Jazz Articles about Mat Maneri

Mat Maneri - Pandelis Karayorgis: Disambiguation

by Glenn Astarita
May 2, 2002

This recently released outing might serve as a landmark for the new age of jazz! First off, we get to hear violinist Matt Maneri’s notorious microtonal excursions integrated into abstractly concocted Bop-style frameworks along with a few scant nods to Ornette Coleman. The co-leader of this date, pianist Pandelis Karayorgis, is no stranger to the realm of progressive jazz-based improvisation. However, the real magic lies within the unique musical chemistries or personas that define the basis of this quintet.

Mat Maneri: Trinity

by AAJ Staff
May 1, 2001

Understatement and subtlety are rare commodities in music. Of course, they also demand more from the listener. Mat Maneri's new solo disc, Trinity, features spare, careful playing--and the results are ecstatically beautiful. One has the feeling from listening to this record that Maneri has tapped into a higher power and chosen to channel the energies earthward. Each step is deliberate. Each note gets special attention. And the experience has surprising redemptive powers.

Unlike other violinists working in the idiom of ...

Mat Maneri: Trinity

by Mark Corroto
April 1, 2001

Listening to Mat Maneri’s solo outing Trinity, one often finds one's imagination working overtime. The 32 year old violinist, son of jazz legend Joe Maneri, explores his unique vision of free chamber jazz without the aid of collaborators--leaving wide-open spaces for the listener to fill in.

Maneri, a child prodigy, began a classical career only to abandon it to follow his interests in improvisation. During the mid-'90s, he made classic records on ECM and Leo with his father. His work ...

Mat Maneri: Trinity

by Glenn Astarita
April 1, 2001

Modernist and improvising raconteur, violinist Mat Maneri opts for the solo route on this newly released effort, titled Trinity. No doubt, you’d better be good in order to sustain continual interest during a sixty-minute solo performance. Hence, such is the case here as the violinist takes on compositions by frequent collaborator, guitarist Joe Morris, Eric Dolphy and an engaging piece written by Mat’s legendary father, saxophonist/educator and conqueror of microtonal jazz-based excursions Joe Maneri.

Mat Maneri performs solely on violin ...

Club d'Elf: As Above: Live at the Lizard Lounge

by AAJ Staff
March 1, 2001

The groove runs deep and long on As Above, a 2-disc set from Club d'Elf. Voyaging through realms of electronica, ethnic percussion, and dirty funk, As Above pays exquisite attention to the beat. The two-plus hours of collected music on this set document the highlights of five months' worth of live improv at Boston's Lizard Lounge. (OK, so it's actually in Cambridge, but what's a hop across the river in the grand scheme of things?) Ringleader (bassist) Mike Rivard hosts ...

Mat Maneri & Randy Peterson: Light Trigger

by Michael A. Parker
October 1, 2000

This is a major document of improvised music that distills much of the radical content of the various groundbreaking ensembles that Mat Maneri and Randy Peterson have been involved with, most notably the Joe Maneri Quartet and the Mat Maneri Trio. Even for those familiar with this body of work, the intensity of this distillation will be a revelation. Enhancing the element of surprise on this recording is Mat Maneri's decision to play viola exclusively instead of his more typical ...

Mat Maneri Trio: Fifty-one Sorrows

by Robert Spencer
April 1, 2000

Fifty-one Sorrows is quite aptly named, for it features Mat Maneri at his most morose. The title track is a long, searching piece that has something to do, according to the liner notes, with “the extreme sorrow within joy." Maneri's playing expresses this profundity well, for even at its most sorrowful on this disc there is a fleeting and quicksilver joy at its heart.

This peculiar duality in Maneri's playing is perhaps most apparent on his homages to Ornette Coleman: ...