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COVER FEATURE
THE PIED PIPER OF ROCK ORCHESTRATES A NEW JETHRO TULL ADVENTURE FOR FANS…
IAN ANDERSON
by Tom Lounges
Without a doubt, Jethro Tull is one of the most unique musical groups of the rock era.
Though they began their career in 1967 as just another of the many British blues bands banging away in the pubs of their hometown of Blackpool, England –– Jethro Tull soon emerged from the pack and has never had to look back.
Under the tutelage of Ian Anderson, the group forged a totally new sound when they began melting together centuries old English baroque music with their blues riffs and eventually flavored their sound further by borrowing from the worlds of folk, blues, jazz rock music.
The group even took a few surprising pops turns over the years with early ‘80s albums like A and Under Wraps, where Jethro Tull flirted for a time with the trendy “new wave” sounds of the day.
Moreso than any other genre, classical music has been the core foundation of Tull’s greatest work – anchored by Anderson’s magical flute.
Anderson became a kind of pied piper of rock ‘n’ roll, leading fans of all various styles of music into record shops to snatch up copies of such remarkable early albums as – This Was, Stand Up, Thick As A Brick, A Passion Play, Minstrel In The Gallery, Aqualung and other timeless classics. A personal favorite has always been 1977’s shamefully underrated, Song From The Wood.
Over the years, this writer has been privileged to speak one on one with Anderson about the world of Jethro Tull and have found him to be as colorful off stage as he is on.
In late September, Midwest BEAT chatted trans-Atlantic with the masterful musician as he lounged one last day at his home in the countryside of England.
In less than 48 hours from hanging up the phone with me, Anderson would be jetting over to North America to kick of the expansive two month “An Evening With Jethro Tull” tour that visits Chicago’s Civic Opera House on Sunday, November 20th.
“We’ve been on the road for a while actually recently returning from Central and South America, where we had a very lovely time,” he said. “We’ll be doing about 130 concerts this year in all, which a bit more than usual for us. We generally limit ourselves to about one hundred shows.”
Anderson noted that during their short time off the road, the band has not been idle.
“We’ve been getting ready for our U.S. tour and rehearsing some new material with our special guest, Lucia Micarelli, who is a barefoot graduate of America’s most famous classical music college, Julliard,” he explained. “She was something of a child prodigy and she’s now a ripe young lady at 21 years of age, who is looking to broaden her musical beyond the classical repertoire with which she grew up.”
A very mature and emotive violinist, Micarelli will be sitting in and spotlighted on several song selections during Tull’s nearly three hour concert, which will be split into two sets with a short intermission.
Micarelli is unlike most classically trained musicians in that she loves to improvise. Following her run across the colonies with Tull, the young violinist will be touring with Cirque Du Soleil
“I think she will provide us, as I hope we can provide her, with some musical services that will brighten up our collective day as well as brighten up the audiences’ appreciation of the concert,” said Anderson, who connected with the rising young artist through the William Morris Agency. An agent there expected the two kindred spirits despite being a generation apart, would form a common bond and mutual admiration society, which is just what has happened.
Being billed as “An Evening With...” makes one suspect the live show will be a career encompassing experience.
“That’s exactly right. We try to give the big picture of what the band is all about from the first album to the most recent things we’ve done,” chimes Anderson.
“Back in 1969, we only had two albums to chose songs from so things were much easier,” he laughed. “Now we’ve got thirty some records and 260-odd songs from which we have to pick. It’s sometimes a complex and bewildering job.”
Anderson’s method in choosing begins with reexamining past tour set lists from each respective city.
“I look at what we’ve done on past visits and try to play something substantially different when we come this time,” he said. “Naturally, there are some songs that people have expectations of hearing. But the fun part is pulling some out that they won’t. It’s always fun to see their faces when we dust something off that we’ve not performed in forever.”
While he knows it is inevitable that some fans will still leave the concert hall grumbling that they did not play a personal favorite of theirs, it is doubtful that any will grumble about getting a free CD from the band along with their concert experience.
Everyone who buys a ticket on this tour receives a free copy of the new Aqualung Live CD, recorded on stage during 2004. It’s the band’s way of saying “thank you to the fans who have supported us all these years”.
The 20-song orchestral collection contains a blend of Tull chestnuts and compositions from some of Anderson’s solo releases. It was recorded and filmed during a spirited performance by Anderson with The Neuw Frankfort Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by John O’Hara.
“It’s something that I have always wanted to do and the planets were all aligned correctly or something, because it finally happened,” mused Anderson, who is very proud of the collection that includes such timeless Tull selections as – “Wond’ring Aloud,” “Mother Goose”, “Skating Away On The Thin Ice Of A New Day”, “Living In The Past” and a most wonderful treatment of “Bouree.”
“Having been the unplugged guy in a rock band for three decades, it was rather nice to get tim off for good behavior to play both gentle and powerful music without the sheer volume associated with much of my past,” he concluded about the project.
Anderson seemed very excited about the new tour and promised American Tull fans they would be enjoying “a magnificent concert with a few little surprises!”
As the dial tone hummed in, I imagined Ian pulling his suitcase out from under the bed and starting to pack, eager to get here and share his music with us once again.
More information: www.jethrotull.com
JETHRO TULL perform November 20th @ Chicago’s Civic Opera House.
IAN ANDERSON will be Tom Lounges’ guest on “Night Rock” (6-9pm) Nov. 13 on X-ROCK 103.9
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Something
new on the horizon for Tull and Anderson fans to put on their want list
to Santa Claus, is the new DVD and companion CD – Ian Anderson
Plays The Orchestral Jethro Tull – via ZXY/Red Music of Germany.