Home > Austin Music Source > Archives > 2009 > June > 16
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Remembering Tina Marsh
Tina Marsh — bandleader, vocalist, composer, dreamer, founder of the Creative Opportunity Orchestra — was the creative beacon of the Austin jazz scene for the past 30 years. Her music and her life were defined by the breadth of her artistic curiosity and depth of her compassion.
“Creativity poured out of her like the scent of honeysuckle. It came naturally,” said Val Marsh, Tina’s younger sister, during the last days of the singer’s life. “She pushed the envelope, pushed us all to see the beauty around us, to experience the moment in a way that is deep and knowing and peaceful.”
Marsh died of cancer Tuesday at her Austin home, where she spent her last days surrounded by family and friends, collaborators and admirers, whose lives were touched by her fanciful spirit as well as the themes of peace and possibility, humanity and transcendence, expressed through her art. She was 55.
As the leader of the Creative Opportunity Orchestra, Marsh was the champion of eclectic big-band jazz that often ventured into the avant-garde. The band’s most acclaimed recordings — such as “Migration” or “The Heaven Line” — were nowhere close to commercial successes. But what set the orchestra apart was its sense of daring, the social and spiritual undercurrents, and an emphasis on community.
Marsh’s creative interests were not confined to the Creative Opportunity Orchestra, however. She created, arranged and performed music for the choreographer Sally Jacques; recorded an intimate solo album of arias, ballads and standards; and staged an eclectic annual jazz series. She also conceived a popular multidenominational holiday program of music and culture called “Circle of Light” — which has been performed in Austin schools for more than 10 years and involves dozens of Austin musicians.
As she demonstrated in her treatment of a song such as Ornette Coleman’s “Lonely Woman,” Marsh was in equal measure a “vocalist” and “singer.” She could scat, but her wordless vocal lines were more sophisticated than that. Marsh used her voice as an instrument to convey literal effects — the coo of birds, the flutter of wings — and in other contexts approximate the figurative: turbulence, vastness or longing.
Marsh was born in Annapolis, Md., and raised in a military family. After seeking her fortune in New York, Marsh “discovered” the beauty of jazz following her move to Austin in the late 1970s and never turned her gaze from it again. She is survived by her mother, Dorothy Marsh; her sister, Val Marsh; and two sons, Clay and Zeke Zimmerman.
“I’m no expert,” Val Marsh said. “But when I sing and reach a pure note, I feel as close to God as I can get. And I know Tina was doing that all the time. It was like her constant prayer or chant or meditation. But beyond that, she had the genius and capacity to carry an audience with her.”
Photo by Mark Matson FOR AMERICAN-STATESMAN
Permalink | Comments (13) | Post your comment
De La Soul brings “3 Feet High…” anniversary tour to Emo’s
Calling all Jennys - or anyone who’s a fan of De La Soul and old-school hip-hop.
The pioneering New York trio will bring the tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of the straight-up fantastic “3 Feet High And Rising” to Emo’s on Aug. 1. Not just a normal tour, this joint will feature a 10-piece Rhythm Roots Allstars band, which will come as close to filling in for “3 Feet…” producer Prince Paul as we can imagine.
Tickets available here.
Pretty much the alpha and omega of conscious, fun-time rap, “3 Feet…” was the first rap record to skillfully use between-song skits and used talking fish in a bathtub as a narrative voice. Clearly, this was some next-level stuff.
If this is all new to you, it’s probably best to the backpackers and dedicated hip-hop heads scramble for tickets to what should be a show for the ages. But for goodness sake, check out this video for “Me, Myself and I” and start the dive down an amazing rabbit hole. Get wise;
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment Categories: Music
One 911 call - and an expired permit - silenced Shady Grove concert
Only one call was placed to 911 on Thursday complaining about KGSR’s “Unplugged at the Grove” concert series at Shady Grove restaurant, police say. The concert was shut down after it was determined that the restaurant’s permit to host live music had expired May 23.
Scott Trainer, a member of the city’s Live Music Task Force, placed the call from his home nearby. In the call, the music from the concert can be heard.
A call to Trainer’s office has not been returned.
A live music permit allows the owner of an outdoor music venue to produce sound no higher than 85 decibels when measured along the property line.
Responding to the public outcry over the silencing, Austin City Council Member Mike Martinez said he plans to introduce a resolution to retroactively extend active outdoor music venue permits.
Under the plan that Martinez will push at Thursday’s City Council meeting, venues would have until Sept. 1 to renew a permit that was set to expire between March 21 and June 18 or the venue’s original renewal date, whichever comes first. The extension would apply to venues in the Central Business District and to certain downtown venues.
This essentially gives Shady Grove, located on Barton Springs Road, a reprieve from its sound and permitting issues.
Permalink | Comments (99) | Post your comment
Austin and Memphis: A comparison
Among the interesting numbers cited by Bob Mehr in an article that compares the live music scenes in Austin and Memphis is that music in Austin has almost three times the economic impact as music in the birthplace of rock n’ roll.
A longtime attendant at South By Southwest, Mehr displays a real feel for this place that distinguishes his piece from other Austin music roundups. It’s a good read.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Live Review: Santigold at Stubb’s
Santigold (a.k.a. Santi White) was all smiles as she transformed Stubb’s into a sweltering hour-long dance party on Monday evening. She and a super-tight new band fired off killer versions of nearly all the tracks on her 2008 self-titled debut, a few cuts from her Diplo mixtape and her recent collaborations with Jay-Z and Major Lazer.
With the crowd already delirious from 100 degree heat, Santigold came correct, igniting hearts and minds with her second track, the Switch & Graeme remix of “You’ll Find a Way.” The cold, relentless breakbeats pushed long, low-end waves through the huddled dancing bodies. Santigold’s step dancers (They’re from Texas!” Santigold declared) moved in synchronous lock step, hyping the crowd with their robot moves appearing as if Santigold had uploaded a hard-funk program into their shared hard drive.
Santigold’s music is absolutely infectious, using reggae and dancehall vocal phrasing during show highlights “Creator” and “Shove It,” creating moments where electro and jackknife beats, blips and squeaks crescendo into an electronic squall that washes away workaday worries.
Hailing from the same Brooklyn music scene that birthed Afro-punk indie rockers TV on the Radio, she is (unfortunately) the only well-known African American woman in indie rock and her combination of polyrhythms, danceable backbeats accenting the 1 and the 3, indie rock conventions - along with bling and black cultural cool pose - is unique.
These deconstructions of indie rock’s musical and cultural hegemony are no accident; A Wesleyan University graduate, she double-majored in music and African American Studies. She’s played in bands, written songs and produced artists for more than a decade.
The charisma and force of her Monday evening live show hints that, like her friend and fellow dance music innovator M.I.A., Santigold is on the cusp of breaking out of the underground.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment
Stax reissues Stevie/ Albert ‘Session’
Stevie Ray Vaughan idolized many vintage blues guitarists, but no one influenced his early style like Albert King. So when SRV joined King for a December 1983 live taping of the Canadian TV concert series “In Session,” the sparks flew, with love and respect.
On June 30, Stax Records will reissue “In Session,” which sold about 300,000 copies on its original release. With the exception of “Pride and Joy,” Stevie’s only vocal on the session, the material was from King’s repertoire, which the 29-year-old Vaughan knew inside and out.
In the liner notes, Austin writer Dan Forte writes, “Hearing Stevie pay homage, the pride in Albert’s eyes was impossible to hide and the gamesmanship of the situation clearly brought out some of his best playing. But in this congenial battle of the titans, no holds were barred, no weapons disqualified.”
“In Session” is the duo’s only known recording together.
Permalink | Comments (1) | Post your comment
Ticket giveaway: Peter Murphy at Emo’s
We’re giving away tickets to see seminal goth-rocker Peter Murphy’s Secret Cover Tour at Emo’s (outside) on Thursday, June 18.
Email us at events@statesman.com before midnight to enter. You MUST include your full name, email address and daytime phone number in the email to win. Winners will be drawn randomly and notified tomorrow. For complete contest rules email events@statesman.com.
