Joe Morris/Mat Maneri - Soul Search
(Aum Fidelity)
Joe Morris is chasing William Parker for the right to be the whore of the New York
jazz scene. He's been popping up everywhere lately, establishing himself as one of
the leaders of avant-garde jazz guitar.
Mat Maneri, son of microtonal composer Joe Maneri, is an electric violinist who
played on a track of Morris's recent Cloud of Black Birds album (also on Aum
Fidelity). This disc pairs the two for over an hour of free improvisation.
Morris's style on this recording is jazzier than some of the other things I've heard
by him. He plays like an agitated Tal Farlow on some tracks, dancing around each note
at impressive speed with a mellow tone. Morris serves as the meat of Soul Search,
while Maneri is more like the icing on the cake. He seems to play more in short
bursts and significantly slower, but when both of them go into fast runs, it's
pretty mindblowing.
If you're new to avant-garde jazz, this might be a good place to start. Everything
heard here is pretty accessible, though it does start to feel a little thin after an
hour, and you may find yourself wishing for a drummer or a saxophone. I'm not familiar
with other recordings of Maneri's, but for Morris this is a nice diversion from some
of his other works and proof of his imagination and virtuosity.
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