Manuel Mengis Gruppe 6 - The Pond

hatOLOGY

Manuel Mengis is probably tiring of the superficial Miles comparisons. Such shoehorn corollaries are only the tip of his trumpet, so to speak. His personal pastiche also probes Zorn, Vandermark and a host of others, pulling away choice bits and making them his own. The borrowings rarely feel forced and with a crack band at his disposal ruts are readily avoided. Mengis’ Hat debut dropped almost three years ago and he’s used the interim to assiduously plan and execute a second outing for his Gruppe 6. The role of rhythm is central to his constructions with ensemble voices arranged in lattice-like intricacy. That stacked and interlocking quality also brings to mind to the grid-guided interplay of M-Base. Drummer Lionel Friedli and bassist Marcel Stalder field a fluctuating series of trampoline grooves alongside the guitar of Flo Stoffner. The horns frequently sail atop, dovetailing and diverging through richly rendered lines.

The disc’s four pieces reflect a process of repeatedly shaving off and lathering up as players recede from and return to the action in episodic fashion. Altoist Achim Escher unloads a barrage of squawks and squeals atop burbling bass and mutating drum beats on “Tomorrow Will Be Colder”. The piece abruptly opens up into tightly channeled horn polyphony and ends on a tick-tocking shuffle. “Furry Buddy” relies on a similarly eventful schematic of intersecting and overlapping instrument combinations. Mengis shifts his own playing from wistful to sharply staccato, his brass threading through a range of moods and miens. Foland von Flüe’s subsequent tenor statement is almost anomalous in its relative simplicity and straightforwardness.

“Hide and Seek” builds from a madrigal-like opening of contrapuntal layers. The ensemble briefly explores an airy chamber trajectory before grounding on another elastic groove. Several minutes later all that remains of the formerly lush conversation is a skeletal semblance of a beat upon which the players once again build from the base up. After a series of ensemble explorations “Song for Violet” switches into an extended foray for Stoffner’s frets. After a strong start, his solo slips over into Satriani-style schmaltz, technically sturdy, but ultimately overwrought. Mengis’ authoritative but nuanced sortie in the final third registers as a potent counteragent. Though slightly less striking that its predecessor, this long-gestating session still carries plenty to recommend it. Miles may be an easy to peg antecedent, but Mengis is definitely his own man. Gruppe 6 will hopefully be making a return recording engagement under Hat auspices sooner rather than later.

~ Derek Taylor