Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Michael Mantler: Movies/More Movies

Michael Mantler: Movies/More Movies

By C. Andrew Hovan
September 1, 2001
View read count

As a founder of the Jazz Composers Orchestra, charter member of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and a frequent collaborator with composer and wife Carla Bley, Austrian-born Michael Mantler has served as catalyst to many important avant-garde events over the years, even if his own musical message skirts just under the radar of conventional audiences. Among Mantler’s most vital works are two fusion-drenched productions just recently compiled on disc and released here in the U.S. for the first time. To put 1977’s Movies into context bear in mind that jazz at that time had run its popular course and commercial banality was the norm, yet Mantler’s trumpet speaks in Milesian tones, with guitarist Larry Coryell and drummer Tony Williams unleashed in a strident setting that balances introspective moods with more incendiary moments.

Picking things up three years later, More Movies is decidedly less dramatic due to a change in personnel, with Coryell’s electrifying sting giving way to the more tempered approach of Philip Catherine. Still, this work is as focused and harmonious as Movies is visceral and spontaneous, making the most of Mantler’s quirky originals. Whether you call it fusion or jazz-rock, this reissue brings to light music that bridges the gap between mainstream and contemporary sensibilities.

About Michael Mantler

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Expositions of Freedom...Now!
< Previous

Waterfall Cities
Next >

Become a Sustaining Member

Since 1995, All About Jazz has championed jazz as an art form and supported the musicians who create it. Over three decades, it has grown into one of the world's leading jazz resources, serving hundreds of thousands of readers, musicians, presenters and industry professionals each month.

Help Build the Future of All About Jazz

Your support helps us continue building All About Jazz for the next generation—expanding our editorial coverage, preserving jazz history, developing new community features and creating better ways to discover the music and the people behind it.

Become a sustaining member for as little as $20 per year and you'll immediately enjoy an ad-free experience along with access to subscriber features and future articles for a full year.

Together, we're not simply sustaining All About Jazz—we're building its future. Thank you for being part of the journey.