eighth blackbird soars to new heights
Exquisite performances show that UR-based sextet's hard work is paying off

By Walt Amacker
Times-Dispatch Staff Writer
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Seldom comes the time when a cello and a bass clarinet play accompanied duets one-half tone apart for extended periods without most listeners wanting to tear out their hair. The folks in the University of Richmond's artists-in-residence sextet eighth blackbird can do it and make you want to hear more.

Wednesday night the group brought along composer, electronic sound designer and percussionist Dennis DeSantis to add to the mix -- or remix, if you will. It was a night of previously performed and/or recorded works that allowed 8bb to freely show its artistry.

One of the heaviest pieces of the evening was the first: "Powerless," by DeSantis. It was anything but powerless. It engaged DeSantis at a table covered with computers and electronic musical equipment and each instrumentalist pounding away.

After Gordon Fitzell's "evanescence," which was written for 8bb and premiered in Richmond in 2004, was a lighter blend of live interactive sounds with DeSantis also joining in.

The closing piece of the first half of the concert was "Dollars and Cents," which -- if you're a jazz fan -- would make you think the next piece was going to be something by Dizzy Gillespie or Charlie Parker. It was definitely cool, but a little hard to describe. For those in the know, it's a Radiohead piece arranged for 8bb by Cliff Colnot for the farewell concert of eighth blackbird's founding flutist Molly Barth.

Pulling from its Grammy Award-winning CD, "strange imaginary animals," 8bb gave all the tracks to DeSantis and asked him to use them to create a computerized version of the CD. It was remarkable, sounding almost like a dancetrack for something that a Philadanco or an Alvin Ailey could fiddle with. The piece was officially labeled "strange imaginary remix."

"Friction Systems" by David M. Gordon pulled out every stop. A cymbal played with a violin bow, half-filled glasses of water whose tops were spun with fingers, three flutes, two clarinets, hollow Plexiglas tubes spun in the air. It was a glorious free-for-all.

Yes, eighth blackbird has played this music before. But it wasn't hard to see the character of improvement in their performances since just last season. More worldwide stages graced, more commissions set forth, four CDs and their first Grammy. It hasn't taken many years, but the hard work is fanatically obvious.

The group's next performance at the Modlin Center at UR will be Oct. 6.

© Copyright 2008 Richmond Times-Dispatch