Home » Jazz Articles » Multiple Reviews » Maneri Times Two

77

Maneri Times Two

By

View read count
Mat Maneri
For Consequence
Leo
2004

Violinist and violist Mat Maneri has done much to put the small strings out front, with perhaps mixed but nevertheless assured results. He's run the emotive range from meditating monk to overamplified rock star, and on two recent dates-one with a trio and one a sort of augmented trio-he works in the former, plaintive mode to worthy results.

For Consequence finds him with longtime associate Randy Peterson on drums and bassist Ed Schuller, who has recorded with both Maneri and his father-saxophonist Joe Maneri-as well as Tim Berne, Ran Blake, Gerry Hemingway and Paul Motian. It's a slow, nicely lumbering session with Maneri leading the way, pushing the slightest bit of momentum and letting the setting fall into place, and then pushing slightly again through the first four tracks. There's an appealing formlessness, a sort of lazy conversation, leading up to the final track, where they finally pick up the speed with the theme from the 1944 Otto Preminger film Laura. The disc isn't overstuffed to meet the unfortunate over-an-hour expectations of the CD age; the 42 minutes fly gently by.

Joëlle Léandre, et. al. Joelle Leandre/Mat Maneri/Joel Ryan/Christophe Marguet
For Flowers
Leo
2004

For Flowers is a busier disc, only in part for Joel Ryan's realtime processing of the players. French powerhouse bassist Jöelle Léandre works both the front and the back lines, alternating between melody (especially with evocative vocalizing) and working the rhythm section role with drummer Christophe Marguet. Ryan has worked with Léandre before, creating canyons out of her rich music. Here he is slow to make his presence known. The trio establishes itself through the first three tracks (all named for flowers, with diagrams to assist nonbotanist listeners). On "Violet" he begins to push his way in, and by "Crocus" he is fully reshaping the band. He throws them in echo chambers, grabbing, repeating and altering their phrases, never intruding on the acoustic quality of the instruments. Where Consequence floats, Flowers is, well, grounded, organic; a pair of lovely string things.

Visit Leo Records on the web.

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

Near

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.