Thursday, January 29, 1998
Cafe Noir offers potluck of musical styles
MUSIC: Band confirms mixing genres makes for tasty listening
experience
By Alicia Roca
Daily Bruin Contributor
It is not often that a band applies the principles of cooking to
music. In the kitchen, it is commonplace to mix varying ingredients
to produce a sweet outcome or a chunky stew.
Texas’ Cafe Noir, a band performing Saturday at the Veterans
Wadsworth Theater, does just that and more.
"It’s very emotional music … it is creating a new sound out of
the diverse elements that we are," says Gale Hess, violinist and
co-founder of Cafe Noir, which provides its listeners with a
diverse blend of gypsy beat, jazz swing, and classical flow. This
diversity is Cafe Noir’s most distinguishing factor, a factor found
in both its music and musicians.
The Cafe Noir saga began in Europe approximately 12 years ago
with co-founders Gale Hess and Norbert Gerl. Hess, a classically
trained musician with backgrounds in country and jazz, was an
experienced pianist, violinist and clarinetist. She left her native
Texas to study classical music in Germany, where she met Gerl, a
student trained in both the viola and guitar. They shared one
common bond, a fascination with the gypsy musical style. They would
later incorporate it into Cafe Noir.
"The gypsies were into lots of kinds of music and they played it
their own way with their own improvisational styles and traditions.
We apply that eclectic approach to everything that appeals to us
musically. We drag it in and give it a try. If it works we run with
it," Hess says.
Their big break came when a representative from the Royal Fest
Hall in Germany heard them playing in the subway. They were
promptly booked to play at the Fest Hall.
"Things have gone up since then. We don’t do street playing
anymore, we’re a little old for that," Hess says.
The band would later expand to include Jason Bucklin, Lyles
West, Vladimir Kaliazene and Dennis Durick. Bucklin, a native of
Oklahoma, has a background in jazz and rock and has had a guitar in
hand since childhood. West, a North Carolina native, specializes in
jazz and bass. The two newest additions are Kaliazene and Durick.
Kaliazene, a Russian native, gives Cafe Noir a polka flavor with
his accordion. Drummer and percussionist Durizk has only been with
the band three weeks. For Durick the biggest challenge is found in
classical music.
"It’s stimulating, a real departure from what I’m used to doing
because the music’s a lot more orchestral than a drummer would
normally play," Durick says.
But normal is not a description at all characteristic of Cafe
Noir; it defies categorization in every way.
In fact, the closest definition available for Cafe Noir’s style
is one brimming with hyphens:
gypsy-rock-classical-polka-Afro-Cuban. This is at times problematic
for the band.
"When a buyer wants to buy music, it’s just like going to any
other marketplace … people want a three-word description of what
you do, and anything more, they’re not interested in," Hess says.
Nonetheless, Cafe Noir has managed to maintain a wide array of
listeners.
"It’s very listenable music, it’s not pop, but people who like
pop can listen to it … at the same time we’ve got dead heads and
classical music buffs … it appeals on an emotional level, that is
what people like about it," Hess says.
Yet some may still wonder who this music targets.
"Anybody that likes music that takes you on a trip … I guess
that’s college students, but 50-year-olds trip out too," Hess
says.
MUSIC: Cafe Noir plays Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Veterans
Wadsworth Theater. Tickets are available at the UCLA Central Ticket
Office or by phone at (310) 825-2101.