Jazz Articles about Misha Mengelberg

About Misha Mengelberg

Album Review

Misha Mengelberg / Sabu Toyozumi: The Analects Of Confucius

Read "The Analects Of Confucius" reviewed by John Sharpe

by John Sharpe
January 10, 2026

As the reputations of Japanese free players grew during the 1970s, they lured a procession of Europeans and Americans eager to collaborate, among them Steve Lacy, Peter Brotzmann, Derek Bailey, and John Zorn. Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg also made the journey, first with the Instant Composers Pool (ICP) in 1982 and later independently. One of the most frequent partners awaiting visiting musicians was drummer Sabu Toyozumi. A 1994 meeting yielded The Untrammeled Traveller (Chap Chap, 2013); The Analects Of Confucius, ...

Album Review

Misha Mengelberg / Sabu Toyozumi: The Analects Of Confucius

Read "The Analects Of Confucius" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
July 10, 2025

Come for the music of Dutch pianist Misha Mengelberg, and stay for Sabu Toyozumi. Or perhaps you are here for the Japanese drummer--the first non-American invited into the ranks of Chicago's Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM)--and are thrilled to hear him engage in a distinctly Japanese take on the New Dutch Swing. Either way, The Analects of Confucius, a newly unearthed gem from NoBusiness Records, offers a compelling document of creative improvisation at its finest.

Liner Notes

Yuri Honing: North Sea Jazz Legendary Concerts

by Ian Patterson
January 22, 2024

It's fitting that saxophonist, composer and quiet visionary Yuri Honing should be acknowledged as one of the pivotal voices in the history of the Netherland's world-renowned North Sea Jazz festival, described in 1990 by Jazz Times as “the best jazz festival in the world." Honing's first appearance at the NSJF's was in 1995, where he performed with pianist Michiel Bortslap's sextet. Since then, he has played all but three of the last 18 editions, reflecting his status alongside pianist Misha ...

Album Review

Misha Mengelberg: Rituals Of Transition

Read "Rituals Of Transition" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
December 5, 2020

It takes a master to speak like a child. Pianist Misha Mengelberg (1935-2017) was such a giant at the keyboard that he could shed all pretension and improvise with a simple innocence. Call it Zen enlightenment or just a blunt brilliance. His music is often absurd and paradoxical, like an inside joke, except he graciously lets us all in on the pranks. Rituals Of Transition is a collection of solo performances recorded from 2002 through 2010 in The ...

Album Review

ICP Orchestra: Jubilee Varia

by AAJ Italy Staff
March 22, 2011

Nella sua ormai più che quarantennale avventura creativa, tra le più significative dell'impro-jazz olandese e europeo, l'Instant Composers Pool Orchestra ha affidato al disco materiali molto differenti, per umore [come è naturale data l'attitudine dell'organico] e per qualità, pur mantenendo sempre viva quell'attitudine all'imprevedibile, al guizzo - più o meno beffardo - e alla sorpresa. Jubilee Varia, registrato nel 1997 alla Rote Fabrik di Zurigo e a Middelburg e ora nuovamente ristampato dalla Hatology, è suddiviso in due suites, quella ...

Album Review

Alessandra Patrucco: Circus

by AAJ Italy Staff
October 3, 2007

Che l’ICP Orchestra fosse essenzialmente un circo lo si sapeva da un bel pezzo. Che Mengelberg e soci fossero una masnada di burloni sempre disposti a lasciarsi coinvolgere in qualsiasi sarabanda era evidente da almeno una quarantina di anni. Che nel DNA della musica improvvisata olandese ci sia sempre stata una predisposizione quasi ideologica a non prendersi mai sul serio è notizia di largo dominio. Che ci fosse una cantante italiana pronta a confrontarsi con gli eterni monellacci del jazz ...

Album Review

Misha Mengelberg: Senne Sing Song

by AAJ Italy Staff
February 14, 2006

È un disco che muove sentimenti contrastanti questo Senne Sing Song, in cui troviamo il pianista olandese Misha Mengelberg in un trio con gli statunitensi Greg Cohenal contrabbasso e Ben Perowsky alla batteria, che sembra la naturale prosecuzione delle collaborazioni iniziate negli anni Novanta nelle incisioni DIW, proprio con Cohen o Brad Jones e Joey Baron. Altrettanto naturale è il rapporto con l'etichetta Tzadik, dal momento che John Zorn è sempre stato un grande ammiratore - e in alcuni casi ...