POP AND JAZZ REVIEWS : Nakai’s Flute Play Energizes Jackalope

In the last 10 years, R. Carlos Nakai has pretty much established the siyopanka , a red cedar flute traditionally handmade by the Lakota people, as one of the most popular sounds on new age/ world music/meditation recordings.

The Native American flutist was the featured performer with the Arizona-based group Jackalope at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall on Friday. During those moments when the dark, evocative tones of Nakai’s instrument were front and center at the concert, the music was alive with emotion and energy. Unfortunately, Nakai’s solos were limited to a few brief but captivating segments in which he performed several lovely, unaccompanied melodies.

Audience members expecting to hear more of the atmospheric traditional tunes, chanting and drumming typical of Nakai’s recordings were presented instead with the marginally engaging playing of Nakai’s ensemble: guitarist-keyboardist Larry Yanez, bassist-guitarist Richard Carbajal and percussionist Darrell Flint.

Yanez, whose self-satisfied attempts at humor were a continual distraction from the music, described Jackalope’s style as “Synthacousticpunkachinavajazz.” But most of the pieces were simplistic, riff-oriented tunes that only came to life during the too-infrequent passages when Jackalope’s clanging rhythms and rudimentary harmonies gave way to the sweetly mournful sound of Nakai’s flute.