Without any special effort to find them, I somehow acquired all four of Karen Mantler's dates as a leader (all of them bought used). I just listened to the most recent two earlier today, and I have to say that although she defies categorization, she's a winner in my book.




At first I thought she was just quirky (and she certainly is), but the longer I've had these discs (the first two going on 10 years now), the more I think she's the real deal.

Any other Karen Mantler fans here too??

She sessy!

Like Momma!

What instrument does Arnold play?

You sure that's not Carla Bley?? Using a pseudonym ala "Ferris Benda"?

According to AMG, Carla Bley is her mother.

She has Mom's humor too.

Was listening to some Karen yesterday, and again - I'm totally taken with her quirky style. And the tunes are pretty solid too!!

Her "Pet Project" album is brilliant. Her beloved cat Arnold, who she sings about on earlier albums, has died, and the "Pet Project" is like a therepeutic song cycle which chronicles all of the potential new pets she's considering. Favorite title: "Why Not a Bear?"

Yeah, she's fantastic eh! Great sense of humor - Pet Project is great, the lyrics are hilarious, great band (borrowed from Carla's guys) ...

She's a wicked organ/hamonica/whatever player - found all over Carla's stuff (wasn't her first appearance when she was three on Escalator Over the Hill?)

Either way, she's a fascinating, creative musician - hope to hear more from her soon...

By the way, I never know what section of my CD's to file Karen's stuff...

Not exactly jazz, not exactly pop. Every few years I reorganize my CD's (more like putting away the 400 CD's I haven't refiled since the last time I did a reorg), and I think I usually end up switching whatever section I have her in from the last time.

(She's in Jazz at the moment, and destined for my pop CD's by mid-2008 -- only to return to Jazz by 2010.)

Funny as hell, and musically quite a bit deeper than either she or these albums appear on the surface.

I partially solved this problem years ago by creating a "Weird" genre in my record room.


Trouble is, my definition of "weird" constantly evolves!

So, does anybody else here have any of Karen's leader dates?

Come on, fess up.

I have the first two. Got them cheap when ECM/Watt dismissed vinyl, I think I never listened to them since.
I'll spin them one of these days.

I have her first one, Eric Mingus and Jonathan Sanborn are in the band (Charles & David's kids, respectively). Pretty funny lyrics, and I've always dug the over-the-top soul of Eric Mingus' vocals.

I've never quite figured her out, tho...she kind of does that Andy Warhol/Andy Kaufmann thing where she could be a talentless buffoon, or she could be a genius pretending to be a talentless buffoon. I take from the comments in this thread that most of you put her in the latter category. Help me out...what are the clues?

Do you have all the Kim Parker dates too?
I'd guess not.

Used to have a copy of "Havin' Myself a Time" with Kenny Drew; IIRC it was pretty good. By the standards of today's jazz thrushes, she'd probably sound like a goddess.

she's Michael Mantler's kid, too, I believe - and he's one weird nasty guy - I met him in Denmark some years ago and told him I knew Roswell Rudd, figuring they were old cronies - he said to me (and I quote exactly):

"Now why the hell would I care about Roswell Rudd?"

charming guy - no wonder Carla fell in love with him-

I never had the heart to tell Ros about this strange encounter -

Maybe he had enough of the name dropping, just couldn't take any more.

yeah that must be it -

Karen Mantler wants to be good -- on Night Music.

If only she could...

Awesome...somebody posted it! I looked for this last week when this thread came up...my first exposure (back in the '80s) to Mantler and her since deceased cat Arnold.

Thanks!

Maybe Mantler has problems controlling his bladder.

This is sort of a "drive-by" posting as I still don't have regular Internet access at home. Hey, I miss hanging out here, y'all.

Couldn't resist this thread though...

That show at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1991 that she mentions in her bio (7/4 posted the link) was lots of fun and packed with interesting music too. She's even cuter in person and probably weirder as well (didn't get a chance to meet her.)

I believe that the late, lamented Arnold played contrabass sarrusophone.

He had to sit on the stool in Karen's cell to reach the mouthpiece.

That Night Music clip is a hoot! I don't think that she really wanted to be good...