{"id":2002,"date":"2010-09-29T20:28:52","date_gmt":"2010-09-29T19:28:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/?p=2002"},"modified":"2010-09-29T20:41:15","modified_gmt":"2010-09-29T19:41:15","slug":"neglected-masterpieces-manu-katches-neighbourhood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/music-matters\/2010\/09\/29\/neglected-masterpieces-manu-katches-neighbourhood\/","title":{"rendered":"Neglected Masterpieces: Manu Katche’s ‘Neighbourhood’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Very few albums, in my opinion, match Kind of Blue<\/em>, Miles Davis’ legendary 1959 recording. But I think I have finally found one.<\/p>\n

\"AlbumDrummer-turned-leader Manu Katch\u00e9’s Neighbourhood<\/em> displays a quite awe-inspiring line-up of jazz legends (a factor so significant that the album cover is simply a list of players on the recording, which shows you the stature afforded the musicians);\u00a0trumpeter Tomasz Stanko,\u00a0saxophonist Jan Garbarek, with pianist Marcin Wasilewski and\u00a0bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz from Stanko’s own quartet,\u00a0not to mention Katch\u00e9 himself.<\/p>\n

Katch\u00e9 is a masterful and versatile dummer, having played alongside pop icons Peter Gabriel and Sting as well as being a colossus amonst jazz drummers – previous credits include Garbarek’s I Took Up The Runes, <\/em>also for ECM. Neighbourhood<\/em> is his debut recording as leader for the label, and has something of the timeless quality that made Kind of Blue<\/em> so special: delicate, sparse textures that allow the music room to breathe, colourful harmonies that are leisurely in their exploration of the potential of modality and the twelve-bar blues.\u00a0 The indebtedness to Davis’s album is perhaps most obvious on\u00a0Miles Away<\/em>\u00a0which employs a similar bass-line and 6\/8 rhythmic feel to All Blues.<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s a video for ‘Number One’ from the album:<\/p>\n