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"HiGH ▀ iNTELLiGeNCE tRoLLS"
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a r t i s t : Joe Maneri, Mat Maneri
t i t l e : Blessed
d a t e : 1998
l a b e l : Ecm
g e n r e : Jazz
r l s. d a t e : Oct-2004
t r a c k s : 12
b i t r a t e : VBRkbps
s i z e : 99,9 MB
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Joe Maneri alto and tenor saxophones, clarinet, piano
Mat Maneri violin, electric 6-string and baritone violins,
electric 5-string viola
Recorded October 1997
The first-ever duo album from the the highly-idiosyncratic
American masters of microtonal improvisation. Father and son
Maneri speak a musical language all their own, even when, as
here, they reach out to embrace standards (Mat's rivettingly
strange account of "Body And Soul"), spirituals (a wildly
emotional "Never Said A Mumblin' Word) or Greek music (Joe's
tribute to Charlie Gardenis, "the Bird of the Greek clarinet").
This recording features the intimate communication of a father
and son team working from papa Joe Maneri's now trademark
system of microtonal improvisatory investigation. Mat being a
violin virtuoso is a fine foil for his father's reeds and piano
playing. Between written and spontaneous compositions, the duo
looks for seams, cracks, lines, and scrapes in the body of
sound, in the skeleton of a tune in the wavering tones of one
another's sounds, and fills them with music from another realm,
one that is not cerebral, but from the heart. Of the 12
selections here, there are four that hold all the secrets of
the album within them. They are Mat Maneri's "Blessed," which
holds the microtonal balance of the strings against an
investigative run by Joe on tenor. The droning sounds like a
sorrowful song, as Joe moves toward the piano and adds single
notes, brightly colored on this backdrop. Maneri the younger
changes the dynamic, first of the drone, and then the tonal
body of the tune, shifting it into a series of steps and
measures where pitch becomes the consideration of the piano.
And then there are the two "covers," a ghostly "Body & Soul"
that carries within it more emotions and tension than its
authors could ever have envisioned, and the traditional "Never
Said a Mumblin' Word." Maneri's extended chard voicings create
the microtonal panel by which Mat is capable of entering a
melody on bass violin. He plays it from the harmony first, and
fleshes it out, leaving the piano to accent his construction.
It's as lonely and forlorn as any version you've heard, but
sounds nothing like any of them. Finally, there is the
11-minute "From Loosened Soil," which carries within it all the
original elements of Joe Maneri's system, but it is no academic
treatise. This is the most intimate piece on the record, where
father and son dance with and through one another, they touch
upon tonalities, delve into them together and apart, and agree
on framework in which to play them based on what comes next.
The phrasing is close, taut, and full of intensive listening
and economy. But the jazz element, never far from Joe Maneri's
playing, is an echo from Jimmy Giuffre's investigations with
Steve Swallow and Paul Bley. These four glimpses reveal how
wide the tonal world of the Maneris' really is. It has within
it the basis of a new study of harmonic improvisation, and a
manner of execution and construction that show respect and
tenderness not only toward one another as family, but to the
music they approach with the sole intention of changing it from
the inside out. Blessed is remarkable for its close dancing
with the infinite. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music
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01-At The Gate [03:54]
02-There Are No Doors [04:22]
03-Sity-One Joys [04:02]
04-From Loosened Soil [11:05]
05-Five Fantasies [05:36]
06-Never Said A Mumblin' Word [05:39]
07-Is Nothing Near? [09:04]
08-Body And Soul [06:17]
09-Race You Home [01:12]
10-Gardenias For Gardenis [01:43]
11-Outside The Whole Thing [05:37]
12-Blessed [05:06]
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63:37 min
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