Search - Joe Maneri, Barre Phillips, Mat Maneri :: Angles of Repose

There are jazz musicians that remain inscrutible to me . . .

Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 08/22/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

". . . such as Sun Ra, Anthony Braxton, and Cecil Taylor (although I'm starting to track with the latter--at least somewhat--on his latest recording with the Italian Instabile Orchestra).



Joe Maneri, the great exponent of microtonal sax-playing, has likewise been one of those players (as well, to a lesser extent, his son, Mat). For some strange reason I can't explain, this disc changes all of that.



I'm not saying I especially LIKE it, let alone understand it; yet it holds some mesmeric power over me as I listen to it (which I am wont to do with rather disturbing frequency). Simply put, I'm drawn into its inner mysteries. Perhaps that's at least partly because I initially thought its title was Angels of Repose (and I still can't get that word image/picture out of my mind; funny how a few switched letters can influence one's thinking).



But no, that's not it.



Or maybe it is, in a weird, bass ackwards sort of way. This disc was, after all, recorded in the Chapelle Sainte Philomene, Puget-Ville, next door to bass player Barre Phillips's home in France. Surely the angels, as well as Ste. Philomene, patron saint of desperate, forgotten, and lost causes, were carefully monitoring the proceedings, and giving their blessings.



This disc will, admittedly, perhaps be a tough listen for those unversed in the strange worlds of microtonal and free jazz. Nevertheless, I encourage EVERYONE to make the effort. As so often happens with the avant-garde, moments of excruciating beauty serendipitously emerge from the otherwise seemingly chaotic proceedings.



Why not give it a chance?"