The Coat Puller

First things first: The beloved poet, musician, composer and vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and the Midnight Band, hot on the local charts with "Johannesburg," will hit Ann Arbor Friday, December 5th, for the second of the Sun's "After Midnight" concerts at the Michigan Theatre on E. Liberty St. Gil is one of the brightest spots on the popular music horizon these days, and it's an honor for the Sun to get to sponsor his appearance for the 2nd time this year (the Midnight-ers were in the double-A to help celebrate Mayor Al Wheeler's victory last spring). Tickets for the Michigan Theatre Midnight show are still available, but not for long... Meanwhile, John Fraga picked up Luther Allison's Nov. 22nd date when the Sun was forced to cancel the Bobby "Blue" Bland/Luther Allison show and shot the powerful blues master into the Red Carpet (East Warren at Outer Drive) for two nights of hot fun last Saturday and Sunday. Bassist Jeff Aldridge and saxophonist Fat Richard Drake (that's his gorgeous alto solo on Luther's "Please Send Me Someone to Love" on the Ann Arbor Blues & Jazz Festival 1972 album) were bubbling with news of Luther's new Motown LP, produced by Michael Cuscuna and former Atlantic Records A&R coordinator Mark Meyerson, two of the finest young musiclovers in the business. David "Fathead" Newman, Dr. John, Richard Tee, and "numerous of others" (as Memphis Slim used to say) joined the Allison crew for this one, which should be a super smoker. Can't wait to hear it!... Speaking of the good Doctor, his new side- "Hollywood Be Thy Name" - is finally out from United Artists, with Detroit's own Johnny Bee banging out the second line on drums, and a cast of thousands recorded on the spot, just like we said here a couple of columns back...

SHADES OF THE ROCK & ROLL WARS OF THE 60's, PART II (Sounds like a James Brown title, right?): Our favorite local rock & roll villains, the infamous Glantzes Gabe and Steve, struck a little closer to home when the Sun's intrepid publishers were barred from attending the Lily Tomlin concert at Ford Auditorium Nov. 11th. "No more Glantz shows for the Sun," sputtered one of Steve's subordinates, and even ace UA/Polydor promotion person Dawna Savedo couldn't get our reviewers in. Gee, Steve, even your old man didn't go that far back in the 60's!... Sorry we couldn't bring you the coverage you've come to expect on such events-Lily T. is one of our fave raves and a native daughter of the Motor City as well- but you might have caught Carl Arrington's tasty write-up in the morning paper, which has done at least one thing right lately by hiring the young Utah flash as their pop reporter at last. One hopes they'll let the lad cross the color barrier from time to time to turn his trusty (and that does not say "rusty"!) typewriter loose on some major black performing acts... Still no action from the calendar people at the Detroit Free Press re the relentless explosion of black recording talent at Lowman's, Henry's, Watts' Club Mozambique, King's Row, Ethel's, the 20 Grand, Jazz West, the Blue Chip, Ocie's Paradise Lounge, and elsewhere around town. Wake up, you racist characters, it's the 20th Century already!...

IN AND OUT: All on the same weekend, too: Edwin Starr at Henry's... Johnnie Mae Matthews and her Revue featuring Black Nasty at the 20 Grand... Tyrone Davis and Otis Clay with a tremendously hip blues band from Chicago, featuring the dancing hom section and some thrilling lead guitar, at Lowman's Westside, in the Regency Room... Etta Jones & Houston Person at the Mozambique... Eddie Floyd ("Knock on Wood") at Ethel's... Kenny Burrell at Baker's (thru Nov. 3Oth)... Luther Allison at the Red Carpet... Sam Sanders and Visions at the Blue Chip, continuing every weekend until further notice... Jazz '75 with Grover Washington Jr., George "Bad" Benson, Marlena Shaw (check out her Blue Note LP, "Who Is This Bitch, Anyway?"), and vibist Roy Ayres, at Masonic Nov. 23rd... Lyman Woodard Organization (with alto saxophonist Larry Smith replacing Norma Bell, who is back out on the road, this time with Frank Zappa & the Mothers for a trip to Yugoslavia) at the Pretzel Bowl in Highland Park, every Wed.-Sat.... Shoo-Bee-Doo and his Principies of Utility (featuring saxophonist David "Magnanimous" McMurray) at J.J.'s Lounge for one night only, to celebrate the birthday of the popular Clay Jones, manager of the Shelby Hotel nightspot-which has unfortunately xxxed out its regular live music policy... The 14th Floor were on hand too, and on their way up... Gato Barbieri cancelled al MSU for medical reasons and may have to sustain a major operation soon. Showcase:Jazz, the hip student agency which had scheduled three days of the stunning South American saxophonist, hopes the brother will pull thru and pick up the date when he gets back on his feet... And at the Univ of Mich, as the highway sign puts it, a new student jazz concert group called Eclipse Jazz has brought in the mighty McCoy Tyner and his quintet for a musically and financially successful first attempt, with more and more innaresting shows to come early next year- like Keith Jarrett, Les McCann, the Art Ensemble, and who knows who else. All tentative to date, but the smart money says they'll pull off some tasty pieces before it's over, and they have the help of the seasoned UAC Concert Cooperative to get things off the ground...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING: What could be better than the Four Tops return to their old stomping grounds, the 20 Grand, for four days of Thanksgiving homecoming jamboree? Well, maybe it's the return to the concert stage of the one and only Kim Weston, who makes her second singing debut at Lowman's Westside Club starting December 4th. Old Master, Brook Benton, graces the stage with the dynamic Kim, and they'll be there 10 days or so, to be followed by the thrilling Originals in the beautiful Regency Room of the Westside hotspot... And the wily Henry, of Henry's Cocktail Lounge on Fenkell, has not been sleeping either, with the stellar booking of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes-that's right!-in his spacious establishment this very same weekend, opening Thanksgiving night... The Savoy Room at the Shelby Hotel saw a brief moment of glory Wednesday (26th) when John Salvador staged a Disco Party in the basement cabaret. There has been some perfectly incredible live music played in that place, when it was the Rainbow Room and later the Savoy, but that was in another country, and besides, all the animals are dead... Speaking of poetry, the Mwangi Arts Community Theatre Company opens a month of performances of Lamar Boyd's "Through Dark Eyes," coupled with "If All Aluminum Cans Was Brass," a play by Khadijah Farabi, at the McGregor Library (12244 Woodward) in Highland Park, Fridays and Saturdays between Nov. 28 and Dec. 27... And there's a West Indian Cabaret, featuring the Jamaican Realistic 12-piece band, at the Chalet (8900 W. 7 Mile, near Wyoming) Friday night Nov. 28 from 9 to 2... Second Generation (a bluegrass group) is in for a stay at the Raven Gallery, thru Dec. 7th... Gino Vanelli at Ford Auditorium Sunday, Nov. 30th... Mahavishnu Orchestra, with Detroit's own interstellar Ralphe Armstrong on bass, at Masonic Nov. 28, backed up by former Mahavishster Jan Hammer and his new band... J. Geils at Cobo Saturday night... and Thanksgiving night, the Impressions, Kool & the Gang, People's Choice, and Weegee's "Dramatics" at Olympia for a soul-stirring bash... Which brings us to the last big festive event of the weekend, Rev. James Mark & The Voices of Heaven Crusade Choir present "Gospels on the Move" (Phase II), 7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 28, at New Bethel Baptist Church, featuring the Voices of Tabernacle, the North East Community Choir, the 100-voice Pontiac Community Choir, the Neopolitan Gospel Chorus, Mother Waddles Perpetual Mission Choir, and a host of others. For ticket info call Rev. Penny at 964-9128...

ORTS FOR THE SPORTS: Your humble correspondent had the occasion to attend the 2nd Annual Caddy Awards gala thrown by the Creative Advertising Club of Bloomfield Hillsoops, we meant Detroit. What promised to be a wacky affair turned into sheer boredom when the winning commercials were trotted out and played back at the helpless throng gathered at the swank Players Club on East Jefferson-the same terrible crap one dodges on the airwaves every day. No thanks. And ditto to M.C. Dick Purtan, with his tasteless racist quips, however well-received by the virtually all-white collection of image-makers... Is it true that the mysterious H.B. has left the very popular Friday "Night Jams" spot on Ann Arbor's WCBN-FM? And have you heard Tavi Fulkerson's "Jazz 'Round Midnight" mastery, Fridays from 11 :00-3:00 a.m. at the very same spot (89.5) on your radio dial? Jazz - the real thing, not the ersatz - is so rare around this town that it's almost worth the drive to Ann Arbor just to hear what it sounds like on the air... Bud Spangler, Judy Adams, Geoffrey Jacques and a number of other decent folk still have the audacity to play it at WDET-FM (101.9), but we don't hear much Eric Dolphy, Mingus or Sonny Rollins on "the jazzy one" -now do we?... Congrats to Bob Bageris (Bamboo Productions) on his clean bill of health from the Cobo Hall people-if everybody who ever used any cocaine in this town were barred from doing business, a whole lot of action (and not just in the music biz) would dry up real last... And more power to Bro. Marcus Belgrave, Motor City trumpetist supreme, on the opening of his Jazz Development Workshop (a non-profit Corporation) at 8425 Gratiot. More news on the JDW as soon as we can get it... Finally, the quote of the week from Dan McGuire in The Insider (Minneapolis/St. Paul): "Kraftwerk may be able to send your mind careening amid the intergalactic clusters, but it still takes a Robert Johnson or a B.B. King to move your heart that short distance to your throat." Have mercy !