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PRESS
From Cadence Magazine, Winter 2008
CDR-ING: Flattened Planet
Guitarist TERRENCE McMANUS is a new name to me. Based on these four discs, he's quite a diverse player. PASTELLIC REFLECTIONS (Flattened Planet I) pairs him with fellow guitarist Joe Battaglia for a fine if unassuming duo session (Dream Chain / Pastellic Reflection / White Blood Cells / Industrial Evolution / Desolation / Andalusia / Primaevus. 40:46. August 24, 2005, Jersey City, NJ) with McManus on classical acoustic and Battaglia on steel string. I'm reminded of similar string summits, not just in instrumentation but in spare style, pairing Tetuzi Akiyama with Jozef van Wissem or the fabulous Acoustic Guitar Trio on Incus. These fellows play with a similarly broad sense of space and counterpoint. Each tends to work heavily in chordal areas, both fully resounding and also choked off like John Russell. But they do change it up throughout, with percussive attacks on "White Blood Cells," sweet detuning and mild preparations on "Desolation," and a wonderful assemblage of dizzy slashes on the concluding track.
On THRITY9THIRTY8 (Flattened Planet no#), McManus is joined by trumpeter Dave Ballou and drummer Devin Gray. The resourceful guitarist reveals yet another facet of his personality on this heavy, cosmically inclined live performance (Eight30Four / Nine40Two / Twenty1Nineteen. 39:38. June 19, 2005, Baltimore, MD). This is much more successful, with McManus giving into his inner feedback junkie and blending well with Ballou in terms of both phrasing and timbral contrast. Gray has a very cool sound on his kit, all tuned quite exactingly, and he plays in spare patterns that recall Blackwell. The opening track is a bit of a teaser, with three solo statements, cycling back through a few times. But once the set gets going, the trio interaction is the thing. McManus' tight little chordal work at the opening of "Nine40Two" suggest a Nels Cline influence, both in his use of seconds and his tone. He also interacts really impressively with Gray, and when Ballou enters there's some lovely counterpoint and clatter. Things get more expressive on the longest, and concluding track, with an extended duo for McManus and Ballou, filled with glissing and winding staccato lines. At times I wish Gray would take a somewhat more active role, since the trio segments are so good. But still, I commend his taste and restraint. A good set.
UNTITLED (Flattened Planet 4) finds McManus in the company of JT Bates (d) and Adam Linz (b) on an enigmatic concert (Act One: Forward / Entrance / First Duo / Thermic / Premonition. Act Two: Cataclysm / Arepticious / Volatiles / Second Duo / Exit. 41:52. June 25, 2005, no location given) that has its ups and down. The set opens up with a tasty repeating bass figure, Linz's woody tone establishing a nice contrast with McManus as they enter some fine counterpoint. Bates' playing is a bit dry and boxy, but it seems to fit the staggered phrasing rather well. "Entrance" buzzes with activity, with lots of dense clusters and racing staccato like a Joe Morris improvisation. But just as the piece seems to find its voice, the band shifts: they kick on some distortion and move into raunchy noise. This is characteristic of most of the set, with short pieces moving between ideas before having the chance to develop them. Often this results in music that's diffuse and unsure, almost wary of latching onto something. Suggesting that your music consists of two "acts" implies a kind of coherence and narrative development that this music lacks (even though there are enjoyable moments).
Finally, LIVE AT THE CLOWN LOUNGE (Flattened Planet, no#) is another concert date (Mom Got a New Davenport / Creepy / The Days of Wine and Roses / November / Private, I / Union. 61: 08. November 22, 2004, St. Paul, MN) where McManus is reunited with Linz and Bates, and adds saxophonist Michael Lewis to the mix. From the opening notes, this sounds like a Paul Motian session, with gauzy melodies and floating timbres, lots of color from Bates, and big pedal work from Linz. The musical dynamics swell and diminish, at times rising to fractiousness, and it's Motian all they way down to the Frisell multi-second delay odysseys. I like the booming chromatic riff on "Creepy" -- it sends Lewis into a caterwauling frenzy that' s a lot of fun to listen to (although the boxy live sound obscures some details). I also dig the nice interplay between McManus and Lewis in the free intro to the lone standard here. The two work splendidly together in just about any situation, sounding great in the churning, raucous "Private, I" -- with some lovely pizz from Linz to boot -- or in the more spacious material the band returns to regularly. It's ringing, resounding music full of life -- this is the best of these discs from McManus.
Jason Bivins CADENCE | Jan - Feb - Mar 2008
From New Jersey's The Record:
A jazz first-stringer
Thursday, September 20, 2007
8 p.m. Thursday, Manhattan
Since beginning guitar lessons in eighth grade, New Jersey native Terrence McManus quickly evolved from a student to a teacher. The busy improv jazz guitarist and onetime music professor at William Paterson University has added the title of record label president to his growing resume.
TELL ME MORE: To glance at his list of current projects is to respect him. Ranging from solo work to sprawling full band efforts, Terrence McManus is downright busy. In addition to solo gigs and studio collaborations, the prolific improv jazz guitarist actively works in a variety of groups including, but not limited to, Tyshawn Sorey's 3-0, the six-piece band Oblique, Castlevania, the Michael Yednak Quartet, the Kermit Driscoll/Terrence McManus Group and the Battaglia/McManus Duo.
To train for such an active career, McManus studied under a variety of teachers, from those of the Greater Hartford Academy of Performing Arts to those of William Paterson University's music program, where he graduated magna cum laude and later taught. McManus also dabbled in education while volunteering as the founding guitarist for the Music and More program in Hasbrouck Heights schools, where he also taught private guitar lessons.
When he's not focusing on his own free-ranging string jams or teaching his skills, the eclectic performer is giving exposure to fellow artists. In 2006, McManus launched the New York-based Flattened Planet Records to spread the tunes of some of his contemporaries, including trumpeter Dave Ballou, laptopist-violist Stefan Smulovitz, drummer Andrew Greenwald, vocalist Viviane Houle and others. Fans can find the 29-year-old's own releases, including his latest collaborative effort, "Pastellic Reflections," on this new label.
HEAR IT HERE: weirdtones.com or myspace.com/terrencemcmanus.
DETAILS: Thursday, The Stone, Avenue C and Second Street, Manhattan. With bassist Kermit Driscoll and drummer Gerry Hemingway. $10. thestonenyc.com.
-- Robert Bieselin
From All About Jazz New York, September 2007
McMancus, Driscoll, Smith at Bar 4
Konceptions, the expansive Sunday night series hosted by pianist James Carney, has made Brooklyn’s Bar 4 a destination for creative music. The early set Aug. 12th featured frequent collaborators guitarist Terrence McManus and bassist Kermit Driscoll, joined by drummer Ches Smith for ambitious explorations of taut rhythmic structures and compositionally informed improvisation. Haunting bowed electric guitar and acoustic bass introduced the set, as Driscoll’s halting, spare line elicited a clipped, repeated guitar phrase — a recurring strategy — that formed the first movement of an episodic piece. The tune ebbed, leaving only McManus’ metallic sound, which he transitioned to a finger-picked phrase. After Driscoll’s burbling turn, a tight unison passage surfaced, urged by Smith’s clever barehanded rolling momentum. McManus used extended techniques — playing on the pickups, bending the neck and using the volume controls for blasts of sound — to vary the textures and extend the trio’s sonic range. Likewise, Driscoll effectively used his bow for contrast and a thick wooden baton to rap the strings for percussive flair. He even opened a song slapping the bass’ (and his own) body, creating a rhythmic dialogue with Smith that underpinned the piece. So tense were the trio’s sinewy lines, the music almost begged for the release of a fourth voice to soar over or counter the dense formations.
~ Sean Fitzell
From All About Jazz New York, August 2007
Terrence McManus: Thirty9Thirty8 & Live at the Clown Lounge
By Elliott Simon
Dave Ballou/Terrence McManus/Devin Gray
Thirty9thirty8
Flattened Planet Records
2006
Terrence McManus/Michael Lewis/Adam Linz/J.T. Bates
Live at the Clown Lounge
Flattened Planet Records
2006
Although legitimate releases, both these sessions, on guitarist Terrence McManus’ own Flattened Planet Records, have the look, feel, intimacy and immediacy of the best bootlegs. The cleverly constructed Thirty9Thirty8 is an encounter with inventive trumpeter Dave Ballou while Live at the Clown Lounge inserts McManus into the Fat Kid Wednesdays trio to create a power quartet.
McManus is a product of the free-formish improvisational jazz scene and he is able to run with the best of that pack including a current stint with bassist Kermit Driscoll’s trio. His fluid style, which can range from delicate to killer fuzz, is tailor-made for both these sessions. Recorded at a club in Ballou’s Baltimore backyard, Thirty9Thirty8 rests on the premise that the only constraint on these musicians is the time of each cut. Their ideas are largely realized with three engaging improvs titled to reflect their times that, along with McManus’ delightfully varied playing, showcase Ballou’s mastery of his horn. Ballou shines on a number of fronts but most notably tone and inventive lines that include some exquisite minor modal playing on the opening track. Drummer Devin Gray acts as a conduit between Ballou and McManus allowing ample room for the guitarist’s breadth. This is clearly the lighter of the two sessions despite doses of electric guitar sound sheeting to kick things off.
While St. Paul, Minn. may seem like an unlikely venue for this sort of thing, its Clown Lounge has played host to some of the country’s best creative music for some time. Once again, McManus engages the homeboys in selecting the entire trio Fat Kid Wednesdays, a house band of sorts at the Clown Lounge, to round out this quartet. Saxophonist Michael Lewis is wonderfully lyrical and matches McManus’ subtlety on a very memorable reworking of the standard “The Days of Wine and Roses” as well as engaging in a smorgasbord of in-tandem in-your-face sax/guitar creativity. The rhythm section of bassist Adam Linz and drummer JT Bates has an exceedingly palpable depth that adds a rich coloration to these tunes that cut across a broad range of forms and formats. McManus is always there with just the right sound whether dropping back to create intriguing chordal surroundings, sharpen the shearingly spiky “Mom Got a New Davenport” or play counterpoint to the deliciously funky rhythm cooked up for “Creepy”. These two gigs, outside comfortable NYC environs, present McManus in diverse and motivating company.
From All About Jazz New York, December 2006
Terrence McManus: Bates/Linz/McManus & Pastellic Reflections
By Matthew Miller
Bates/Linz/ McManus
Flattened Planet
2006
Terrence McManus/Joe Battaglia
Pastellic Reflections
Flattened Planet
2006
One of the joys of completely improvised music is the urgency and utter possibility lurking in each phrase. These provocative new releases, the first two on guitarist Terrence McManus’ Flattened Planet label, restlessly push the improvisational envelope, daringly risking everything in the pursuit of fresh sonic vistas and heightened states of group cohesion.
Bates/Linz/McManus, a trio effort joining drummer J.T Bates, bassist Adam Linz and McManus, begins with a persistent bass motif that Linz doggedly sticks to as Bates enters with off-kilter drum beats and McManus strums dissonant extrapolations. Unified by a common melodic theme, the players nonetheless maintain three distinctly different approaches, occasionally coming together in brief harmony before restlessly setting off on disparate paths.
A collection of trios, duets and solos, the album is a mixture of unique improvisations, ranging from the stuttering trio groove of “x(fin)” to the desolate, distorted soundscape that is “Cataclysm”. McManus’ skills as a guitarist and knack for experimentation are apparent throughout, most strikingly on “Arepticious”, a piece that features his distorted guitar amid patched electronic samples and the kind of stuttering interference that results from holding a cell phone up to an amplifier.
This kind of freewheeling, minimalist improvisational style is a potent mix of jazz, classical and rock. Drawing equally from Jimi Hendrix, Steve Reich and Derek Bailey, McManus and company seem hell-bent on not only creating a unique group sound, but also redefining the role and accepted notions of their respective instruments.
A decidedly different, yet no less experimental, album is Pastellic Reflections. The improvised duo features McManus with fellow guitarist Joe Battaglia, performing acoustic pieces that show the striking sonic capabilities of two unplugged instruments.
Metallic punctuations and harmonic bell tones ring out on the title track, after a series of atonal chords break the silence over the grating scratch of a pick against wound, metallic strings. The two guitars, at times indistinguishable, blend sonorously before becoming distinct. Battaglia’s steel-stringed acoustic, the more jarring of the pair, producing slapped, metallic rhythms against McManus’ softer, Spanish-tinged nylon strings. “White Blood Cells”, a 5+ minute tour-de-force that features the duo at its most cohesive, begins with muffled notes and chords from McManus’ guitar before Battaglia joins, adding jarring dissonances, contrapuntal lines and open strummed chords. The episodic piece builds to a peak before contracting to muted rumblings and quietly rambling 8th note lines, only to build again. Both guitarists explore different effects, tapping percussively on the guitar’s body to contrast a complex accompanying line or pounding the strings to produce resounding walls of sound from chords with no distinguishable tonal center. “Industrial Evolution” mimics intricate, mechanized workings with rapidly picked, staccato passages and finds the duo creating tension by playing at opposite ends of their shared range. The two men solo with conviction and freedom, creating music as rewarding as it is challenging.
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