JOHN SURMAN TRIO – Life In Altena (LP-1970- JG 018)

Label: JG-Records – JG 018

Format: Vinyl, LP / Country: Germany / Released: 1970

Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz

Recorded live January 10, 1970, Altena, Germany

Photos – Jörg Rahmede (side 2), K. Klüter (side 1)

Engineer – Karlheinz Klüter

The author notes the album has been released with three different covers on two different labels.

Issued with three different sleeve designs: the first and second (plain red with a sticker) were limited editions with red labels printed in black; the third sleeve was red with white printing (black labels printed in silver).

A – side 1 ......................................................................................... 25:00

       a1 - Billie The Kid (Martin)

       a2 - Tallness (Surman)

       a3 - Dee Tune (Surman)

B – side 2 ......................................................................................... 18:30

       b1 - In Between (Surman)

       b2 - Spikenard (Phillips)

John Surman – baritone and soprano saxophones, bass clarinet

Barre Phillips – bass

Stu Martin – drums, percussion

Ultra rare free jazz album from 1970 with John Surman, Barre Phillips and Stu Martin released on small private German label. This is the 2nd edition with blood red cover, labels are red. Exclusively issued for Germany / Limited Edition.

If you find it, buy this album!

BOB JAMES TRIO – Explosions (LP-ESP Disk-1965)

Label: ESP Disk – ESP-1009, ESP Disk – ESP-1009

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Stereo / Country: US / Released: 1965/66 ?

Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation

Recorded At Bell Sound Studios, New York City, May, 1965.

Art Direction – Paul Frick

Cover – Bob James

Engineer – Art Crist

Matrix / Runout (Runout stamp side A): ESPS 1009A

Matrix / Runout (Runout stamp side B): ESPS 1009B

This version has BOB JAMES as artist on cover, and BOB JAMES TRIO as artist on labels. Black & white print cover, and orange labels with black print.

A1 - Explosions ......................................................................................... 5:42

         Written-By – Bob James

A2 - Untitled Mixes .................................................................................... 5:17

         Written-By – Bob James, Bob Ashley

A3 - Peasant Boy ........................................................................................ 8:30

         Written-By – Bob James, Gordon Mumma

B1 - An On ................................................................................................ 8:54

        Written-By – Barre Phillips

B2 - Wolfman ............................................................................................. 6:07

         Written-By – Bob James, Bob Ashley

Bob James – piano

Barre Phillips – bass

Robert Pozar – drums, percussion

+

Robert Ashley / Gordon Mumma – electronics [electronic tape collage]

Bob James is more known for his break-filled fusion sides for Tappan Zee and Columbia and his production for CTI than as a curious figure in the avant-garde jazz milieu of the 1960s. In fact, his two dates as a leader from this period have pretty much slipped under the radar. His first, Bold Conceptions (Mercury, 1962) was produced under the aegis of Quincy Jones upon the trio's winning of the Collegiate Jazz Festival. Featuring drummer Bob Pozar and bassist Ron Brooks, it combined post-Bill Evans textures with a hefty dose of shifting meters, plucked and prepared piano strings, magnetic tape, chance operations and unconventional sounds.

Explosions, recorded in 1965 in New York with Barre Phillips replacing Brooks on bass, jumps with both feet into the electro-acoustic improvisation field, with significant assistance from Robert Ashley and Gordon Mumma of Sonic Arts Union. Their contributions are especially notable in a version of Ashley's multi-channel tape composition "Wolfman" and Mumma's assault on Barre Phillips' "Anon" (here titled "An On").

James more than acquits himself as a free player, coaxing dense clusters at both the high and low end, beginning "Peasant Boy" in glassy arpeggios that mate with the fluid, all-over lines of Phillips and Pozar. Affinity for Ran Blake and Don Friedman enter into James' approach to a sparse canvas, at once plaintive and rustling both at the keyboard and in the "guts," in conversation with knitting needles and high bass harmonics. It's not clear whether the tape manipulations were added to the first track in real time, but they flesh out the shadowy, lower-register group improvisation as it reaches a brief crescendo.

A comparison might be made to Burton Greene (a Moog and piano-string jazz pioneer), but unlike his emotionalism and folksy melodies, the Bob James Trio seems more academic in its investigations, with deliberateness in the combinations of sounds. That's not a slight—rare indeed is a successful pairing of electronic and acoustic audio collage, much less in a mid-1960s jazz setting. Whirring feedback and tape manipulation are part of the instrumental palette, alongside temple blocks, bells and chimes, ping-pong balls on piano strings, and a florid approach to "conventional" free playing.

Couple this with the fact that this is one of the most cleanly recorded items in ESP's catalog, and Explosions is a weighty historical artifact not to be missed.

(by Clifford Allen / AAJ)

If you find it, buy this album!

THE MIKE WESTBROOK CONCERT BAND – Marching Song Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (2LP-1969/2CD-1998)

Label: Deram – 844 853-2

Format: 2 × CD, Compilation / Country: UK / Released: 1998

Originally released in 1969 as two separate LPs: Deram SML 1047 and Deram SML 1048

Style: Big Band, Contemporary Jazz

Recording Dates: 31st March, 1st April, 10th April, 1969.

Engineer – Bill Price

Executive-Producer – Bernard Lee

Leader [Musical Director] – Eddie Harvey, John Surman, Mike Westbrook

Producer – Peter Eden

Amazing jazz masterpiece from 1969, originally released in two parts on Deram and presented here as a double- CD at a single price. Double album featuring Westbrook with Alan Skidmore, David Holdsworth, John Surman and a wild collection of brass-wielding legends. An anti-Vietnam piece that takes a remarkable journey from civilisation to war and its inevitable results. A powerful and evocative piece that features some excellent performances and magnificent solo-ing as the tension mounts...

101. Hooray! . . . 6:24

        trumpet solo: Dave Holdsworth

        alto solo: Mike Osborne

        crowd sounds: Bill Price

102. Landscape . . . 15:25

        flute solo: Bernie Living

        bass duet: Harry Miller, Barre Phillips

        sax duet: John Surman, Mike Osborne

103. Waltz (for Joanna) . . . 5:50

        soprano solo: John Surman

104. Landscape (II) . . . 0:39

105. Other World . . . 8:23

        trombone solo: Paul Rutherford

106. Marching Song . . . 11:30

        tenor saxes: Nisar Ahmad Khan, Alan Skidmore

Composed By – Mike Westbrook

201. Transition . . . 5:12

202. Home . . . 7:35

        trombone solo: Malcolm Griffiths

        bass duet: Harry Miller, Chris Lawrence

203. Rosie . . . 6:36

        trumpet solo: Dave Holdsworth

204. Prelude (Surman) . . . 4:43

        woodwind: Bernie Living, Mike Osborne, Alan Skidmore

205. Tension (Surman) . . . 4:33

        saxophone duet: John Surman, Alan Skidmore

        trombone solo: Malcolm Griffiths

206. Introduction . . . 5:58

207. Ballad . . . 2:26

        alto solo: Mike Osborne

208. Conflict . . . 10:44

        tuba solo: George Smith

209. Requiem . . . 0:52

210. Tarnished (Surman) . . . 5:56

        soprano solo: John Surman

        alto solo: Mike Osborne

211. Memorial . . . 2:22

        drums solo: Alan Jackson

Composed By – Mike Westbrook except traks 204, 205, 210 by John Surman

Mike Westbrook – Piano

Dave Holdsworh – Trumpet, Fluegelhorn

Kenny Wheeler – Trumpet, Fluegelhorn

Greg Bowen – Trumpet

Tony Fisher – Trumpet

Henry Lowther – Trumpet

Ronnie Hughes – Trumpet

Malcolm Grifiths – Trombone

Paul Rutherford – Trombone

Mike Gibbs – Trombone

Eddie Harvey – Trombone

Tom Bennellick – French Horn

Martin Fry – Tuba

George Smith – Tuba

John Surman – Baritone, Soprano Saxes

Mike Osborne – Alto Sax, Clarinet

Bernie Living – Alto Sax, Clarinet

Alan Skidmore – Tenor Sax, Flute

Nisar Ahmad Khan – Tenor Sax

John Warren – Alto, Baritone Saxes, Flute

Brian Smith – Tenor Sax

Harry Miller – Bass

Barre Phillips – Bass

Chris Lawrence – Bass

Alan Jackson – Drums

John Marshall – Drums

The first time I had a chance to hear this album before about thirty years.  I was blown away then and nothing has changed in the meantime. If you like free blowing big band jazz give this a listen. You will not be disappointed.

If you find it, buy this album!

URS LEIMGRUBER / JACQUES DEMIERRE / BARRE PHILLIPS – Wing Vane (2001)

Label: Les Disques Victo – VICTO CD 079
Format: CD, Album; Country: Canada - Released: 2001
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded live at Studio 2, Radio DRS (Zurich) on January 8-9, 2001.
Artwork – François Bienvenue
Re-Design by ART&JAZZ Studio, by VITKO
Executive-producer – Joanne Vézina, Michel Levasseur
Photography By – Michel Doneda

Some albums you need to give time, a chance to grow on you. Wing Vane falls into this category. Saxophonist Urs Leimgruber, pianist Jacques Demierre, and bassist Barre Phillips have recorded a free improv session dominated by the quietness of whispers and the violence of restraint. Listened to in a distracted manner, it sounds like a random aggregate of sounds, completely unrelated to each other -- when there is sound at all! You need to turn up the volume, pay close attention to the minute details, and experience the moments of silence for what they are: gut-wrenching artistic decisions. For an improviser, to consciously decide not to play -- to let silence fill the room and abdicate one's power over it -- is a gesture more meaningful than what listeners usually think. Listen to this CD once. A few days later listen again. You'll find it will offer you something slightly different from what you remembered. Repeat the experience: Again, you will discover new details, new feelings too. A record that teaches you how to listen to music is something to treasure. This kind of free improvising, focused on the subtle and understated, has become more widespread early in the first decade after 2000. What sets this trio apart is the fact that the musicians did not make a religion out of it. Occasionally, Leimgruber's sax produces soaring notes or enters a very busy phase. At certain times, Demierre drops rock-heavy clusters on the piano, driving an impressive crescendo in "Organically Yours." Yet, these moments don't aim at startling you; they flow naturally. Hearing Phillips in such a setting, decidedly more abstract than usual, is a pleasure. Recommended as an acquired taste.

_ By François COUTURE

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HEINER STADLER – Brains On Fire (2CD-2012) - [2LPs-1973/’74 + previously unreleased tapes]

Label: Labor Records – LAB 7069

Format: 2 × CD, Album - Released: 02/28/2012
Style: Free Jazz, Free Improvisation
Recorded at Nola Penthouse Sound Studio, NYC 1966 & recorded at O' Brien's Studio, Teaneck, NJ 1971/1973
Artwork [Illustration] By – Johann Feindt
Design By – Conni Lechner; Photography By – M. De Chiara
Engineer – Orville O'Brien / Tony May
Producer, Composed By – Heiner Stadler

Music that stretches boundaries and, yes, might sizzle the brain pan a bit.

ARTISTS:
Jimmy OWENS – trumpet (CD1: track 1; CD2: track 4); Tyrone WASHINGTON – tenor saxophone, flute (CD1: tracks 1-3; CD2: tracks 2-3); Garnett BROWN – trombone (CD1: track 1; CD2: track 4); Heiner STADLER – piano (CD1: tracks 1-3; CD2: tracks 2-3); Reggie WORKMAN – bass (CD1: tracks 1-3; CD2: track 1); Brian BRAKE – drums (CD1: track 1); The Big Band of the North German Radio Station: Manfred SCHOOF, Gerd DUDEK, Albert MANGELSDORFF, Wolfgang DAUNER, Lucas LINDHOLM, Tony INZALACO (CD1: track 4); Dee Dee BRIDGEWATER – vocals (CD2: track 1); Joe FARRELL – tenor saxophone (CD2: track 4); Don FRIEDMAN – piano (CD2: track 4); Barre PHILLIPS – bass (CD2: track 4); Joe CHAMBERS – drums (CD2: track 4)

Some recordings should come with a sticker which states: for those willing to be challenged. German-American composer, producer, pianist, arranger and bandleader Heiner Stadler’s reissued, remastered, restructured and expanded release, Brains on Fire (which initially came out as two separate vinyl volumes in 1967, which are often rare to find), certainly qualifies for such a caveat emptor. For some, Stadler is known as an interpreter of other musicians’ material, due in part to last year’s remixed reissue of his 1978 outing, A Tribute to Monk and Bird, which was also put out on Stadler’s Labor label. Stadler has also reissued other titles from his back catalog, including 1976’s Jazz Alchemy (which came out in 2000) and the 1996 compilation Retrospection (reissued in 2010). This year it is time to reevaluate one Stadler’s most original efforts, Brains on Fire. This CD version contains three tunes never before heard and marks the first CD presentation of five other works.

One reason to listen to the two-disc Brains on Fire is to hear then-current and up-and-coming jazz luminaries dig deeply into material which spans the perceived gap between avant-garde, post-bop, tone-row experiments and European serialist composition. The eight long pieces (four per disc) were recorded between 1966 and 1974 and feature 17 artists (as well as an orchestra), including trumpeter Jimmy Owens (who worked with Miles Davis in the '50s and was a founding member of the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra), bassist Reggie Workman (notable for his work with John Coltrane, Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Yusef Lateef), and future stars such as saxophonist/flutist Joe Farrell (who subsequently had crossover success on the CTI roster) and a young Dee Dee Bridgewater (a few years before fame found her, when she was still singing with the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra).

Stadler uses several ensemble configurations ranging from a bass/vocals duet to a quartet (on four tracks) to a big band. The first CD’s opener, “ No Exercise ” (taken from a 1973 session but making its debut here) features a sextet with a three-horn frontline (Owens on trumpet, Tyrone Washington on tenor sax and Garnett Brown on trombone) with a three-piece rhythm section (Stadler on piano, Brian Brake on drums and Workman). The 12-minute workout starts with Workman’s arco bass, followed by Owens’ warm trumpet and then the rest of the group steps up to help present Stadler’s avant-garde blues which is shaped by a 12-tone row. Workman’s astute bass is a highlight during this spontaneously-surging piece, but so is Washington’s unfettered sax. Since Washington later left music because of a religious conversion, Brains on Fire is one of the few places listeners can hear the obscure sax player display the width of his skills. Washington is also heard to great effect on three other tracks. The post-Coltrane “ Three Problems ” (a 1971 performance never before released) crosses the lines between hard bop and free jazz, and is an often-chaotic construction with Washington’s lacerating sax leading the charge. Workman adds a transcendent bass solo, which temporarily ebbs the high-energy level, but for the most part “ Three Problems ” is almost 13 minutes of roaring density. “ Heidi ” has a slower, spiritual treatment and listeners initially may find this to be the most coherent cut, although “ Heidi ” also eventually edges to a tumultuous portion where written and improvised sections are fused to the point where it is impossible to tell where one ends and the other commences. The other quartet tunes, “ U.C.S ” and “ All Tones ” (both on CD2), are parallel explorative compositions which delve into variations on texture, phrasing and theme akin to Coltrane’s brilliant free recitations such as Interstellar Space or Ornette Coleman’s vitality-fueled Free Jazz, where the music is elaborately extemporized and not easily absorbed in a single listen. Howard Mandel’s liner notes advise listeners to let “ U.C.S ” and “ All Tones ” sweep the listener along and it’s a good recommendation.

Two of the longer compositions employ very different approaches. The 24-minute Russ Freeman-penned “ Bea’s Flat ” (a 1974 recording offered here for the first time) is a striking, customized blues given over entirely to The Big Band of the North German Radio Station, conducted by Dieter Glawischnig. Several band members are spotlighted as soloists (sax and piano in particular) and the full ensemble actually steps away at times, emphasizing single instruments. The result is somewhat like a meeting between Duke Ellington’s and Sun Ra’s groups. Reggie Workman and Dee Dee Bridgewater’s 20-minute bass/voice pairing, “ Love in the Middle of the Air ” (a shorter take can be found on Retrospection) is nearly as remarkable in a wholly dissimilar way. Bridgewater stretches, undulates and heightens beat poet Lenore Kandel’s minimal lines, phrases and words while Workman glides and rolls on his bass with perfect sympathy: his meticulous arco work in particular is an emotional standout.

Despite recordings from four studios and engineers, there is observable and high quality engineering and audio constancy over the course of the two-hour, eight-track project. Even during the most intense moments instruments rise out from the mix rather than getting washed aside, and when the heady musical concoction is confined to just a few instruments (like bass or vocals) the sound is wonderfully expressive.

_ By Doug Simpson 
 (February 22, 2012, AUDIOPHILE AUDITION)



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GUY, SCHWEIZER, PARKER, BAUER, PHILLIPS, LYTTON – Elsie Jo - Live (1995)

 

Label: Maya Recordings – MCD9201 

Format: CD, Album; Country: UK - Released: 1995 

Style: Free Improvisation, Avant-garde Jazz

Recorded at the Amadeus Centre, London on 23 March 1991. 

Cover art (reproduced above) 'Berthon' by Albert Irvin

Elsie Jo was first released with a different cover (re-issued early 1995)

 Irène Schweizer

Barre Philips

Konrad Bauer

Paul Lytton, Evan Parker, Barry Guy

Note:

Elsie Jo are five of European free improv's most experienced and respected performers, plus an American virtuoso bassist. Barry Guy, Irène Schweizer, Evan Parker, Konrad Bauer, Paul Lytton and Barre Phillips have all worked together in the impressive London Jazz Composers Orchestra, and Parker, Guy and Lytton as a long established trio. In other words, all of these musicians know each other's game – and my word it shows! Clocking in at nearly 45 minutes, Megalops Presents can only be described as consummate collective improvising. Ideas flow with amazing surety, develop into thickly textured structures and peel away almost imperceptibly: a trio emerges where only a moment before a sextet had existed and so on. After this Ta'ay (Now), a sparkling duet between Evan Parker and Irène Schweizer, featuring ornate multi phonics on soprano which are complemented by the piano's rippling attacks. Then everybody gathers for a further 20 minutes of collective improvising.

How the group came buy their curious name is revealed in Barry Guy's notes which you can read when you buy this magnificent album.



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URS LEIMGRUBER, JACQUES DEMIERRE, BARRE PHILLIPS – Albeit (2009)

Label: Jazzwerkstatt – jw074
Format: CD, Album; Country: Germany - Released: 2009
Style: Free Jazz, Contemporary Jazz, Free Improvisation
Packaging: Jewel Tray in wrap-around box
Recorded and mastered February 19, 2008 by Gerard de Haro and Nicolas Baillard at the Studio La Buissonne in Pernes-Les-Fontaines, France
New Design (pages 2,3,4,5) by ART&JAZZ Studio
Artwork and Complete Design by VITKO Salvarica - 2012

Review:

Near perfect elaboration of a committed improvisational trio ’ s art, this Swiss-American group has been involved in furthering extrasensory mutual creation for more than a decade. Now seemingly able to predict and instantaneously react to even split-second sound dislocation, the trio has constructed a totality where the final note is as crucial as the first and where every one is woven into the overall fabric.

Considering the veteran trio ’ s background this practically supernatural connection is no surprise. During his 40 years in Europe for instance, American bassist Barre Phillips has played with everyone from saxophonist Evan Parker to pianist Paul Bley. Tenor and soprano saxophonist Urs Leimgruber has worked with bassist Joëlle Léandre, synthesizer player Thomas Lehn and many others. His Swiss countryman, pianist Jacques Demierre, is equally proficient in improvised and notated music, having recorded with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and in a trio with bassist Barry Guy, whose London Jazz Composers Orchestra also counts Phillips as a member.

Despite the CD ’ s supposed division into seven tracks, changes in strategy for these instant compositions merely involve one or another trio member pouring more textures into the mix. For instance on “ Eatlib ” Leimgruber ’ s polyphonic timbres quicken from whirrs to diaphragm- vibrated squeals as Phillips moves from strums to percussive spiccato. Initially adding singular plinks and note clusters, Demierre pedal pumps and thumps on the keys when the saxophonist ’ s extensive circular breathing turns to splutters and chips and the bassist scrubs his instrument ’ s wood as well as the strings for contrasting dynamics.

Or consider the title tune, which ends with high-frequency piano key spanks plus air flutters from the saxophonist, after commencing with tongue pops and a swaying double bass line. Throughout peeping reed vibrations evolve parallel to cascading note clusters from Demierre and col legno pumps and sweeps from the bassist. Reaching a dense climax, the piece positions Phillips ’ shrill whistling and strident slices with tremolo glissandi from the pianist, and the saxist ’ s equally taut reed squeals. Leimgruber ’ s adoption of circular breathing accompanied by high-frequency passing tones from Demierre is another strategy.

Although no less or more memorable than what precedes it, the trio would appear to be marshalling its inventions for “ Ilbeat ” , the final track, since at nearly 18 minutes it ’ s at least one-half to one-third lengthier than any other. A three-part exercise in broken octave concordance, it unites inchoate fragments into a vibrant whole. Initially aleatoric split tones and strained continuous trills from Leimgruber abut sparkling arpeggiated strums from Phillips and occasional slides and pumps from piano strings. After these languid node vibrations are met by low-pitched bass plucks, Leimgruber ’ s slurring reed pressure swells to staccato and altissimo reflux. This duet is further characterized by high-frequency note substations, wafting split tones from the saxman plus contrasting keyboard patterns.

Leimgruber, Demierre and Phillips may have jumbled the letters in Albeit to title this CD ’ s instant compositions as if they were creating the clues for a word puzzle. In most cases the results are gobbledygook in any language. Conversely the music contained beneath these bizarre titles is some of the finest contemporary improv imaginable.

-- Ken Waxman (JAZZ WORD REVIEWS)


I also recommend the album:

URS LEIMGRUBER, JACQUES  DEMIERRE, BARRE PHILLIPS / Montreuil (2012)

 

You can find it on the excellent jazz blog Caballo De Fuerza.
Link:
http://caballodefuerza.blogspot.com.ar/2012/11/urs-leimgruber-jacques-demierre-barre.html



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BIGGI VINKELOE TRIO – Mbat (1993)

Label: LJ Records; Catalog#: LJCD5209
Country: Sweden; Year: 1993
Style: avant-garde, free improvisation, Contemporary Jazz, Free Jazz
Recorded live during a tour in Sweden 1993.

Mbat with Peeter Uuskyla and Barre Phillips voted best CD of the year in Finland 1997

Note:

LJ Records has the great pleasure of introducing unique music to you. Unique because it would be impossible without these special musicians, unique because it is impossible and unthinkable to repeat this performance. Biggi Vinkeloe, alto saxophone and flute, has lived in France and Germany and is now living in Sweden. She has performed with amongst others André Jaume, Jacques Veillé, Alain Rellay, Cecil Taylor and Barre Phillips before starting her own trio in 1990. The Biggi Vinkeloe Trio recorded the album "Mr Nefertiti" (Canastero Records) in Cologne, Germany 1991. Peeter Uuskyla, drums, grew up in Sweden. He went to Berlin 1988 to play with Cecil Taylor, stayed in Germany and played with different groups and since 1990 mostly with Biggi Vinkeloe Trio. Barre Phillips is an American bassplayer living in France, who has put his bass in the foreground in whatever project he is playing! He made the first-ever album of solo bass improvisation as long ago as 1968. This edition of Biggi Vinkeloe Trio is of first performances from 1992 and this album was recorded during a tour in Sweden 1993.


Biggi Vinkeloe Biography
Born: March 8, 1956
Instrument: Saxophone

Born in Germany. Studied and lived in France from 1974 to 1988. Since then lives and works in Sweden.

Working bands: Trio REV, with Lisle Ellis and Donald Robinson / Duo Robinson--Vinkeloe / Trio Chris Brown, Donald Robinson, Biggi Vinkeloe / She performs as a soloist as well.

Biggi Vinkeloe has performed in Sweden, France, Germany, England, Finland, Italy, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, Canada, USA , with Peeter Uuskyla, Barre Phillips, Peter Kowald, Cecil Taylor, Ken Filiano, Steve Swell, Joel Futtermann, Alex Cline, Chris Brown, Jacques Veille, Giancarlo Locatelli, Alberto Braida, Filippo Monico, Roberto Bellatalla, Paul Plimley, Jackson Krall, Joachim Zoepf, Georg Wolf, Gino Robair, Gianni Gebbia, Jerome Bryerton, Wayne Lopes, Paul Obermayer, Rex Casswell, Peter Friis Nielsen, Perry Robinson, Lotte Anker, Sylvie Degiez, Vinny Golia, Harris Eisenstadt, Damon Smith, Mark Weaver, Mischa Feigin, Marco Eneidi, Mary Oliver, Miya Masaoka, Donald Robinson, Lisle Ellis among others.

She has performed with musicians from other boards, such as heavy metal bass player Magnus Rosén and drummer Anders Johansson; organ player Karin Nelson or New Music accordion player Marie Wärme; different choirs with music ranging from Saint Birgitta to modern music.

Collaboration with dancers and choreographers, such as Inka Tiitinen (FIN), Tommy Kitty (FIN), Katie Duck (NL), Carmen Olsson (S) / with visual artists, Jake Tilson (GB), Andrew Cowie (GB), Ebbe Pettersson (S), Gilda Previn (USA).

She has initiated and produced major projects: Over the Ocean, October 2000, Sweden, with visual artists, dancers, poets and musicians from Hamburg, Gothenburg, New York, London. Echoes, ‘ events in the exhibition ’ , Sweden, music series with international musicians, since 2001, at the Art Space ‘ Röda Sten ’ in Gothenburg (rodasten.se). European Echoes / United Nations, multi/media projects with artists from different countries. Performances in Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Finland and Italy. Since 1993. M.A.D. (music, art, dance) with financial support by ESF-Radet (European Social Funding) and Roda Sten, with performers from the US and Sweden. Festivals: Du Maurier Jazz Festival, Vancouver, Canada / Taktlos Festival, Bern and Zurich, Switzerland / Kerava Jazz Festival, Finland / Umea Jazz Festival, Sweden / Göteborgs Jazzdagar, Sweden / Eldenaer Jazznights, Germany / Nancy Jazz Pulsation, France / Festival de Franche Comte, France / Cecil Taylor in Berlin, FMP, Germany / Documenta Kassel, Germany / Sounds Festival Stockholm, Sweden / Copenhagen Jazz Festival, Denmark / Jazz Festival Prague, Czech Republic

Artist in Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco, spring 2001 Grants: City of Kungalv 1995, Bohus Landstinget 1997, Region of Vastra Gotaland 2005, Adalbertska Stiftelse (Foundation) 2005, Swedish Council for Cultural Affairs 1995, 1998, 2003 and 2005. Artist in Residence at the Headlands Center for the Arts in San Francisco spring 2001.

Grants for specific projects, mostly in Sweden.

Mbat with Peeter Uuskyla and Barre Phillips voted best CD of the year in Finland 1997. Imagine a Place with Magnus Rosen voted best CD of the year in Bresil 2001. Best concert of the year in Manchester 2000 with Peeter Uuskyla. – AAJ




Welcome to new prog-blog "Different Perspectives In My Room...!".
Enjoy the music, and please leave a comment. Thanks in advance.

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Re: MANERI ENSEMBLE – Going To Church (2002)

Label : Aum Fidelity; AUM024
Published by Personasound (BMI) ©+p 2002 AUM Fidelity
Recorded by Carl Seltzer on June 12, 2000 at Seltzer Sound, NYC
Produced by Mat Maneri, Mastered by FLAM at Mindswerve Studios, NYC
Design by Ming@409 from photographs by Edvard Vlanders

Note:

Going To Church is a once-in-our-lifetime meeting of three distinct and potent worlds of improv. One sunny Saturday afternoon in the studio with no preset ideas, save free communication through tone. The open form and fluid dynamics that day manifest themselves into this profound program, ranging from rarefied pastoral beauty to an intensity of psychedelic proportions. String prodigy Mat Maneri and his father, underground legend Joe Maneri – an innovator in the realm of elucidation through microtones. The legendary ex-pat bassist Barre Phillips (New Thing at Newport, Ornette Coleman, Naked Lunch soundtrack, ECM Records pivot) representing the finest that European improv has to offer. Legends in the making Matthew Shipp and Roy Campbell, bring to the party the African-American tradition; their gifts honed in the hardcore NYC of Now. Improvisation at the highest level knows no geographic or genealogical boundaries. Truth to tape, Going To Church is another divine offering from AUM Fidelity.

- SJ ( AUM Fidelity)


Review:

DUSTED REVIEW
date: Sep. 30, 2002

Going to Church is credited to the Maneri Ensemble, and right now, the Maneri with the highest profile among Dusted readers is certainly violist/violinist Mat. And sure enough, Mat Maneri does contribute his trademark twisting, sighing viola lines to this record, but the Maneri who features most prominently here is Mat ’ s father Joe.
Joe Maneri still isn ’ t especially well known in the U.S., even in free jazz circles, which may be partially due to the fact that he ’ s an older man who ’ s only been releasing recordings for about a dozen years. But it ’ s probably also because of his actual playing style, which is about as inaccessible as free jazz gets (despite Joe ’ s touching pleas to the contrary, available here: www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/maneri.htm). His work on saxophone and clarinet isn ’ t inaccessible in an Albert Ayler/Pharoah Sanders hide-the-children sort of way, and neither is it at all emotionally detached. But Joe ’ s playing is foot-draggingly slow, and it often sounds unsure—his phrases often expand and contract quickly, and he spends much of his time (intentionally) wobbling between the twelve equal-tempered tones to the octave used in most Western music. The first time I heard his playing, it sounded a little like a drunk person repeatedly trying to say something that would be easy to pronounce while sober. The more I listened, though, the more it sounded like Joe Maneri had found a new and beautiful way to play the blues.
Along with the two Maneris, Going to Church features pianist Matt Shipp, trumpeter Roy Campbell, veteran ECM bassist Barre Phillips and frequent Maneri family collaborator Randy Peterson on drums. Shipp ’ s presence is surprising, because his instrument doesn ’ t allow him to imitate Joe ’ s wavering approach to pitch. Shipp ’ s playing is effective, though, because he mostly stays out of the way, adding slow, unsure-sounding chords while allowing Joe to lead. Still, Shipp and Campbell ’ s contributions mean a lot—unlike some Joe Maneri recordings, Going to Church isn ’ t filled with tense pauses. Instead, the entire band seems to lumber like a drugged elephant, collectively lurching to and fro in tentative, yet weighty, steps. Both Joe and Mat Maneri are in especially fine form here, circling around each other with woozy, wounded lines.
The entire album feels both mournful and massive—listeners who haven ’ t heard Joe Maneri ’ s work before may find themselves focusing more on his microtonal approach to pitch than anything else. But after a few listens, the sadness in his playing becomes unmistakable. Going to Church would easily be among my favorite new jazz recordings if it hadn ’ t been recorded in June of 2000; the only downside to this album is that it ’ s taken so long to find release.

By Charlie Wilmoth




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