Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Music / Post No Bills RIP Joe Maneri
Posted by Peter Margasak on 08.25.09 at 01:49 PM
- Joe Maneri
It wasn’t till the mid-90s, when recordings on Leo, Hatology, and ECM introduced Maneri's music to an international audience, that his career as performer really took off. He was usually accompanied by his son Mat, who played electric six-string violins and violas within the same 72-tone system—a practice he carries on today—and among his other prominent fellow travelers were percussionist Randy Peterson, guitarist Joe Morris, bassist John Lockwood, and pianist Pandelis Karayorgis.
Back in the 40s, when Maneri was playing jazz and simultaneously exploring 12-tone improvisation, a noted disciple of composer Alban Berg named Josef Schmid happened upon one of his performances. Schmid because Maneri’s mentor, teaching him about Schoenberg and starting him down the path that led to his idiosyncratic microtonal system. Maneri also played Greek music to pay the bills, adding to a bizarre composite of influences. In 1998 the John Zorn-curated Avant label released a previously unissued 1963 session as Paniots Nine. The next session in Maneri’s discography dates from 26 years later.
Maneri was an intrepid improviser, and his striking solos on alto and tenor saxophone and clarinet had a weird slithering quality—the intervals between his notes were often miniscule, so his lines progressed in sensual, gliding arcs rather than kinetic steps and leaps. I’ll never forget hearing him in his Chicago debut at the Cultural Center in March 1999, where the rotund reedist, with his trademark white puff of a beard, was so visibly touched by the enthusiastic audience reaction to his music that he was caught between laughter and tears. This past May, Maneri received an honorary doctorate from NEC.
UPDATE: There were a few errors in the post above. Maneri actually died in an area hospital, not at home, and the 72-tone scale he used wasn't truly his own—it goes back centuries and was used in some Greek Orthodox church music—although he clearly repurposed it for his own music. Finally, he met Schmid through friends who were already studying with him. I apologize for the inaccuracies.
photo: C. Neil Scott
Today’s playlist:
Harry “Sweets” Edison & His Orchestra, Sweets (Verve)
Angela Maria, Angela de Todos os Temas (EMI, Brazil)
Biosphere, Wireless: Live at the Arnolfini, Bristol (Touch)
Pure, Ification (Crónica)
Khaled, Liberté (Wrasse)
Comments (2)
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Joe was a consumate musician with a brilliant self-created musical language and stories to tell about his life unlike anyone I have encountered. I am among those who could not afford to go to N.E.C. whom he mentored anyhow, whole heartedly- he was in many ways a conservatory unto himself! I am unbelievabley lucky to have gotten to hear and play with him, and this evening I sit in a Boston whose sound I can't imagine without his music.
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I loved Joe but was not a big fan of his music. He was just a sweet caring man; who when pushed would reveal the most amazing stories. You would never know that he was a world renowned jazz musician. I knew him as a friend who loved people; was a litle misunderstood and who wore his heart on his sleeve. I will forever miss him. My heart goes out to Sonja and his family. I wish I had spent more time with this amazing man. Too me he will always be a "cat".
