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1.
An Encounter 03:49
2.
Araby 04:15
3.
All Songs Turn to Madness 03:58
4.
After the Race 04:27
5.
Little Cloud 05:07
6.
Nobody Cares 04:07
7.
Please don't kill yourself today 04:34
8.
Autumn Leaves 04:03
9.
A Mother's Love 03:57
10.
Be Still My Soul 04:59
11.
I'd Rather Be in France 04:11

about

ZeJoice was recorded in a series of sessions from January to September 2009. I began by creating rhythm tracks sampled from Tom Ze's "Make it yourself" second disc from Jogos Dos Armar. Then I created some of the melodic structure with keyboards. At this point Ben Jaffe laid down a tenor track, which I often kept almost entirely intact. On separate occasions Tom Jameson and Marc Greene came in and recorded on selected tracks. I decided to try to write lyrics which were about each one of the stories in James Joyce's Dubliners as I have been working on a collection of short stories in this way. I took some considerable liberties, as I chose to perform Autumn Leaves as a counterpart to the story called Clay. I had finished all of the tracks but one, as another school year was shortly upon me when my father, Joe Maneri died. When I returned after a week at his side in the hospital, I was inspired to finish the last track with the words and melody to his favorite hymn, Be Still My Soul. The feelings I had were still very raw when I recorded my vocal track, and I just about couldn't contain myself as I got to the very end. I decided to leave that very raw recording in, as a reminder of that time in my life. Moments after I recorded it, I called Ben, and he came over to record his track only about an hour or so later. As he had been a student of Joe's, he too was in the very early stages of grief. As I had been editing each track as I went along, the album was finished only a few weeks later. Ben and I performed some of these tracks in November of 2009 at my rememberance concert for Joe Maneri at the old Freddy's Backroom. Two songs from this concert are on youtube. Here is a link to Be Still My Soul: www.youtube.com/watch?v=YomvzUL-AFY

My sincerest gratitude goes out to all the people who shared in making this music, Michael Beharie who pretty much made this site for me, my wife Kristine who remains my biggest fan and my most profound inspiration and all of you who have come out to support my music over the years.

Thank You,

This album is dedicated to the memory of my father, Joseph Gabriel Maneri (1927-2009)

credits

released May 10, 2011

Album Credits:

Abe Maneri: Nord Electro 2, Nord Lead 2x, samples, production, voice, words and music except for Be Still My Soul (Words:Katharina von Schlegel, 1752. Music: Jean Sibelius) and Autumn Leaves (Joseph Kosma and lyrics by poet Jacques Prévert)

Ben Jaffe: Tenor Saxophone

Tom Jameson: Electric guitar on Counterparts, Evelyn and Araby. Piano on Counterparts.

Marc Greene: Electric Bass on Evelyn, Araby, An Encounter, and Little Cloud.

Joe Maneri can be heard on Little Cloud. The samples are from a recording he did with my mother, Sonja Maneri, at a Library in Marlboro Massachusetts in 1972.

All of these songs contain samples from Tom Ze's "Make it yourself" second disc from Jogos Dos Armar.

Album cover art by Ron Hartley. Photo by Mary Ann Hartley.

Recorded at 949 President Street from January to September 2009.

Reviews:

"Near the very end of the evening, Abe Maneri spoke about his relationship to his father and told us that he would perform one of Joe’s favorite hymns. Sounds fine, right? So simple. If I had not been sitting down, the performance would have knocked me on my can. Abe sang the hymn straight. The melody and words were recognizable. But with it, Abe played the piano. I didn’t even know he played the piano. But he did not just play it. He transformed the instrument with energy and clashing sonorities. You’ve probably seen professional choral groups listen to a tuning device before singing. The ear is a delicate thing when it comes to intonation. Abe sang the hymn straight and with almost casual concentration while he hit the keyboard with clusters and a variety of other tools of dissonance. The effect was something like having two radio stations tuned in at the same time, only better. It struck me as an intentional Cagean performance, even though such intention would be “illegal” for Cage."

--Stu Vandermark, Boston Jazz Scene

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Abe Maneri and the Agnostic Hep Cats image

Abe Maneri and the Agnostic Hep Cats Brooklyn, New York

Abe Maneri has studied music directly and indirectly his whole life; starting out on violin at the age of 4, cello at age 9, piano, recorders, guitar, voice, percussion, and clarinet there after. He has performed with many noted musicians including Joe and Mat Maneri, Jessica Jones, Sabir Mateen, Assif Tsahar and John Medeski. ... more

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