{"id":109,"date":"2010-09-19T23:27:32","date_gmt":"2010-09-20T03:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/?p=109"},"modified":"2014-02-24T00:29:03","modified_gmt":"2014-02-24T04:29:03","slug":"new-listen-manu-katches-third-round","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/2010\/09\/19\/new-listen-manu-katches-third-round\/","title":{"rendered":"New Listen: Manu Katch\u00e9\u2019s \u2018Third Round\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"MK<\/a><\/p>\n

Artist: Manu Katch\u00e9<\/a>
\nAlbum: Third Round<\/em> (2010)<\/p>\n

This disc, for me, is relatively new – about a month old. \u00a0However with this being the first post, I figure I’m allowed to fudge it a bit, especially considering how I haven’t been able to put this album down (even through more recent purchases\/listens). \u00a0I blindly purchased this album on a whim, having never heard of Manu Katch\u00e9. \u00a0What did catch my eye was the record label, ECM<\/a>. ECM is arguably my favorite record label. Though it features a variety of artists from a wide array of both classical and jazz genres, there’s a consistency in attitude and ambience that has yet to let me down. \u00a0I’m sure I’ll discuss this company more in the future. \u00a0For now, Katch\u00e9…<\/p>\n

In brief, Katch\u00e9 has one foot planted firmly in jazz and another in pop, something I definitely relate to. \u00a0While I didn’t know that going in, I did notice on the CD’s \u00a0sleeve (ECM often features the cardboard sleeve) that the personnel include electric bassist Pino Palladino.\u00a0 The usage of a regular rock\/pop figure was intriguing for me. The full personnel lineup is as follows:
\nTore Brunborg: saxophones
\nManu Katch\u00e9: drums
\nKami Lyle: vocal (1 track), trumpet (2 tracks)
\nPino Palladino: bass
\nJason Rebello: piano
\nJacob Young: guitars (3 tracks)<\/p>\n

Following suit, this album walks a fine line between jazz and “pop” (in the broad definition of the term). \u00a0Most tunes are under five minutes and feature a great mix of catchy melodies, organically-abbreviated solos, and solid grooves. \u00a0As with most ECM releases, the mood is overall subdued, introspective, and relaxing. \u00a0However, a number of very infectious grooves also inspire dancing. \ud83d\ude42 \u00a0There’s no ego to be found on this record. \u00a0What you hear is the ensemble<\/em>, with no one stepping on another’s toes. \u00a0In fact, you’d never know it was led by the drummer just from listening – not one drum solo is present. \u00a0Furthermore, a couple tracks feature no solos (or, rather, no full solos) – they serve more as transition pieces. \u00a0There’s a lot of nice work between Brunborg and Rebello, as a number of the melodies feature unison lines between sax and keys. \u00a0And Brunborg seamlessly transitions between tenor, alto, and soprano, offering nice changes in color throughout. \u00a0As indicated above, there are vocals on one piece, a song written by Katch\u00e9 and Lyle. \u00a0It’s a precious little pop ballad, and Lyle’s high, playful voice fits in just nicely. \u00a0Perhaps my favorite aspect of this album is the continuity. \u00a0While I do like each piece individually, the album as a whole is definitely greater than the sum of its parts. \u00a0I largely only listen to this album in its entirety, at times consecutively. \u00a0It is seamless<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I’ve often considered this album a hybrid of the aesthetics of ECM and Marcus Miller<\/a>. \u00a0While this album is nowhere near as in-your-face or “smooth” as Miller’s work, it does offer a rather “pop” take on the ECM vibe. \u00a0In doing so, this album could also serve as a great introduction to jazz – or simply instrumental – music for those who don’t know where to start. \u00a0(As for the latter, there is one tune with words to help cleanse the palette!) \u00a0For jazz fans, this offers something “pop-ish” without the brashness or cheese. \u00a0For fans of music in general, this is a great<\/em> find, and I look forward to digging deeper into Manu Katch\u00e9’s catalogue.<\/p>\n

Album links:
\nAmazon<\/a>
\nAll About Jazz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist: Manu Katch\u00e9 Album: Third Round (2010) This disc, for me, is relatively new – about a month old. \u00a0However with this being the first post, I figure I’m allowed to fudge it a bit, especially considering how I haven’t been able to put this album down (even through more recent purchases\/listens). \u00a0I blindly purchased […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,167],"tags":[41,40,38,17,12,39],"class_list":["post-109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-listening","category-newlisten","tag-ecm","tag-ecm-records","tag-manu-katche","tag-new-listen","tag-review","tag-third-round"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1214,"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109\/revisions\/1214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/michaelteager.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}