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Joe Maneri

In 1958 Joe finished ten years of study with Joseph Schmid, a student of Alban Berg, completing Schoenberg's harmony, counterpoint and composition courses. Joe went on to teach harmony, 16th century counterpoint and composition at the Brooklyn Conservatory while continuing to compose and in 1963 was commissioned by Erich Leinsdorf of the Boston Symphony Orchestra to write a piano concerto. It was premiered in 1985 by the American Composers Orchestra at Alice Tully Hall. As a soloist in the 50's and early 60's he performed Greek, Syrian, Jewish and Turkish music on clarinet and saxophone as well as pop music of the day. In 1965, his reputation as a diverse performer led to an invitation to be the saxophone soloist in the premiere of a composition by David Reck dedicated to Ornette Coleman. Joe premiered the piece as part of the 20th Century Innovation Series conducted by Gunther Schuller at Carnegie Hall. Also in 1965, encouraged by his friend and drummer Peter Dolger, Joe recorded an album with drums, bass, piano, clarinet & saxophone. His written tunes and subsequent improvisations contained elements of jazz, Greek melodies and rhythms, and twelve-tone compositional ideas. The album was recorded for Atlantic but remained unreleased until 1996, when John Zorn heard it and enthusiastically issued it on his Avant Label under the title "Paniot's Nine". Paniot pays homage to Joe's friend who inspired the making of this record. In 1970 Joe became a faculty member at the New England Conservatory, teaching harmony, counterpoint, composition, saxophone, improvisation and later microtonal theory and composition. He served as president of Pi Kappa Lambda Honor Society at the Conservatory and co-founded the Enchanted Circle Series with James Hoffman. For over thirty years, this performance series produced up to seven concerts a year dedicated to presenting new music, especially the music of New England Conservatory recent alumni. Joe became interested in microtones early on; he began using them in compositions in 1970. In 1979 Joe started a microtonal theory and composition course at the New England Conservatory. Students in Joe's microtonal class learn to hear, sing, play and write in 72-note equal temperament, using as their text Preliminary Studies in the Virtual Pitch Continuum, co-authored by Joe and Scott Van Duyne. This class, unique in the United States, became a smashing success, with a national reputation and frequently overflowing enrollment. Many of Joe's students have gone on to international careers as performers, composers, and educators in all fields of music.

Joe has created charts with alternative saxophone and clarinet fingerings and he encourages other instrumentalists to find fingerings and write charts as well. He has lectured on microtonal composition at institutions such as NYU, Harvard University, and in Salzburg at the Mozarteum. He also invented a 5-octave, 72-note-to-the-octave electronic keyboard which he has used in performance and in class. It was displayed at the Boston Museum of Science in 1990. Overwhelming interest in this class led to, in 1988, the founding of the Boston Microtonal Society, a non-profit organization promoting the study and performance of microtones. It produces concerts in Boston and New York City, is a licensed publisher, and awards the Jonathan Keith memorial scholarship every year to an NEC student who shows achievement and dedication to microtonal study. Joe's former composition student and the Boston Microtonal Society Director, Julia Werntz, has written both her doctoral thesis and an article in Perspectives of New Music (Vol. 39, No. 2) comparing equal temperament added notes with alternative tunings in microtonal composition and discussing Joe's music. Recently Joe's career as a player has flourished. In 1995 his first album as the Joe Maneri Quartet was released featuring Mat Maneri on violin, John Lockwood on bass, and Randy Petersen on drums. Over ten subsequent albums have been recorded and released on Leo Records, HatArt and ECM records. Many have been lauded in Downbeat and Jazz Times magazines as well as in European periodicals. Articles praising the group and Joe appeared in the New York Times, by David Wildman for the Boston Globe and by Gary Giddins for the Village Voice. Their recent record, "Tales of Rohnlief", is a trio featuring Mat Maneri on viola and Barre Phillips on bass, released on ECM records. In May 2002, the trio toured France for three weeks. Here in North America Joe has appeared in the JVC Jazz Festival NYC, the Vision Festival NYC, the Chicago Cultural Society Series and the Montreal Jazz Festival. Currently Joe continues to teach Microtonal Theory and Composition at the New England Conservatory and is completing a viola piece to be premiered at a future Boston Microtonal Society concert. He also continues to preside over the Boston Microtonal Society, especially in its pursuit towards establishing a school for microtonal studies for future generations.

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Maneri/Maneri/Phillips: Angles of Repose

Read "Angles of Repose" reviewed by Ty Cumbie

by Ty Cumbie
October 7, 2004

Angles of Repose is the brand new release of a 2-year-old recording made at Chapelle Sainte Philomène, an old chapel in the south of France. Mat and dad Joe Maneri brought the veteran bassist Barre Phillips into the fold for these very personal music-making sessions, and ECM saw fit to share the results with us. The fine recording only hints at what must have been a gorgeous session, but the downside of playing in a church, I suppose, is an ...

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Profile

Joe Maneri: Serial Autobiography

by AAJ Staff
September 8, 2004

Preface Strength is Happiness. Strength is itself victory.In weakness and cowardice there is no happiness.When you wage a struggle, you might win or you might lose.But regardless of the short-term outcome, the very fact of yourcontinuing to struggle is proof of your victory as a human being. ~ Daisaku Ikeda At some point in life everyone will encounter events requiring struggle. That struggle ...

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Interview

A Fireside Chat with Joe Maneri

by AAJ Staff
September 8, 2004

Perception is reality. But perception is an unfortunate consequence of opinion and rarely is opinion validated by substance. And perception of Joe Maneri corresponds with his lamentable mainstream obscurity. However, Maneri's obscurity is not his failure, but our own.

All About Jazz: Let's start from the beginning.

Joe Maneri: Music was the only thing that was interesting to me. But I suppose it was because my mother played opera on the radio everyday and I was attracted to it. And ...

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Album Review

Joe Maneri/Barre Phillips/Mat Maneri: Angles Of Repose

Read "Angles Of Repose" reviewed by AAJ Staff

by AAJ Staff
July 23, 2004

For decades, the Boston-based musician Joe Maneri has pursued his singular vision of a freely improvised music based on extensive use of microtones. He often includes his son Mat in his projects. On Angles Of Repose , the Maneris are joined by the prodigiously gifted bassist Barre Phillips in a program of ten free improvisations.

These performances unfold gradually, often with one of the musicians playing a phrase, and the others reacting with variations on the opening phrase. The elder ...

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Album Review

Joe Maneri/Barre Phillips/Mat Maneri: Angles of Repose

Read "Angles of Repose" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
July 11, 2004

Even the most organic music, in the hands of certain players, can take on a completely other-worldly tinge, somehow managing to feel both rooted in reality yet evocative of alien vistas. Reedman Joe Maneri has been exercising that neck of the woods over a fifty-year career that has seen him emerge as one of the progenitors of modern creative music. Where creative music differs from free jazz is that while improvisation is equally paramount, there is nothing to tie it, ...

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Album Review

Maneri Ensemble: Going To Church

Read "Going To Church" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
October 25, 2002

With this release, Joe Maneri (woodwinds) and his equally well-known son, Mat (viola) enlist a modern jazz/free improvising super group. However, history dictates that raw talent is not a prerequisite for success. Although that notion serves as the antithesis to what is conveyed here, on this fine program consisting of open-ended dialogue and yearning lines. The artists’ interactions most assuredly emanate from the spirit within. The message is complex yet starkly personalized – where all semblances of rhythm are reduced ...

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Album Review

Maneri/Morris/Maneri: Out Right Now

by Glenn Astarita
August 1, 2001

With this new release, the Swiss 'hatOLOGY' record label serves up six pieces culled form a live 1995 performance, featuring the trio's permutations of microtonal passages, call and response techniques, and unorthodox harmonic fabrications. On the 26-minute opener, “Some And Then Some," tenor saxophonist Joe Maneri renders an amalgamation of half-tones and abstract, blues-based lines along with emotive howls and shrieks, as violinist Mat Maneri and guitarist Joe Morris engage in circular, three-way dialogue atop a bevy of intertwining textures. ...

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Event

A Celebration of the Life of Joe Maneri

Source: Michael Ricci
December 23, 2009

A Celebration of the Life of Joe Maneri Irondale Center February 9, 2010, 8pm A concert to remember and celebrate the life of Joe Maneri Tuesday, February 9, 2010, 8pm Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, Brooklyn, C train to Lafayette, 1/2/3/4/5/Q/B trains to Atlantic Ave, R/M/N/D/trains to Pacific St Suggested donation $10 to be donated to Boston Microtonal Society Featuring: Barre Phillips, bass, Jim Black, drums, Tony Malaby, saxophone, Joe Morris, bass, John Medeski, piano ...
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Obituary

NEC Mourns the Death of Joseph Maneri, Longtime Faculty, Jazz Legend, Founder of Boston Microtonal Society

Source: Michael Ricci
August 26, 2009

Received Honorary Doctorate from NEC in May New England Conservatory is mourning the death of Joseph Gabriel Esther Maneri, a longtime and much beloved faculty member and legendary jazz figure, who died August 24 at age 82. Maneri, who taught at the Conservatory from 1970 to 2007, received an honorary doctorate this past May in recognition of his enormously varied musical accomplishments, his indelible teaching style, and the many gifted performers who carry on his musical legacy. Among his former ...
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427

Obituary

Joe Maneri Dies at 82

Source: Michael Ricci
August 25, 2009

It is with great sadness the Maneri family would like to announce the death of Dr. Joseph Maneri to the music and wider arts community. Joe passed away Monday, August 24th 2009 in the company of his close family. Joe is survived by his loving wife Sonja, his five children, eight grandchildren and his incredible music legacy. As a performer, composer and educator Joe touched countless hearts with his innovative and incredibly loving spirit. There will be a private service ...
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Event

Joe Maneri's Unplayed Chamber Works + Joe Maneri Trio at Tonic 8/14/04

Source: All About Jazz
August 10, 2004

Joe Maneri's Unplayed Chamber Works + Joe Maneri Trio at Tonic 8/14/04 Saturday, 14 August 2004, 8 p.m. Tonic (107 Norfolk, NYC, www.tonicnyc.com ) double bill ANTI-SOCIAL MUSIC PLAYS JOE MANERI'S CHAMBER WORKS & JOE MANERI TRIO $12.00 JOE MANERI TRIO is Joe Maneri (reeds, piano), Mat Maneri (viola),Randy Peterson(drums) ASM'S JOE MANERI PROJECT features unknown ...
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