Mat Maneri Quotes

I remember going to see Black Flag, stuff like that. I remember also listening to Mahler and getting into a lot of ridiculous techno-kind of stuff. I probably listened the least to jazz in that time period, as a young teenager. But, it was the only thing that I felt was interesting to perform. But I never bought jazz records or did any jazz fan kind of thing. I was always listening to something ridiculous or unrelated at all. But as a performer I always was drawn to the improvisation and studying technique. These things made the most sense to me as a performer.
Mat Maneri 

Now my writing style has gotten very fragmented. With this new record that I am working on�I�m still writing the material as we speak�I�ve gone half way through and it�s using all of those elements, but some of it is very loose and free. And some of it is very strict. But the strictness of it, I don't want it to sound strict, I want it to sound like it�s free. But it�s all written! [laughs] The heads are about a minute long, as we improvise off of them. I take them as just the starting point of the piece, that�s all. Just like any normal jazz head: we play the head and we take off from there. But unlike the old jazz heads, where there�s like a 12-bar form of changes. The head is more almost like a little classical piece, like a little theme that is very complex. Or a little piece where it�s extended over a minute, but there are little bits and pieces throughout the piece as you are improvising.
Mat Maneri

The writing styles definitely change from group to group. Right now I am working on this quintet, which is probably the most written thing I have done. Dave Ballou on cornet, Matt Moran on vibes, Mark Dresser on bass, myself on viola, and Randy Peterson on drums. This is a really nice group.
Mat Maneri