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Dr.
Eugene Chadbourne
Houston TX, 23 January 2000
by Frank Rubolino
March 2000
 Guitarist
Eugene Chadbourne has been experimenting with the integration of improvised
music and the country and western song form for many years. His earliest
efforts date back at least to the early 1980s. At MECA (Multicultural
Education & Counseling Through the Arts) in Houston, he joined forces
with trombonist David Dove, harmonica player Walter Daniels, and pedal
steel guitar player Susan Alcorn to explore further the possibilities
inherent in this union. From many aspects, it was the ultimate phase
of the fusion movement that has seen jazz mated with so many other
disciplines. Chadbourne has labeled his band the Ernest Tubb Memorial
Band in honor of the C&W singer who sustained a career of over 50
years and is a legend in the country music field. Chadbourne describes
the band's style as "New Directions in Country Music" or "Avant-Garde,
Free Form, Country and Western Bebop". To say it was different would
be a gross understatement.
 The
band was comprised of players from both sides of the fence. Dove is
an improvising trombonist who plays both freeform and straight-ahead
jazz. His creative energy has also led him into experimentation with
electronic jazz. Daniels is primarily from the blues / rock / country
camp, while Alcorn is capable of going both ways. Her excursions into
the realm of totally liberated steel guitar playing have been extremely
ambitious. Chadbourne restricted the music on the program to material
by four C&W/Rock & Roll icons—Willie Nelson, Ernest Tubb, Bob
Wills, and Doug Sahm. He opened the program in typical country style
by singing in twangy fashion and similarly strumming his guitar while
the band injected a loose mixture of free response. The fence between
the two genres soon collapsed into a free-for-all of wild expression,
only to fall quickly back in line with verse or an occasional New
Orleans beat. When they were free, they were very, very free, but
when they played 'in', it was a country music fan's delight. During
his respites from the rigid structure imposed by country music, Chadbourne
improvised in exuberant style, displaying his lightning-fast touch
and maniacal fingering. He mixed the blues as well into the formula,
which gave the other artists a different challenge.
Dove sputtered and growled with tones totally diverse from the country
rhythms, and Daniels and Alcorn did likewise, yet they always reverted
to the country theme and beat. The Doug Sahm piece "Revolutionary
Ways" had more rock than country in it, but the collective improvisation
reversed the direction. Dove blew a mini freeform concert and Alcorn
became almost violent banging the steel bars against the strings in
a spontaneous explosion of sound. Daniels wailed emphatically as he
responded to this new form of expression and actually was quite adept
at finding a niche. The Texas two-step beat, however, dominated a
large portion of the program, and although the flights of improvised
fancy went far afield, they were generally too short in duration before
Chadbourne corralled them all back in line.
Chadbourne is an eclectic musician who appears unwilling to be typecast.
He claims the sincerity and sentimentality of country music enticed
him to explore the marriage with jazz. On this date, he certainly
proved to be a complex musician who refuses to be neatly categorized
and filed away. While the program may not have been totally fulfilling
for strict devotees of either art form, it unleashed a conversation
on the creative possibilities available to an open mind.
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