Hats off! A salute to the realm of percussion

By Julie Rausch

Percussion Ensemble concert scarcely describes the tremendous showmanship displayed by the very theatrical entertainment masterminded each spring by J.C. Combs.

However, due to its multi-artistic approach, the 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 30, concert this year may be the pinnacle of WSU’s percussion performances in Miller Concert Hall.

The concert begins aptly enough with a work called "Momentum" by William Kraft, and directed by Tim Sievers, using what Combs, WSU professor of percussion, calls a "truckload of percussion instruments creating spectacular timbres."

The next piece by Lou Harrison, and directed by Combs, combines violin with percussion orchestra. But this is no ordinary orchestra. Imagine the depth and beauty of the violin played by WSU’s John Harrison combined with the Percussion Ensemble’s rhythms on flowerpots, steel pipes, clock chimes, tin cans and a string bass laid flat and played with sticks.

"It sounds like it would be a disaster in the making, but it’s actually incredibly brilliant," Combs says.

An instrument in this percussion menagerie has some historical significance. What looks like two washtubs are actually two timpani stops (of a set of 12) that came from the Paramount Theater organ in New York City. The set, secured by Combs, is one of four in the world.

The concert’s crowning multimedia moment has everything to do with hats.

Hats?

When visiting his friend Jack Kellogg at his West Douglas business, Hatman Jacks Wichita Hat Works, Combs considered hat blocks as a possible instrument. But, he says, he got to thinking that every time someone wears a hat, they are making a statement. As a result, came four musical works centered around genres of hats starting with early 20th century bowler hats to the tunes of ragtime melodies. Pork pie hats with sounds of bebop is followed by 10-gallon hats and country tunes and finally homburgs and Detroit Motown sounds.

Interludes will be as entertaining as the main works as Kellogg ("Hatman Jack") will fit and discuss with "customers" various period hats that are "just perfect" for them.

Highlights of this premiere work include a fiddle duet by Harrison and Matt Combs, a fiddler from Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry; WSU dancers choreographed by dance faculty; and "Shi Town Monk," by J.C. Combs, for four horns and a rhythm section with mallet instruments.

Other special guests are trumpeter Judith Saxton and saxophonist Tom Fowler. Adding to the concert’s ambiance will be video by Chicago filmmaker Chris Combs of some recognizable locals trying on hats for size.

The close of the show will feature video of the hat-donned audience members as they mingled in the Duerksen Fine Arts Center lobby during intermission.

Kellogg will give away a hat to his pick of the most stylish hat-wearing audience member.