Me, Myself and Eye: Mat Maneri
440 Gallery440 6th Avenue, New York 11215
Mat Maneri appears solo in the Me, Myself and Eye series, curated by Michel Gentile. Begun in 2015, the ongoing 440 Gallery program presents a different solo improviser each month, with each musician performing surrounded by a new installation in the gallery. Maneri’s set brings the series’ meeting of visual art and improvised music to this Brooklyn date.
Born in Brooklyn in 1969, Maneri has spent a twenty-five-year career defining a voice for viola and violin in jazz and improvised music. He has built an international reputation as one of his generation’s most original and compelling artists, recognized for a highly individual approach, a distinctive marriage of jazz and microtonal music, and work with 20th-century icons of improvised music. All About Jazz wrote that “Mat Maneri has changed the way the jazz world listens to the Violin & Viola.”
440 Gallery is a basement club in Brooklyn where music is the centerpiece, not a side attraction. The room is modest, with a stage and a few rows of seats, and the audience sits close enough to feel the energy of the performers. Shows are ticketed, and buying ahead is recommended, with a cover typically required. The evening is about listening; the walls are bare, the lighting is simple, and the focus is on the music. There's a bar, and people drink while they listen, but the atmosphere is quiet and respectful. It's a place where musicians play for an audience that appreciates the performance, not just the act of being there.