Misha Mengelberg

Recently the fifth album in a great series of unique live recordings was released by the former Dutch Jazz Archive (now: MCN) in its series Jazz at the Concertgebouw. Previous releases contained live recordings by Chet Baker (1955), Gerry Mulligan (1956), J.J. Johnson (1957) and Sarah Vaughan (1958), all originally recorded by Lou Van Rees, then Holland's most well-known producer. The Mengelberg-Noordijk album is the first one which features a Dutch quartet, a legendary group with a certain presence: the Misha Mengelberg - Piet Noordijk Quartet.

Misha Mengelberg - The Root Of The Problem (1997) {Hat Hut hatOLOGY 504}
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© 1997 Hat Hut | hatOLOGY 504
Jazz / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modern Creative / Post Bop / Piano

Musical chess master Misha Mengelberg versus four worthy opponents. A German trumpeter and drummer, a French tuba player, and an American-born, French-resident (since 1972) saxophonist. Three nights in Köln, at Loft, matching wits in duets and trios. One can study the Maestro taking on all contestants, approaching the music as a game of strategy, a set of moves and countermoves. Chess is also a suitable metaphor for the Dutchman's approach to instant composition because it has no final or definitive form, no absolute and irrefutable game-plan.

Dutch pianist Mengelberg is in full reverie with this trio. He is teamed with Americans Brad Jones (bass) and Joey Baron (drums), who pretty much act as Mengelberg's supporting cast, never getting too rhythmically flashy. The pianist's sound is a witty combination of modern harmonic invention and melodic improvisational forays into Cecil Taylor territory. Many tuneful compositions crop up during the 11 tracks, all Mengelberg originals. The title cut sounds like a newborn standard, a nice swinger that leads to a bridge with frantic Taylor-like flourishes. Mengelberg's main influence, Herbie Nichols, comes shining through during another nice swinger, "Gare Guillemans," which features soulful touches and advanced harmonic nuances…

The ensemble of the Instant Composers Pool, or ICP, improvises for 45 years now on the highest level. "These guys can swing like madmen and then all of a sudden play the most sensitive ballads" according to trumpetplayer Dave Douglas.This is really an improvisational monster with ten heads!

Eric Dolphy - Last Date (1964) {Fontana Japan, 32JD-100, Early Press rel 1986 - direct from original master}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 245 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 109 Mb
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© 1964, 1986 Fontana / Nippon Phonogram Japan | 32JD-100
Jazz / Post Bop / Avant-Garde Jazz / Modal Jazz / Flute / Saxophone

Allegedly Eric Dolphy's final recorded performance – a fact historians roundly dispute – this session in Hilversum, Holland, teams the masterful bass clarinetist, flutist, and alto saxophonist with a Dutch trio of performers who understand the ways in which their hero and leader modified music in such a unique, passionate, and purposeful way far from convention. In pianist Misha Mengelberg, bassist Jacques Schols, and drummer Han Bennink, Dolphy was firmly entwined with a group who understood his off-kilter, pretzel logic concept in shaping melodies and harmonies that were prime extensions of Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, and Cecil Taylor. These three Dolphy originals, one from Monk, one from Mengelberg, and a standard are played so convincingly and with the utmost courage that they created a final stand in the development of how the woodwindist conceived of jazz like no one else before, during, or after his life.