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Manu Katche

Emmanuel 'Manu' Katche was born in St Maur des Fossés, near Paris, in 1958, though his family roots go back to Africa's Ivory Coast. He studied piano from the age of 5, switching to drums at 14 and studying classical percussion at the Conservatoire National Supérieure de Musique de Paris. He has often said that his drum style is essentially an amalgam of African rhythm concepts and classical drumming, illuminated by the in-the-moment interaction of jazz. "When I play jazz I get called a 'rock drummer'. When I do rock projects, critics write about 'the jazz drummer Manu Katché'. But I'm just being myself, trying to be innovative as the music is played, and I guess that is more of a 'jazz' attitude."

Music on ECM had been one of Katché's teenage inspirations: "I heard my first ECM album when I was about fifteen, and I remember I was amazed by the sound and by the way the music was played: big and bold but with a lot of respect for silence and a real musical balance between the instruments...." He was to arrive at the label by an indirect route, however. By the mid-1980s his floating beat had become one of the signature sounds of pop and rock, sup-porting singers from Joni Mitchell to Peter Gabriel. Manfred Eicher heard Katché playing on Robbie Robertson's untitled Geffen album and felt that his pulses and patterns, simultaneously modern and tribal, could easily be adapted to improvised contexts.

Invited to participate in ECM's 20th anniversary concerts in Paris in 1989, Katché played first in a trio with Jan Garbarek and Indian violinist Shankar in a concert at La Cigale. The encounter was to lead to Katché's membership of the Garbarek Group and his presence on a series of albums: I Took Up The Runes, Ragas and Sagas, Twelve Moons, Visible World, In Praise Of Dreams. Manu recently rejoined Jan's band for several months of live work with concerts which continue until the end of 2007 in Germany, Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Turkey, Portugal and Switzerland.

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Album Review

Benjamin Lackner: Last Decade

Read "Last Decade" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


In a 2006 interview for All About Jazz written by Joao Moriera dos Santos, pianist/keyboardist Benjamin Lackner was asked: “What label would you like to be on in the near future?" He said, simply, “ECM." That seemed ambitious for Lackner at that stage of his career. He was 29 years old at the time and boasted only two albums under his own name—one of them was Sign Of The Times (Nagel Heyer, 2006), released a bit before the interview—along with ...

4
Album Review

Manu Katche: the scOpe

Read "the scOpe" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki


Manu Katché's tenth album as a leader, the ScOpe encompasses modern and ancient music, tribal and global music, and illustrates why he is not only one of the world's best drummers, but much more. Katché entered the Paris Conservatory as a pianist but switched to percussion as his studies progressed; his mature style eventually incorporated his French and African roots into this classical training. the scOpe emphasizes the melodic nature, alongside the rhythmic and percussive nature, of Katché's ...

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Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff/Manu Katché: Colors

Read "Colors" reviewed by Mark Sullivan


Pianist/composer Yelena Eckemoff has produced a varied discography. But since her piano trio album Lions (L&H Production, 2015) she has tended towards larger ensembles. Leaving Everything Behind (L&H, 2016) and Desert (L&H, 2018) were both quartets; Blooming Tall Phlox (L&H, 2017) and In the Shadow of a Cloud (L&H, 2017) were quintets; and Better Than Gold And Silver (L&H, 2018) was a sextet (plus two vocalists for the vocal versions). So this is a surprising move: a duet with drummer ...

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Album Review

Yelena Eckemoff / Manu Kache: Colors

Read "Colors" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Pianist Yelena Eckemoff brings the top drummers into her recording sessions, whether it's Billy Hart on Lions (2014), or Peter Erskine on Glass Song (2012) and Desert (2015), or Jon Christensen for Everblue (2014)—all of these on her own L & H Production label. The year 2019 finds the prolific Eckemoff presenting her first duo album, Colors, a piano and drums affair with another topline partner sitting at the kit: Manu Katche, a distinctive drumming stylist and a ...

14
Album Review

Manu Katché: Unstatic

Read "Unstatic" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Drummer Manu Katché's career has been a long, circuitous one that began in rock, working for an extended period with Peter Gabriel, Sting and Joni Mitchell. In the cases of Sting and Mitchell, there was a jazz sensibility present in much of their work. Simultaneously, Katché's work on the ECM label was taking shape as he appeared on a number of Jan Garbarek albums. The drummer's own ECM leader debut, Neighbourhood (2005), was well received and the first of a ...

3
Album Review

Manu Katche: Unstatic

Read "Unstatic" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


French drummer Manu Katche always seemed something of an odd man at ECM Records on his four solo discs--warm, groove-centric, gregarious sets competing with the Nordic cool of Tord Gustavsen, or the thoughtful melancholy of trumpeter Tomas Stanko and pianist Marcin Wasilewski. And--like few artists in the ECM stable--he crossed successfully into the rock world via work with Peter Gabriel, Sting, Robbie Robertson and many more. So it's not a surprise to find him on Unstatic (Anteprima Productions) ...

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Extended Analysis

Manu Katche: Touchstone for Manu

Read "Manu Katche: Touchstone for Manu" reviewed by John Kelman


With only four records released as a leader on ECM, it may seem a little early to release a “best of" disc for drummer Manu Katché. But having since moved on to fellow German label ACT for Live in Concert, while Touchstone for Manu is only being released in North America in the summer of 2015, it may also seem a bit odd that this compilation--culled from 2005's Neighbourhood, 2007's Playground, 2010's Third Round and 2012's simply titled Manu Katché--was ...

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Recording

Drummer, Composer, Bandleader Manu Katché Releases "Live In Concert", His Debut For ACT Music

Drummer, Composer, Bandleader Manu Katché Releases "Live In Concert",  His Debut For ACT Music

Source: ACTmusic

“Anyone who heard the quartet play last year will want this chronicle of a rapturously received night’s work.” —John Fordham, The Guardian (review of Live in Concert) “Manu Katché is a drummer of watchful effervescence, attuned to the tiniest particulars of rhythm and timbre but intent on a feeling of unthinking ease” —Nate Chinen, The New York Times “Live, Manu Katché group must be positively nuclear.” —John Kelman, AllAboutJazz.com Manu Katché, one of the world’s most renowned drummers & bandleaders, ...

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Recording

Manu Katche - Neighbourhood (2006)

Manu Katche - Neighbourhood (2006)

Source: Something Else!

By Mark Saleski Ever stumble into one of those snotty Internet arguments tugging back & forth about the capabilities of musicians? Specifically, the old “Is it possible for player X (an expert in genre A) to cross over to the land of genre B?" “Well, of course he can." “He's a master!" “No he can't." “This music has nothing to do with that music." “You're an idiot." “Besides, that music is just plain lame." “Did I mention that you're an ...

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Contest

Enter the ECM "Manu Katche - Third Round" Giveaway

Enter the ECM "Manu Katche - Third Round" Giveaway

Source: All About Jazz

All About Jazz members are invited to enter the ECM “Manu Katche—Third Round“ giveaway contest starting today. We'll select FIVE winners at the conclusion of the contest on September 29th.Click here to enter the contest (Following Manu Katche at AAJ automatically enters you in the contest.) Good luck! Your Friends at ECM Records About Third Round Following on from Neighbourhood and Playground, the latest installment of the music of Manu Katche on ECM. Recorded in the South of France in ...

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Recording

Manu Katche - Third Round (2010)

Manu Katche - Third Round (2010)

Source: Something Else!

By PicoWorld class drummer Manu Katché continues to pursue a second musical career as a bandleader with his third ECM release (and fourth overall) on Third Round. His second ECM Playground was warmly greeted here when it first appeared three years ago, and his label debut was quite good, too, so we were eager to see if Katché could make it three for three. Third Round isn't an abrupt departure from the spacious, subtle European jazz ...

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Recording

Tuesday Morning Listen: Manu Katche, Third Round

Tuesday Morning Listen: Manu Katche, Third Round

Source: Inverted Garden by Eric Benson

In Coltrane: The Story of a Sound, Times critic Ben Ratliff writes, “the sound of so many jazz gigs I've heard in the past fifteen years...is usually the sound of albums like Coltrane's Sound or Coltrane Plays the Blues, the quartet just before or in the first stages of a modal-jazz style, just tightening, still before A Love Supreme and that later music that is so personal that to borrow from it would be obvious." I hadn't heard either album ...

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Interview

Drummer Manu Katche Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Drummer Manu Katche Interviewed at AAJ...And More!

Source: All About Jazz

Manu Katche is one of the most original drummers anywhere, defying categorization and straddling musical genres with ease and flair. A French national of Ivorian background, he has turned his hand to pop, rock, fusion and jazz, and his exposure to all these elements, plus his classical training, is indelibly stamped in a playing style all his own.

For over 20 years, Katche has toured and recorded with such iconic figures as Sting and Peter Gabriel, bringing his highly distinctive ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Last Decade

ECM Records
2022

buy

the scOpe

Self Produced
2019

buy

Colors

L&H Production
2019

buy

Antonio Farao -...

Warner Music Italy
2017

buy

Unstatic

Anteprima Productions
2016

buy

Live in concert

ACT Music
2015

buy

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