As a founder of the Jazz Composers Orchestra, charter member of Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and a frequent collaborator with composer and wife Carla Bley, Austrian-born Michael Mantler has served as catalyst to many important avant-garde events over the years, even if his own musical message skirts just under the radar of conventional audiences. Among Mantler’s most vital works are two fusion-drenched productions just recently compiled on disc and released here in the U.S. for the first time. To put 1977’s Movies into context bear in mind that jazz at that time had run its popular course and commercial banality was the norm, yet Mantler’s trumpet speaks in Milesian tones, with guitarist Larry Coryell and drummer Tony Williams unleashed in a strident setting that balances introspective moods with more incendiary moments.
Picking things up three years later, More Movies is decidedly less dramatic due to a change in personnel, with Coryell’s electrifying sting giving way to the more tempered approach of Philip Catherine. Still, this work is as focused and harmonious as Movies is visceral and spontaneous, making the most of Mantler’s quirky originals. Whether you call it fusion or jazz-rock, this reissue brings to light music that bridges the gap between mainstream and contemporary sensibilities. - C. Andrew Hovan
Tracks
Movies
01. Movie One
02. Movie Two
03. Movie Three
04. Movie Four
05. Movie Five
06. Movie Six
07. Movie Seven
08. Movie Eight
More Movies
09. Movie Nine
10. The Sinking Spell
11. Movie Eleven
12. Will We Meet Tonight?
13. Movie Thirteen
14. The Doubtful Guest
15. Movie Fifteen
16. Movie Fourteen
17. Movie Ten
18. Movie Twelve
STEVE SWALLOW bass
TONY WILLIAMS drums (1-8)
D. SHARPE drums (9-18)
LARRY CORYELL guitar (1-8)
PHILIP CATHERINE guitar (9-18)
CARLA BLEY piano, organ (9-18), synthesizer, tenor saxophone (1-8)
GARY WINDO tenor saxophone (9-18)
MICHAEL MANTLER trumpet
Music composed by Michael Mantler
"Movies" recorded March 1977 at Grog Kill Studio, Willow, New York. LP originally released 1978
"More Movies" recorded 1979 at Grog Kill Studio, Willow; New York. LP originally released 1980
WATT Works – WATT 7/10, ECM Records – 543 377-2 (Germany)