Joe Morris, Mat Maneri - Soul Search

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.

1. Slight Of Hand 8:04
2. Adhesive 6:40
3. Eyes Or Gaze 5:59
4. Natural Number 7:57
5. Versicolor 7:21
6. Soul Search 2:25
7. Flyer 5:13
8. Micron 3:06
9. Forwards And Sideways 7:08
10. Pluralize 8:26

Joe Morris: electric guitar
Mat Maneri: electric violin


http://rapidshare.de/files/34910327/Joe_Morris__Mat_Maneri_-_Soul_Search_-_256Kbps.rar