Misha Mengelberg RIP

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"Misha Mengelberg, Dutch jazz pianist and composer and co-founder of ICP Records has died in a nursery (sic) home in Amsterdam according to dutch newspaper De Volkskrant."

He has been (sadly) suffering from Dementia for some time. I only really know him through the last European work with Eric Dolphy, with whom he had a mixed relationship. Liked his playing but thought his compositions were not adventurous. He once released a bootleg of Dolphy with a recording of his parrot on the flip. As you do...

BN.

[Serial_Apologist]

One of the founders of the Dutch avant-garde school in the '60s.

RIP Misha.

[Richard Barrett]

Indeed, one of the most influential musicians (not always to the good IMHO) in the Netherlands from the 1960s onwards, although inevitably he had faded from view in recent years. I saw the ICP Orchestra often in my Amsterdam years and it was always an entertaining night out.

[Serial_Apologist]

Indeed, one of the most influential musicians (not always to the good IMHO) in the Netherlands from the 1960s onwards, although inevitably he had faded from view in recent years. I saw the ICP Orchestra* often in my Amsterdam years and it was always an entertaining night out.

*The present-day version of whom are due for appearance at the Vortex on the 28th and 29th of this month, btw.

[Ian Thumwood]

The best interpretation of Monk's music I have ever heard was Steve Lacy's Dutch Masters group which included Mingelberg on piano as well as Han Bennink on drums and Ernst Reijsinger on cello. His piano playing was really appropriate in this context but the work with Dolphy was made early in his career and, from what I know about his music, was the only element of his output that you could say was in the mainstream. I think Mingelberg was often a musician who wanted to shock and I can recall him producing a Mozart tribute on BBC2 back in 1991 which was dreadful.

I have a bit of a soft spot for the Dutch avant garde. There was a point in the 1980's when this seemed to be the "cutting edge" in European jazz but I can appreciate that the frivolous nature of their music could be perceived as denigrating the music. I can recall that one American jazz musician was quoted in an article about the Dutch government subsidizing the jazz scene and how this had led to mediocre musicians enjoying a higher profile than deserved. There has always been an element of slapstick in the Dutch free scene which I can sometimes appreciate and sometimes find annoying. Humour played a big part in his music and I think the maverick players like Mengelberg do a lot to lighten things up.