expressing
an admiration for the source
material.”
The guitarist and leader of
the Sicilian Jazz Project says
the group’s biggest challenge
is finding ways to make Len-
non’s music sound fresh and
original.
“From a musical point of
view, perhaps some of his
later Beatles and solo songs
are about the words more
than the melody,” he says.
“Lennon admitted that at
times he could be quite happy
repeating a single note or two,
and those songs perhaps are
trickier to recast as jazz tunes
ody.
“Luckily, we can either play
with the melody or the many
other aspects of the music,
and it’s really quite limitless,”
Occhipinti adds. “My per-
sonal challenge is trying to
make each arrangement a
little different from the oth-
ers, although when I listen to
Beatles albums like Revolver
that’s exactly what I hear them
doing, too.”
Adding firepower to this
homage’s eclectic vibe is
Occhipinti’s choice of singers.
Laila Biali, Elizabeth Shep-
herd and Dominic Mancuso
are three of this city’s most
distinct and diverse voices
and this means you’re guar-
anteed to hear some utterly
original music if you attend
the show.
“I wanted to work with
them on this project because
they’ll put their own stamp on
whatever they sing, and they
are such strong singers that I
feel I can arrange the music
however I wish and they will
sing it beautifully,” he says.
Not to put a damper on
things but earlier this year, The
Times of London remarked
that much of Lennon’s “solo
work was poor” and his genius
“lay in doing the simple things
well and having the compli-
cated things in his head for
other people to do for him.”
I ask Occhipinti what he
thought of those comments.
“Lennon did do simple
things well, and he did get
help in the studio piecing
together complicated things
like Strawberry Fields, but The
Times fails to address the full
picture of what he did.
“I’m a guitarist, and peo-
ple forget that Lennon was
the first to record intentional
feedback (on songs like I Feel
Fine) ahead of Jimi Hendrix
or Pete Townshend, or back-
wards tape guitar (on I’m Only
Sleeping and Tomorrow Never
Knows), and that a lot of what
we identify as the Beatles
‘sound’ lies in his musician-
ship and creativity.”
NOTE: The concert begins
at 7:30 p.m. Central United
Church is at 131 Main St. Tick-
ets are $20 and available by
calling 905-471-5299.
Visit Errol’s blog at www.
musicinthemessage.
blogspot.com.