Michael Mantler

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Michael Mantler at the Moers Festival 2015

Michael Mantler (born August 10, 1943 in Vienna ) is a composer and trumpeter in the field of jazz and contemporary new music.

Live and act

Mantler grew up in St. Pölten and studied trumpet at the Vienna Music Academy and musicology at the University of Vienna . In 1962 he went to the USA to continue his studies there at Berklee College of Music . He was with the New York avant-garde, u. a. affiliated with Cecil Taylor and the Jazz Composers Guild ; He was a co-founder of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and in 1968 founded the Jazz Composer's Orchestra Association (JCOA), an association with the aim of commissioning, presenting and releasing new compositions for jazz orchestras.

The search for new artistic forms of expression combined Mantler with efforts to create better working conditions for the musicians: Distribution problems with the JCOA records led him to establish the New Music Distribution Service in 1972 , a distribution company that supported many independent record labels until 1990. In 1974 he founded WATT with his then wife Carla Bley , which owned a record label, recording studio and music publisher. He is the father of singer and organist Karen Mantler .

Mantler was a member of the Liberation Music Orchestra . Worldwide tours and numerous recordings followed with the Carla Bley Band and also with their own groups. Since 1973 he has recorded his own albums with various lineups. He dealt early on with the synthesis of language and music, as several recordings of songs with texts by poets such as Samuel Beckett ( No Answer ), Harold Pinter ( Silence ) and Edward Gorey ( The Hapless Child ) prove. With the exception of 13 , a concerto for piano and two orchestras, (1975) he no longer pursued the line of large orchestral composition for freely improvising soloists in the 1970s, since in his opinion free jazz had been exhausted. Rather, he combined jazz with elements of rock music and soon also contemporary chamber music.

Commissioned works and performances by and with European orchestras followed: concerts at the North and West German Radio, at the Opéra de Lille as well as the Swedish and Danish Radio. In 1987, Many Have No Speech was released , an album with songs in English, German and French based on texts by Samuel Beckett, Ernst Meister and Philippe Soupault , written for orchestra, trumpet, guitar and with vocal participation by Jack Bruce , Marianne Faithfull and Robert Wyatt . The vocal parts are often characterized by "stretched, almost plaintive psalmody ".

In 1991 he returned to Europe to live and work in Denmark and Provence in the south of France . Increasingly, he developed an independent sound aesthetic that stood outside the usual jazz performance practice.

The Donaufestival commissioned a composition for orchestra, which had its premiere in June 1991 with the Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester, conducted by Michael Gibbs , with Andy Sheppard as soloist. With the new work, a retrospective of his past work was also presented. Further commissioned work was requested from the Danish Radio Big Band and the Big Band of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk in Hamburg. In 1992 Mantler recorded a new album ( Folly Seeing All This ) with Alexander Bălănescu and his Balanescu Quartet and other soloists for ECM Records , which contains new instrumental compositions and a setting of Samuel Beckett's last poem, What Is the Word , sung by Jack Bruce . In 1993 he founded the Ensemble Chamber Music and Songs , whose instrumentation consisted of solo voice, piano / synthesizer, guitar, a string quartet and Mantler's trumpet. After the world premiere in September of the same year in Copenhagen, there were studio recordings on the Danish radio.

Cerco Un Paese Innocente (“I'm looking for an innocent country”), a 70-minute “Song Suite for Voice, Untypical Big Band and Chamber Ensemble”, based on texts by the Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti , was on Danish Radio in January 1994 with the singer Mona Larsen premiered as a soloist, plus Mantlers Ensemble and the Danish Radio Big Band.

1995/96 was devoted to work on his multi-media music theater work The School of Languages ("The School of Languages"). The premiere, staged by Rolf Heim , took place in August 1996 in the Arken Museum of Modern Art as part of the program of the European City of Culture Copenhagen 1996. The studio recording of the work was released as a double CD in October 1997 by ECM under the new title The School of Understanding ("The School of Understanding"). Another three performances took place in November 1997 in the Hebbel Theater in Berlin.

One Symphony , a commission from Hessischer Rundfunk , was premiered in November 1998 at the Forum Neue Musik by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Peter Rundel . The work was published by ECM in February 2000, together with the previously unpublished songs (with the Chamber Music and Songs Ensemble and Mona Larsen, interpreting songs with texts by Ernst Meister ).

Hide and Seek , an album of songs based on texts by Paul Auster , for chamber orchestra and two singers (Robert Wyatt and Susi Hyldgaard ), was released in March 2001. Multi-media music theater productions, staged by Rolf Heim, took place in Copenhagen (Kanonhallen, February 2002) and Berlin ( Hebbel-Theater , March 2002). In March 2005 his Marimba / Vibraphone Concerto (originally commissioned by the Portuguese percussionist Pedro Carneiro) was premiered on the Hessischer Rundfunk by the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Pascal Rophé.

Mantler presented a series of portrait concerts with his Chamber Music and Songs Ensemble in Vienna in September 2006. In November 2007 Mantler presented his Concertos project as part of the JazzFest Berlin with the Chamber Ensemble Neue Musik Berlin under the direction of Roland Kluttig . Studio recordings of the concertos with soloists Bjarne Roupé (guitar), Bob Rockwell (tenor saxophone), Roswell Rudd (trombone), Pedro Carneiro (marimba and vibraphone), Majella Stockhausen (piano), Nick Mason (drums) and Mantler himself (trumpet) have been released in November 2008.

His next CD For Two with duets for guitar (Bjarne Roupé) and piano (Per Salo) was released by ECM in June 2011.

New compositions were commissioned and presented by the Max Brand Ensemble, conducted by Christoph Cech (Chamber Music Eight, Days of New Music, Krems, 2012) and the Chaos Orchestra, conducted by Arnaud Petit (Oiseaux de Guerre, with the singer Himiko Paganotti, Forum Blanc-Mesnil, France, 2014).

In August and September 2013 in Vienna Porgy & Bess presented the project that followed on from his compositions for the Jazz Composer's Orchestra from 1968 with the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band , conducted by Christoph Cech, with the soloists Harry Sokal , Wolfgang Puschnig , Bjarne Roupé, David Helbock and himself as well as radio.string.quartet.vienna. Revisions of the compositions of the original album were performed, supplemented by revisions of previously unperformed compositions from previous years. A selection of these pieces was published in 2014 on ECM.

In 2015 the project was performed "live" several times: in Germany at the Moers Festival (with the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band) and at the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt (with the hr big band), as well as in Portugal at the Lisbon Jazz Festival (with the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos).

His latest work, Comment c'est , a cycle of songs with French lyrics, for electro pop / jazz singer Himiko Paganotti and chamber orchestra (Max Brand Ensemble) was published on ECM in November 2017. The "live" premiere took place in September 2016 at Porgy & Bess in Vienna.

Prizes and awards

Mantler has received composition grants from the Creative Artists Program Service, the National Endowment for the Arts, and a grant from the Ford Foundation for the recording of a work for double orchestra ( Thirteen ). He continued to receive composition grants from the Danish Ministry of Culture as well as from the Austrian Federal Ministry for Art and Education. In December 2004 Mantler was awarded the State Prize for Improvised Music sponsored by the Republic of Austria , in May 2005 the Jakob Prandtauer Prize for Science and Art from the City of St. Pölten, and in November 2007 the City of Vienna Prize for Music .

Discography

As a composer or leader

  • 1966: Communication (Fontana) - Jazz Composer's Orchestra
  • 1966: Jazz Realities (Fontana) - with Steve Lacy , Carla Bley
  • 1968: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (JCOA / ECM) - with u. a. Cecil Taylor , Don Cherry , Pharoah Sanders , Larry Coryell , Roswell Rudd, Gato Barbieri , Carla Bley
  • 1974: No Answer (Watt / ECM) - with Don Cherry, Jack Bruce , Carla Bley; Text by Samuel Beckett
  • 1975: 13 (Watt / ECM) - for two orchestras and piano
  • 1976: The Hapless Child (Watt / ECM) - with Robert Wyatt , Terje Rypdal , Carla Bley, Steve Swallow, Jack DeJohnette ; Text by Edward Gorey
  • 1977: Silence (Watt / ECM) - with Carla Bley, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Coyne , Chris Spedding ; Text by Harold Pinter
  • 1978: Movies (Watt / ECM) - with Carla Bley, Larry Coryell , Steve Swallow , Tony Williams
  • 1980: More Movies (Watt / ECM) - with Carla Bley, Philip Catherine , Steve Swallow, Gary Windo , D Sharpe
  • 1983: Something There (Watt / ECM) - with Nick Mason, Mike Stern , Mike Gibbs, The London Symphony Orchestra strings
  • 1985: Alien (Watt / ECM) - with Don Preston
  • 1987: Live (Watt / ECM) - with Jack Bruce, Rick Fenn , Don Preston , Nick Mason
  • 1988: Many Have No Speech (Watt / ECM) - with Jack Bruce, Marianne Faithfull, Robert Wyatt, Rick Fenn, Danish Radio Concert Orchestra ; Texts by Samuel Beckett, Ernst Meister, Philippe Soupault
  • 1990: The Watt Works Family Album (WATT / ECM) - sampler
  • 1993: Folly Seeing All This (ECM) - with the Balanescu String Quartet, Rick Fenn, Jack Bruce; Text by Samuel Beckett
  • 1995: Cerco Un Paese Innocente (ECM) - with Mona Larsen, Kammer Ensemble, and the Danish Radio Big Band; Texts by Giuseppe Ungaretti
  • 1997: The School of Understanding (opera) (ECM) - with Jack Bruce, Mona Larsen, Susi Hyldgaard , John Greaves , Don Preston, Karen Mantler, Per Jørgensen , Robert Wyatt , Kammer Ensemble, Danish Radio Concert Orchestra Strings, conducted by Giordano Bellincampi ; Text by Michael Mantler
  • 2000: Songs and One Symphony (ECM) - with Mona Larsen, Kammer Ensemble, Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt, conducted by Peter Rundel; Texts by Ernst Meister
  • 2001: Hide and Seek (ECM) - with Robert Wyatt, Susi Hyldgaard, Kammer Ensemble; Text by Paul Auster
  • 2006: Review (ECM; compilation 1968–2000)
  • 2008: Concertos (ECM) - with Bjarne Roupé, Bob Rockwell, Roswell Rudd, Pedro Carneiro, Majella Stockhausen, Nick Mason, Kammerensemble Neue Musik Berlin, conducted by Roland Kluttig.
  • 2011: For Two (ECM) - with Bjarne Roupé and Per Salo
  • 2014: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Update (ECM) - with Bjarne Roupé, Harry Sokal, Wolfgang Puschnig, David Helbock , radio.string.quartet.vienna, Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band, conducted by Christoph Cech
  • 2017: Comment c'est (ECM) - with Himiko Paganotti, Max Brand Ensemble, conducted by Christoph Cech; Text by Michael Mantler

With Carla Bley

  • 1972: Escalator over the Hill (JCOA / ECM)
  • 1974: Tropic Appetites (Watt / ECM)
  • 1977: Dinner Music (Watt / ECM)
  • 1978: European Tour 1977 (Watt / ECM)
  • 1979: Musique Mecanique (Watt / ECM)
  • 1981: Social Studies (Watt / ECM)
  • 1981: Amarcord Nino Rota (Hannibal) - various artists
  • 1982: Live! (Watt / ECM)
  • 1983: Mortelle Randonnée (Polygram) - soundtrack for the film of the same name by Claude Miller
  • 1984: I Hate to Sing (Watt / ECM)
  • 1984: Heavy Heart (Watt / ECM)
  • 1984: That's the Way I Feel Now (A&M) - various artists

With others

Lexigraphic entries

Web links

Commons : Michael Mantler  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ This is how Andreas Felber quotes him in his portrait.
  2. ↑ Michael Mantler - Optimist without hope , portrait by Andreas Felber
personal data
SURNAME Mantler, Michael
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mantler, Mike
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian jazz trumpeter, composer, band leader and producer
DATE OF BIRTH August 10, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Vienna