BOOKLET
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Michael Mantler – Folly Seeing All This
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Artist……………: Michael Mantler
Album…………….: Folly Seeing All This
Genre…………….: Jazz
Source……………: NMR
Year……………..: 1992
Ripper……………: NMR
Codec…………….: LAME 3.99
Version…………..: MPEG 1 Layer III
Quality…………..: Extreme, (avg. bitrate: 238kbps)
Channels………….: Joint Stereo / 44100 hz
Tags……………..: ID3 v1.1, ID3 v2.3
Information……….:
Ripped by…………: NMR
Posted by…………: and4dogs on 03/04/2013
News Server……….:
News Group(s)……..:
Included………….: NFO
Covers……………: Front Back CD
reviewby Peter Nappi
Folly Seeing All This is third stream jazz, Northern European style: brooding, dark, understated, often very beautiful. Over a rhythm section comprised of the Balanescu String Quartet, Michael Mantler sets the stage for half a dozen talented soloists, guitarist Rick Fenn and pianist Karen Mantler notable among them. As in the work of third stream pioneers the Modern Jazz Quartet, improvisations here are tightly structured and closely integrated with the rhythm section. The album’s two lengthy instrumental tracks are quite haunting, as is the concluding work, a setting for a text by Samuel Beckett called “What Is The Word,” sung as a duet between Karen Mantler and British rock star Jack Bruce. At once melodic and challenging, Folly Seeing All This is experimental chamber jazz at its most enjoyable.
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Folly Seeing All This must have been something of a dream project for Michael Mantler. Working with the Balanescu Quartet opened up a vital portal in this phenomenal composer. The ensemble also includes guitarist Rick Fenn and a handful of talented chamber musicians. Alexander Balanescus unmistakable vibrato ushers us into the title pieces shifting moods, which speak for themselves. Mantlers trumpet pulls from this genesis a peak for every valley. Fenn draws thick sentiments with thin lines as a piano (played by Karen Mantler) rises from below the waters surface to test the nets of time in hopes they might hold the revelations to come. Though nearly a half hour long, the music ends all too soon, imploding into a single white dwarf of energy.
News makes for an airy companion. It undulates with the tide of politics and is every bit as vocal as Mantlers more operatic configurations. Some beautiful seashell rolls from Wolfgang Puschnig on alto flute make sense of the knotty background, where invisible talking heads are drowned by Fenns guitar, more insistent now in its cause. An insightful lead-in to What Is The Word. This meditation on the words of Samuel Beckett joins the voices of Karen Mantler and Jack Bruce to speak as if from within our collective ribcage, swinging from those branches of marrow and calcium with deftly slung words. Strings in the background cycle like an air raid siren in slow motion, lending finality to this brief, tender observation.
Mantler is that rare composer in whose music every instrument, every voice, rings with an equal truth. Folly Seeing All This is one of his most reflective albums to date and serves, along with Review, as an honest introduction to one of ECMs greatest.
Michael Mantler – Trumpet
Rick Fenn – Electric guitar (Listed in the liner notes only as guitar)
Wolfgang Puschnig – Alto flute
Karen Mantler – Piano, vocals on “What is the Word”
Dave Adams – Vibraphone, chimes
Samuel Beckett – words to “What is the Word”
Jack Bruce – Vocals on “What is the Word”
[edit]The Balanescu string quartet
Alexander Balanescu – Violin
Clare Connors – Violin
Bill Hawkes – Viola
Jane Fenton – Cello
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Tracklisting
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1. Michael Mantler – Folly Seeing All This [28:43]
2. Michael Mantler – News [11:31]
3. Michael Mantler – What Is The Word [04:37]
Playing Time………: 44:53
Total Size………..: 77.08 MB
NFO generated on…..: 03/04/2013 21:13:33
:: Generated by Music NFO Builder v1.21b – www.nfobuilder.com ::