Jazz Articles about Manu Katche

About Manu Katche

Extended Analysis

Manu Katche: Touchstone for Manu

by John Kelman
August 5, 2015

With only four records released as a leader on ECM, it may seem a little early to release a “best of" disc for drummer Manu Katché. But having since moved on to fellow German label ACT for Live in Concert, while Touchstone for Manu is only being released in North America in the summer of 2015, it may also seem a bit odd that this compilation--culled from 2005's Neighbourhood, 2007's Playground, 2010's Third Round and 2012's simply titled Manu Katché--was ...

Album Review

Manu Katché: Touchstone for Manu

Read "Touchstone for Manu" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
July 31, 2015

Drummer Manu Katché found the spotlight supplying the groove to recordings by rock artists Peter Gabriel and Sting, then to jazz artists Jan Garbarek and Herbie Hancock. His four ECM recordings as leader showed him to be an accomplished composer and bandleader as well. Now that he has apparently left the label, Touchstone for Manu is a specially-priced compilation that gives roughly equal weight to each of those sessions. The style is basically acoustic jazz, with rock grooves ...

Live Review

Manu Katché Quartet al Bari in Jazz 2015

by Luigi Sforza
July 7, 2015

Bari in Jazz Arena della Pace 25.05.2015 Doppio concerto per il settimo appuntamento dell'undicesima edizione di Bari in Jazz --consumatosi giovedì 25 all'interno dell'anfiteatro arena della pace di Bari--con il quartetto tutto pugliese del giovane sassofonista Mike Rubini prima e con il gruppo del batterista Manu Katché poi. L'ensemble levantino ha eseguito alcune composizioni originali e un serie di studi e variazioni sul celebre standard “All the Things You Are," dimostrando di possedere buona padronanza ...

Interview

Manu Katché: The Colors I See

by Adriana Carcu
September 7, 2013

Manu Katché is one of those few names familiar to a large audience of quite different musical orientations. Along his career he has played with some of the most representative pop, rock, country, jazz--and even classical--musicians. Katché's immense adaptability and emulative spirit, together with the harmonic roundness of tone on his instrument, make him to an outstanding presence on the world's musical scene. His most recent album Manu Katché (ECM, 2012), comes to illustrate the stylistic accuracy, musical fluency, and ...

Album Review

Manu Katche: Manu Katche

Read "Manu Katche" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 19, 2013

A celebrated session drummer and solo artist, Manu Katche's infamous method of crafting a backbeat may parallel the lyrical, dancelike aura for which late jazz drummer Paul Motian was noted. However, Katche's jazz roots are largely evident via his small group formats for ECM Records. On this self-titled release comprised of a multinational quartet, rock-solid pulses, richly melodic content and resounding storylines exquisitely coalesce. But the differentiator lies within Katche's enthralling compositions, sheened by the breathy, wide-open ECM soundscape aura. ...

Album Review

Manu Katche: Manu Katche

Read "Manu Katche" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
October 29, 2012

Since joining ECM for Neighbourhood (2005), Manu Katché has carved out a very specific niche for himself at a label whose purview continues to broaden--with this French-Ivorian drummer, perhaps surprisingly so. Contemporary? Yes, Katché has fashioned a nearly four-decade career as a superb groove-meister, whether in the rock world with artists Sting or Peter Gabriel, or with more decidedly jazz-centric artists like saxophonist Jan Garbarek, on Dresden (ECM, 2009), or keyboardist Herbie Hancock, on his (admittedly more pop-oriented) The Imagine ...

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Album Review

Manu Katche: Third Round

Read "Third Round" reviewed by Nenad Georgievski

by Nenad Georgievski
October 8, 2010

The art of making music that engages both the head and the heart is evidently not hard to pull off, but can be potentially self-defeating. But Manu Katché's exuberant and playful albums set new standards for brainy, soulful, and funky jazz, by blending his strengths as a composer and instrumentalist. His work as a drummer/composer/bandleader, much of it for ECM, shows Katché at his creative peak, stretching his capabilities to dizzying heights. The Third Round is the ...