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Manu Katché: Neighbourhood

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: ECM Records
Released: 2005.09.23
Time:
 54:17
Category: Jazz
Producer(s): Manfred Eicher
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.manu-katche.com
Appears with: Petet Gabriel, Jan Garbarek
Purchase date: 2012
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] November 99 (M.Katché) - 6:02
[2] Number One (M.Katché) - 6:13
[3] Lullaby (J.Garbarek/M.Katché/S.Kurkiewicz/T.Stańko/M.Wasilewski) - 6:16
[4] Good Influence (M.Katché) - 5:01
[5] February Sun (M.Katché) - 4:50
[6] No Rush (M.Katché) - 5:52
[7] Lovely Walk (M.Katché) - 6:20
[8] Take Off and Land (M.Katché) - 4:02
[9] Miles Away (M.Katché) - 4:14
[10] Rose (M.Katché) - 6:11

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Manu Katché – Percussion, Drums
Sławomir Kurkiewicz – Double Bass
Marcin Wasilewski – Piano
Jan Garbarek – Saxophones
Tomasz Stańko – Trumpet

Manfred Eicher - Audio Production, Producer
Jan Erik Kongshaug - Audio Engineer, Engineer
Sascha Kleis - Design
Jean Baptiste Mondino - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


Recorded in March 7–8, 2004.

Neighbourhood is the second solo album released by session drummer Manu Katché. While his first offering, It's About Time, was considered a rock/funk album, Neighbourhood is solid jazz. Katché composed all of the music on the album.



Neighborhood, Manu Katché's ECM debut, is full of wonders. The drummer is joined by his old comrade Jan Garbarek (saxophone) and Tomasz Stanko (trumpet), as well as Marcin Wasilewski (piano) and Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass), who are part of Stanko's quartet. The band creates music full of small epiphanies and the seductive warmth that is typical of the works of Miles Davis and Keith Jarrett. It is no surprise that Katché really knows his trade, since for the last 25 years he has been an in-demand drummer for people like Gabriel, Sting and Jan Garbarek, to name but a few. His apparently simple and nonpretentious playing has earned him respect as one of the best drummers in the world.

Instead of dwelling in experimental and abstract fusion territories, Katché delivers a straightforward jazz album in Neighbourhood. His ten original compositions are remarkable for their freshness, lyricism and elegance. Even though the drummer is the bandleader, there is no sign of him dominating or suffocating the music. His propulsive and unobtrusive drumming (in odd time signatures) adds a different feel to each composition, giving this music its quiet fire. The compositions are minimalistic and Katché takes his time as the story unfolds slowly and subtly.

The band members seem to be inspired and they engage in some colorful and at times spacey interplays. Garbarek and the versatile Stanko have their spots like "Number One," "Take Off & Land" and "Lovely Walk," where they provide nice solos. "Take Off & Land" is the funkiest track, with brass lines buoyed by danceable beats. Wasilewski offers a mysterious take on the piano, which can function in just about any style, with a wide range of textures and tones. Together with Kurkiewicz, he provides sensitive support.

All these artists make sure Neighbourhood is full of other lovely moments like "February Sun," "No Rush" and "Lullaby." These are all slow tunes, but Katché's fills are exciting and help prevent them from seeming too long. Without a miss, the grooves on Neighborhood are infectious, but more than that, the compositions are brilliant—thus showing a different side of Manu Katché, as both composer and arranger—and many of his pieces deserve to become jazz standards.

NENAD GEORGIEVSKI - February 7, 2006
© 2014 All About Jazz



Katche's early reputation was forged as a pop drummer with Sting and Peter Gabriel, but this Frenchman was also playing with saxophonist Jan Garbarek as long ago as 1989. This is his first solo recording for the ECM label, and Katche has managed the impressive feat of enticing the Norwegian Garbarek and Polish trumpeter Tomasz Stanko into being his horn front-line. The remaining quintet members are the much younger Marcin Wasilewski (piano) and Slawomir Kurkiewicz (bass), who have been gradually growing in reputation as sidemen to Stanko.

Katche has written all of the compositions, but his pieces certainly don't reveal a dominant personality. The themes are usually minimal, developing in a steady, linear fashion. The rhythmic pulse is always of central importance, with the horns gently repeating a basic phrase whilst Wasilewski displays a tendency towards cocktail lounge ruffles, his solos much softer than is the case with his usual work in Stanko's quartet.

Katche is not attempting anything approaching rhythmic complexity, never having had much taste for the outer reaches of jazz experimentation. He's intent on building restrained patterns that maintain a level head. This needn't necessarily be a bland concept, but so many of the numbers on this album are taken at a graceful, coasting pace, a tendency that forces the listener to yearn for an occasional outbreak of speed and hyperactivity.

A couple of the tracks do increase the heartrate, but these are still hampered by a predilection for stiff-limbed funk, exemplified by "Take Off And Land". The Davis quotes on "Miles Away" are too obvious, and "November 99" is not the most arresting opener, but Garbarek's soloing on "Number One" does succeed in raising the hackles. Stanko is crisply mellow, and Garbarek concentrates on tenor throughout, with a range that's much higher than that favoured by most players of that horn. The emotional mood is one of uncomplicated optimism: there are no dark avenues here...

Katche has dedicated this entire album to the memory of pianist Michel Petrucciani, not a player noted for his introverted qualities. Perhaps these compositions would have benefited from a more direct association with the essence of Petrucciani's own overspilling technique.

Martin Longley, 2005
BBC Review



The superb French/Ivory Coast drummer Manu Katche, long a backing force on many ECM sessions, steps out on his own for the first time on this label and comes up with a gem -- with a little help from some of the ECM stars. Indeed, "Neighbourhood" is a very appropriate title, for there are several interlocking orbits of personnel within this album. For a start, the CD marks another collaboration between trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, the latter whom Katche has been backing on and off since the early '90s. Moreover Stanko brought along part of his Polish rhythm team, pianist Marcin Wasilewski and bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz, for the session. Michel Petrucciani is clearly on Katche's mind, for not only is the album dedicated to the late pianist, the reflective, ardently lyrical mood of Katche's compositions -- and Wasilewski's piano work -- are quite reminiscent of Petrucciani at his most relaxed. And Katche can write; his tunes are often wistful and thoughtful, his percussive backing crisp yet subtle, carefully filling in the cracks while keeping just enough of a gentle pulse. The best of the lot, the simple angular tune of "Good Influence," grabs you by the throat, tugs at your heart, and doesn't quit the memory -- sure signs of greatness. By contrast, "Lovely Walk" kicks up the tempo behind an ostinato bass while "Take Off and Land" brings in a touch of fatback funk. If there is a single wellspring behind this music -- besides Petrucciani of course -- Herbie Hancock's acoustic combo recordings of the late '60s come closest in terms of ambience and harmony. Call this album an inspired descendant two generations and an ocean away.

Richard S. Ginell - All Music Guide



Erst spielte er mit Garbarek, nun spielt Garbarek mit ihm: Schlagzeuger Manu Katche, zu hören auf Jan Garbareks In Praise Of Dreams (2003), stellt mit Neighbourhood sein erstes Album unter eigenem Namen vor. Für seine Band hat der 46-jährige Franzose etablierte Künstler engagiert, unter anderem Trompeter Tomasz Stanko, Slawomir Kurkiewicz (Bass) und eben Saxofonist Jan Garbarek.

Katches melodic Jazz ist luftig und warm, träumt, lächelt, inspiriert, mit erdigen Grooves, geschmeidigem sound, in einem Ensemble, das absolut harmonisch ineinander fließt. Spielerisch und verspielt tänzelt das Quintett über Musik aus traditonellen Bebop-Elementen und weichem, modernem Jazzfeel. Der junge Pianist Marcin Wasilewski perlt souverän über die Tasten, elegant, völlig entspannt, niemals willkürlich oder übereilt. Manu Katche ist der wohl differenzierteste unter ihnen: sein Spiel ist hell, einfühlsam und klar, gewitzt, musikalisch brillant. Katche spielt instinktiv, in liebevollem Dialog mit seiner Umgebung, er flirtet mit seiner Snare Drum, mit dem Song und mit den anderen Instrumenten - herrlich.

Manu Katche ist ein Jazzdrummer, der großen Erfolg in der Pop-Rockszene feierte. Er spielte mit Peter Gabriel, mit Joni Mitchel und mit Sting, Dire Straits, Joe Satriani, Tears For Fears, Simple Minds oder Pink Floyd. Nicht nur seine Flexibilität, sondern sein originärer, charakteristischer Stil machen ihn zu etwas ganz Besonderem.

Katharina Lohmann - Amazon.de



"Der permanente Wechsel zwischen Trio, Quartett- und Quintettformat unterstützt die sangbaren Kompositionen Katchés und gibt dem Album eine Dramaturgie, die an eine Wanderung durch eine Land- schaft mit Hügeln, Bergen, Tälern denken lässt. Im Kopf des Hörers entsteht ein Film, der von den Musikern mit Farben angereichert wird."

B. Klostermann in Stereo 12/05



he ECM label has produced many fine jazz and other contemporary music CDs over the past three decades, but few of them could be described as having grooves. However, Manu Katché, who leads this relaxed super-session featuring trumpeter Tomasz Stanko and saxophonist Jan Garbarek, is the kind of drummer who can't not groove. On Neighbourhood he adds propulsion to the kind of chamber jazz that too often floats in a musical soup of formless percussion. He makes a beautiful sound on his kit, too, and meshes nicely with pianist Marcin Wasilewski and double bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz on the opening track, November 99.

Katché takes his time, starting slowly and getting into his stride halfway through, with the skittering cymbal work of No Rush and the boogaloo hooks of Take Off and Land. Listen to the drummer's floor tom and ride cymbal driving Garbarek's solo on the delicious groove of Lovely Walk - it's more interesting than their partnership on the saxophonist's last album, In Praise of Dreams. Neighbourhood is a thoughtful, feelgood jazz album that harks back to the traditions of modern jazz while remaining contemporary - thanks to Katché's inventive drumming.

John L Walters - 30 September 2005
© 2015 Guardian News and Media
 

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