Keyboardist/composer Manu Koch announces the arrival of his debut album, Triple Life, a meticulously crafted recording that seamlessly distills his musical life as a performer on the New York world music scene into a funky, jazz-inflected mixture of global electronic music. A shapeshifting sideman par excellence, Manu has accompanied an impressive range of international artists, from Afropop diva Angélique Kidjo and Cesária Évora protégé Fantcha, to Brazilian percussionist Davi Vieira and Nigirian musician Kofo the Wonderman. His malleability as a performer and accompanist is no doubt a reflection of his multiple identities, or triple life, as an artist: European-born, classical trained pianist; honorary irmão in the Brazilian/ downtown jazz music circles; and first-call keyboardist on the NYC creative music scene.
While this album faithfully reconstructs musically the multiple paths traversed by Manu, it is also signifies a major shift: Manu breaks from his perennial sideman status and emerges as a sonic scientist of the first order. Recorded in bricolage fashion over a two-year period, with the participation of more than a dozen New York-based artists spanning a dizzying range of styles and genres, Triple Life injects new blood into the body of contemporary groove-based music. A truly eclectic and collaborative effort, the album features Greek bassists Panagiotis Andreou (electric) and Apostolos Sideris (acoustic), drummers Harvey Wirht (Suriname) and Yuval Lion (Israel), Moroccan percussionist Brahim Fribgane, guitarist Matt Dickey, and DJ Mister Rourke, among others. Manu’s command of multiple musical languages – a result of two decades of immersion in the international music scene – bestows a distinctive rhythmic and harmonic feel to each piece, evoking a wide spectrum of tones and shades.
In this album, Manu nicely demonstrates how one can compose from the groove up. Sounding more like an architect than musician, Manu explains: “In this recording I tended to invert the typically European approach (where melody and harmony are primary) in favor of a more African model, focusing instead on composing repeating rhythmic figures that permit me to add complexity and density, percussive or melodic.”
The first two tracks, “New Year’s Labyrinth” and “Organic Crimes,” embody this principle perfectly, and set the tone for the rest of the album. On the first, Panagiotis and Sideris join forces on bass to lay down the rhythmic base, as Manu weaves ethereal contrapuntal melodies on the Rhodes piano. Moroccan singer Malika Zarra lends her voice, adding a distinctly North African touch, while Balla Tounkara joins the groove on kora to showcase this truly boundary-crossing composition. On the second, Manu explores polyrhythmic dystopia in probably the most overtly digital piece on the album. This depiction of the criminal impulse features the work of Dickey, DJ Rourke and Manu, who together create a dense multi-layered piece through the use of loops, effects, and percussion. This same bottom-up approach appears later on track 7, “Upper Leads,” except this time the upper register takes the lead. Dr. S. Karthick opens on mouth harp with a striking berimbauesque feel on top of a simulated African bell pattern, and students from the Swarnabhoomi Academy of Music later add their voices in konnakol (a form of Indian scat singing).
On the more lyrical side are the tracks “Via Expansion”, “Intermezzo” and “Asa.” “Via Expansion” is a refreshingly quiet and subtle tune which captures a dynamic interplay among Sideris, Manu and Yuval, creating a distinctly laid-back 70s feel. Mister Rourke gives the song a forwardly retro touch as he mixes things up on turntables, incorporating loops and effects to give the song a truly expansive urban vibe. “Intermezzo” features Sebastian Nickoll on the cajón (South American wooden box) and on vocals Malika, who imbues the melody with a celestial feel. “Asa” (wing in Portuguese) is a beautiful composition whose tempo and texture evoke a soaring, verdant landscape, a striking contrast to the urban vibe that characterizes much of the album. The track features Balla on kora and an artful George Mel on drums/frame drum — just listen to the way he accompanies Panagiotis’ solo as the piece closes.
The compositions “Triple Life”, “Sphere Six”, and “Launching” (tracks 3, 6 and 9) feature Manu’s only three solos on the album — each demonstrates his unique talent to get into a pocket and say more with less. Manu’s ability to groove so-called odd meters in a very flowing organic way, no easy feat, is a largely a result of the incredible musicians accompanying him. “Triple Life” features Moroccan Brahim Frigbane on oud and Harvey Wirht on drums grooving hard in five, as Manu punctuates with open phrasing and syncopated long tones. After a futuristic opening, “Sphere 6” kicks into a great 6/8 groove with Pana, Harvey and Frigbane (this time on cajón) playing wonderfully supportive roles, which allows Manu to weave in and out of the pocket with ease. The closing track “Launching”, which features Turkish drummer Engin Gunaydin, captures perfectly Manu’s ground breaking path going forward and
offers us a cosmopolitan 21st century portrait of an artist: relaxed, funky, upbeat, a blend of the old and new, the acoustic and electric, the inside and out.
reviewed by Vincent Grady in December 2011
all tracks written, arranged and produced by Manu Koch. Recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Matt Dickey at Truthmusic Studio in Astoria, NY between May 2009 and January 2011. The beginning part of Track 2 was recorded by Manu Koch and Mister Rourke in 2003 in Cambridge, Ma. Track 2 also contains a percussion loop that was inspired by Pierre Favre's 'Frog Songs' from the record 'Singing Drums'. Mister Rourke's part on Track 4 was recorded in Groton, Ma in November 2010. Track 7 contains samples of Dr. S. Karthick and Jovol Bell recorded in India in September and October 2011 at the Egmore Theatre in Chennai and at Swarnabhoomi Academy Of Music.
musicians include:
Manu Koch - fender rhodes (1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9), keyboards, loops (2,5,7)
Malika Zarra - voice (1,5)
Panagiotis Andreou - electric bass (1,3,6,8,9), voice (1)
Balla Tounkara - kora (1,8)
Brahim Fribgane - tarbouka, hand percussion (1), oud (3),
cajon (6)
Dr. S. Karthick - mouth harp, konnakol (7)
Mister Rourke - turntables (2,4)
Matt Dickey - guitar (1), loops (2,5,7)
Apostolos Sideris - acoustic bass (1,4,8)
Harvey Wirht - drums (1,3,6)
Yuval Lion - drums (2,4)
Engin Gunaydin - percussion (2), drums (9)
George Mel - frame drum (1,8), drums (8)
Sebastian Nickoll cajon (5)
Jovol Bell - drums (7)
Students of SAM - konnakol (7)
Mosaic by Werner Koch
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