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Jazz Articles about Manu Katche
Third Round
by John Kelman
It would be beyond cute to suggest that Manu Katché marches to the beat of his own drummer. Still, in a career spanning three decades and regularly crossing over between pop, jazz and world music, the French kit-meister has demonstrated a unique propensity for groove and a distinct (and refreshing) avoidance of the “look at me" pyrotechnics so often encountered with drummers this talented. Since releasing his first album as a leader for ECM in 2005, Katché has consistently surrounded ...
Continue ReadingManu Katche: Play As You Are
by Ian Patterson
Manu Katché is one of the most original drummers anywhere, defying categorization and straddling musical genres with ease and flair. A French national of Ivorian background, he has turned his hand to pop, rock, fusion and jazz, and his exposure to all these elements, plus his classical training, is indelibly stamped in a playing style all his own. For over 20 years, Katché has toured and recorded with such iconic figures as Sting and Peter Gabriel, bringing his ...
Continue ReadingManu Katche: Playground
by Nenad Georgievski
It's great to hear drummer Manu Katché finally given the spotlight to present his qualities as composer/bandleader. His first album--It's About Time (BMG France, 1992)--was a flop, despite the many popular names participating. Neighbourhood (ECM, 2006), on the other hand, was a work of genius, presenting Katché's best qualities as a composer, arranger and player. It put him on the jazz map as more than a great sideman, which is how he's been most often perceived. Like Neighbourhood, ...
Continue ReadingManu Katche: Playground
by Budd Kopman
Part of what makes jazz so fascinating is its stylistic breadth. Indeed, the word jazz is almost synonymous with “that-which-shall-not-be-defined," but labels are a shorthand that can help relate a given release's main characteristics. Playground, drummer Manu Katché's second release as a leader after Neighbourhood (ECM, 2005), resists the application of a label, but “ECM Smooth Jazz" might suffice. Even before the screams subside, that label does need explanation. Smooth Jazz, which is a very popular genre, ...
Continue ReadingManu Katche: Playground
by John Kelman
It may not appear until the fourth track in, but the propulsive “So Groovy" could easily have been the title for the follow-up to Manu Katché's award-winning ECM debut, 2005's Neighbourhood. Still, Playground is no less fitting since it's an album that demonstrates--with three-fifths of Neighbourhood's members reconvened, and two younger but emergent players replacing the heavy-hitting front line of saxophonist Jan Garbarek and trumpeter Tomasz Stanko--that the chemistry of that first disc was more than happy coincidence.
Continue ReadingManu Katche: Neighbourhood
by John Kelman
He may be better known as the rhythm engine behind popular music icons like Sting and Peter Gabriel, but Manu Katché has always been more than a simple backbeat, despite his unerring ability to create accessible, danceable grooves. His work on ECM stalwart Jan Garbarek's albums I Took Up the Ruins and In Praise of Dreams (ECM, 1990 and 2005) does nothing to dissuade jazz purists' view that the saxophonist left “real" jazz behind over two decades ago. Still, Katché ...
Continue ReadingManu Katche: Neighbourhood
by R. Emmet Sweeney
It's a quiet day in the Neighbourhood. Manu Katché's ECM debut understates everything with a calm reserve, threatening to fade into the background without a fight (or a sax squawk). Check out the titles: “Lullaby," “No Rush," and “Lovely Walk," all urging your fragile attention to wander from the lilting tune. But then Tomasz Stanko steps up to solo, gilding the lyrical lily until he arpeggios up to a breathy peak in “Number One," snapping you out of whatever pleasant ...
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