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D^/4. high! By David Baker Entertainment Editor Michael Apted's Agatha everything you could possibly v from a period mystery ? abundance of style, an excel lead performance and a crec story that keeps you guessing r iin until tho woru onH Rut < M|/ MlkVlS VilV T VI J VIIV4. LIUi) MWI of Dustin Hoffman being critic miscast in the movie's pivotal 1 it never reaches the level fascination befitting a film atx woman so famous and so trinsically mysterious as Ag; Christie. Backup group sol Gr By Dale Si eu VJBII??WVA/W vJ|? Johnny Griffin is a hard-swinj worked with Lionel Hampton, Jc became a force on the scene wil in the 1950s and his stints with Ai Thelonious Monk. In 1960 he fori group with fellow tenorist Ed recorded some excellent albums ...a player * m supemuou Griffin moved to Europe in 1 the Grancy Boland/Kenny Clar on his own. Griffin revisited this sixteen years this past summer Ann Arbor festival with Dexter present of what they had been release on inner city Kecords sn This double album, recorded excellent form. He is ably as piano, Mads Vinding, bass and / exception of the 3:34 "Wee," eac i sph^&mkli Dusi grave ights4 Taking as its starting A 1 Ar\n J? uiicApidiuoi iy/o uisa has and subsequent reapp vant Christie, Agatha combir an of the case's known fa llent fictional solution to the n lible On Dec. 4 of that yea ight left her home in London ause and disappeared. The :ally ning, her car was found i role, in a wooded glen just oul I of city. Inside were her fu >ut a her briefcase. A gigantii in- was launched involving at ha 15,000 people. Eleven days later, if fin's 'J noak ?f Writer ging tenor saxophonist who Jones and Arnett Cobb. He th his albums for Blue Note rt Blakey's Messengers and med a musically successful die "Lockjaw" Davis and [ fnr Riuorcirfo of formidable t tsly... 962, where he worked with ke big band and freelanced country for the first timp in , and his appearance at the Gordon reminded jazz fans missing. His Live in Tokyo lould remind the rest of us. in 1976, displays Griffin in isisted by Horace Parian, Vrt Taylor, drums. With the :h tune lasts anywhere from _/'- ; : 'i' -; _ x-. ^ ""-"t^;'v./-,^vT1 <'}-*<i'K #; SMpliiiWi^lfcsP^w - figgg^& LS?^ -^t^BWLVa^^a 's style 'Agath ; point the reappeared at the H> ppearance health spa in the city c ;arance of 150 miles from Lond les several registered there in the cts into a husband s mistress ar lystery. an ad in the classified: r, Christie London Times rea i, drove off friends and relativ next mor- Theresa Neele, lal abandoned Africa, please commt Side of the The plot that Kat r coat and has concocted to tie tl c manhunt disjointed series of ev more than is one of the filrc elements. Her script Christie co-written by Arthur Live in Tt 16:34 to 19:19, allowing each mui leisure. The playing here is good e for that length of time. Side one consists of an upteui] merstein/Kern tune "All the Thi fiery solo is capped by a mar unaccompanied cadenza, so crarr seem longer and surely one of the _ _ - ecnnique wno neve of the year. Parian solos next, drummer Taylor trading, Griffir with himself. Taylor is next with before Griffin returns and takes tl An attractive Griffin ballad, anaiio ci/ln fttra A f f*** Ka 1/pV/llO OIUV I.VYU. JTk 1VU II11IC1VJ Griffin plays a gorgeous ballad s control in, the upper register of Griffin ends his solo with a fra which leads into an equally lovely brief bass solo, the melody is resU Redgrave in'Agatha' ingenious and waste frivolities. Its only si ^ that it never bother ^ any of the supporting We know, for inst< ^ Christie marriage is ^ and that Colonel A I husband, is portrays B tless brute, but we ^ what it was that against Agatha. Was rdro Hotel, a or was it her tendi )f Harrogate, clinging vine? Ion. She had Likewise, the chan ; name of her Stanton, the jou id had placed discovers Christie in section of the an amalgam of the ding, "Will reporter and the love es of Mi's, a famous author. He te of South throughout the film inicate?" but we never know i hleen Tynan he wants to get a s his somewhat wants to eet a roll in t ents together Thankfully, the i's strongest Agatha is fully roi (which was faceted and, thanks t Hopcraft) is complex perforir okyo'alb sician to stretch out at Theqi nough to sustain interest theme. whippy po version of the Ham- else. Th ngs You Are." Griffin's but it is velous five-minute-plus lmed with content as to "The recorded jazz highlights Taylor < second drum st *r uses it a arum a brief s Griffii support He is f( followed by Griffin and solos fr i seemingly playing duets bassists an imaginative solo returns le tune to its finish. wnen We Were One," jonni dy is sensitively stated, never i olo. Here, his use of, and provise his horn is remarkable. well. T gment from the melody, honors Dorian mntiA OAIA a ifttnl 1 i Cf a ai iuii yuuiu ouiw. ruici a ated and the tune is ended. and his s no time on | Vanessa F lortcoming is 1 believable ? ? to flesh out does a suj nharantorc Affatha'c c V..M.MVVVIO. U W nee, that the public, her on the rocks her men ai rchibald, her insecurity t id as a hear- had not atte never know year's A turned him ceremony i it her success for her polil mcy to be a most certa actress non icter of Wally ceremony, rnalist who Harrogate, is The fact conniving ace almost a fc (-struck fan of is just ai lies to Agatha Hoffman's 's first hour, role of thi f it's because given to a I tory or if he commandir he hay. Agatha cou character of best love si inded, multi- it is, the fil o a stunningly the old fai iance from and the fr umau jartet immediately goes int to f n rati* itMnMAnn A I HO AO iai\CAI W1U1 1111|JI C33 i off. It is more a collectioi e tune is credited to J.J. Joh also known as Denzil Best's Man I Love," side three, irum solo. Griffin improvis< cadenza, and then Art Ta do that sustains interest due solo of uncommon intelliger tatement before ending, n's "Soft and Furry," side ?d by bowed bass. Griffin h >llowed by Parian and bas om each. Vinding is a go< ,wiiu ?i suuug auuuu aim ] to restate the melody. ly Griffin is a player of for ises it superfluously. He i r on uptempo numbers and ne rnymm suppori is exce go to Art Taylor. He is a dr ently used technique. His a solos are superb. This is a n ledgrave, completely it all times. Redgrave >er job of conveying ihyness towards her awkwarrinpcii tnu/arHc id her almost painful owards herself. If she mpted to turn this past academy Awards nto a sounding board :ical beliefs, she would tinly receive a best lination at next year's that Redgrave stands >ot taller than Hoffman lother verification of being miscast. If the s journalist had been arger man with a more lg screen presence, ild have been one of the Tories of the decade. As Im is just a retelling of ry tale of the princess og. rinner o a three-minute bebop ive speed, but it is just ti of riffs than anything inson and called "Wee," "Allen's Alley." opens with a brief Art js, ending with a ninetyylor has a five-minute to its organization. It is ice. Griffin returns with four, has a slow theme las a Drettv ballad solo. tsist Vinding, with fine xl soloist, rare among ?ood technique. Griffin midable technique who s a fiery, exciting ima sensitive balladeer as illent, but star sideman ummer of nonpareil but ccompaniments and his fiarvelous album.