MISHA MENGELBERG -Rituals of Transition
Angelica Records CD IDA 043
Misha Mengelberg, piano and voice
Recorded variously in Bologna, Italy, 2002; Kiev, Ukraine, 2005; Pantin, France, 2007; Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2010.
Snatches, almost, of Mengelberg illustrating his unusual way of thinking as he matures his classical composition techniques via his eclectic jazz stimuluses en route to full recognition as principal founder of improv music in the Netherlands. These pieces show just how different he was to anybody else, his approach, his attitude, his concepts of jazz and free improvisation, all wrapped around with his sense of humour. Taken from various locations, the recordings all come from the first ten years of the current (21st) century.
Mengelberg’s history starts way before this century: his trio supported Johnny Griffin in 1963 and Eric Dolphy in 1964 He played at the 1966 Newport Festival and with the group supporting Cecil Taylor in 1967. Later he co-formed the Instant Composers Pool and Orchestra and later again was to collaborate with Anthony Braxton, Peter Brötzmann, Marilyn Crispell, Steve Lacy, Evan Parker and Ken Vandermark.
Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols were big influences on his playing and he was their leading interpreter (e.g., ICP Orchestra 1987: Performs Herbie Nichols and Thelonious Monk).
Mengelberg was an outstanding improviser and among the most idiosyncratic in avant-garde music. That’s what makes his recordings so beautiful: where others might be disdainful, he laughs, metaphorically, with an aside on the piano or a warm chuckle in his vocal. Not only beautiful, but meaningfully so.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Angelica Records CD IDA 043
Misha Mengelberg, piano and voice
Recorded variously in Bologna, Italy, 2002; Kiev, Ukraine, 2005; Pantin, France, 2007; Amsterdam, Netherlands, 2010.
Snatches, almost, of Mengelberg illustrating his unusual way of thinking as he matures his classical composition techniques via his eclectic jazz stimuluses en route to full recognition as principal founder of improv music in the Netherlands. These pieces show just how different he was to anybody else, his approach, his attitude, his concepts of jazz and free improvisation, all wrapped around with his sense of humour. Taken from various locations, the recordings all come from the first ten years of the current (21st) century.
Mengelberg’s history starts way before this century: his trio supported Johnny Griffin in 1963 and Eric Dolphy in 1964 He played at the 1966 Newport Festival and with the group supporting Cecil Taylor in 1967. Later he co-formed the Instant Composers Pool and Orchestra and later again was to collaborate with Anthony Braxton, Peter Brötzmann, Marilyn Crispell, Steve Lacy, Evan Parker and Ken Vandermark.
Thelonious Monk and Herbie Nichols were big influences on his playing and he was their leading interpreter (e.g., ICP Orchestra 1987: Performs Herbie Nichols and Thelonious Monk).
Mengelberg was an outstanding improviser and among the most idiosyncratic in avant-garde music. That’s what makes his recordings so beautiful: where others might be disdainful, he laughs, metaphorically, with an aside on the piano or a warm chuckle in his vocal. Not only beautiful, but meaningfully so.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
