SEALED LP: MICHAEL MANTLER: THE HAPLESS CHILD AND OTHER INSCRUTABLE STORIES

$

40

Michael Mantler: The Hapless Child and Other Inscrutable Stories

FACTORY SEALED LP

• Sinking Spell
• Object-Lesson
• Insect God
• Doubtful Guest
• Remembered Visit
• Hapless Child

• Dennis Weinreich: Engineer, Mixing
• Albert Caulder: Voices, Spoken Word, Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
• Edward Gorley: Composer
• Alan Perkins: Engineer
• Nick Mason: Voices, Engineer, Mixing, Spoken Word, Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
• Alfreda Benge: Voices, Spoken Word, Speech/Speaker/Speaking Part
• Robert Wyatt: Vocals, Mixing
• Carla Bley: Synthesizer, Piano, Vocals, Clavinet, Keyboards
• Jack DeJohnette: Percussion, Drums
• Michael Mantler: Trumpet, Main Performer, Engineer
• Terje Rypdal: Guitar
• Steve Swallow: Bass, Guitar (Bass)

• A surprising step after his earlier work with the Jazz Composer's Orchestra and their juxtaposition of avant-garde soloists in a modern orchestral context, Mantler created a virtual prog rock album, setting Edward Gorey's Freudian/gothic texts to music that owes far more to Henry Cow than Cecil Taylor. Enlisting ex-Soft Machine drummer Robert Wyatt on vocals and Jan Garbarek alumnus Terje Rypdal for some soaring guitar work, he managed to create a very convincing, enjoyably literary recording with potentially large appeal. The song structures are fairly consistent and the melodies often catchy, alternating from somber dirges (quite appropriate to the text) to up-tempo rockers. Much of the success accrues to Wyatt, whose reedy, intelligent voice gives exactly the right ironic inflection to Gorey's eerie tales. When in the title track he lightly sings the opening line, "There was once a little girl named..." then drops into a minor mode for, "Charlotte Sophia," you know things don't bode well for the song's heroine. Indeed, all of the lyrics are compelling little stories and it's to Mantler's credit that his compositions couch and project them instead of competing for attention. The Hapless Child has assumed a bit of cult classic status as a one-off prog rock project and it largely deserves the rep, holding up reasonably well over time. ~ Brian Olewnick, All Music Guide

• Never a major trumpeter, Michael Mantler was most important as an organizer of projects and for his work behind the scenes, most notably for the WATT label. After studying at the Vienna Academy of Music and University, he emigrated to the U.S. so as to attend Berklee in 1962. Mantler, who moved to New York two years later, played trumpet for a time with Cecil Taylor and in the mid-'60s, he helped with the formation of the Jazz Composer's Guild. He co-led a big band with Carla Bley, toured Europe in 1965-1966 with the Jazz Realities group (a quintet including Bley and Steve Lacy), and formed the Jazz Composers' Orchestra Association (JCOA), a non-profit organization that performed and recorded new music. Mantler, who married Carla Bley (their daughter is keyboardist Karen Mantler), recorded with Gary Burton (A Genuine Tong Funeral) and the JCOA (most notably Communications). He was also a part of Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra. Mantler worked with Bley on her large projects, formed the New Music Distribution Service in 1972, and then the following year founded the label WATT Works with Bley. He has since recorded on an irregular basis for WATT (usually ambitious and somewhat dry works), led an occasional orchestra, and continued running the label.

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