Mengelberg, Misha
Mengelberg, Misha
Mengelberg, Misha, Russian pianist, composer; b. Kiev, Uraine, USSR, June 5, 1935. He moved at an early age to the Netherlands, where his father was a conductor. He studied composition at the Royal Cons, in The Hague but was immersed in jazz activity. In 1964 he, along with drummer Han Bennink and bassist Jacques Schols, backed U.S. reedman Eric Dolphy on his last studio session (Last Date). In the mid-1970s he formed the I.C.P. lOtet, followed by the I.C.P. Orch., a group that still performs works by Mengelberg and its members, as well as those of Duke Ellington, Theloni-ous Monk, and Herbie Nichols, all major influences on his piano and composition style. Since the early 1980s, he has also led small groups and maintained a parallel career as a composer for orchestras and chamber ensembles. His piano style stems from the percussive lineage of such players as Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk: spare, dissonant, and effective. He will frequently mix his performances with absurdist touches that derive from an early association with the Fluxus movement.
Discography
Driekusman Total Loss (1964–66); Change of Season (1984); I.C.P. Orch.—Bospaadje Konijnenhol I & II (1986–91); Dutch Masters (1987); Impromptus (1988); Mix (1994); Who’s Bridge (1994); Impromptus (1995).
—Robert Iannapolto