Manteca - New World Jazz for the New World

new world jazz for the new world

Manteca is an award winning pan-cultural artists collective founded in Toronto , Canada 44 years ago.

Defining their music as ‘jazz adjacent / heavy metal hoedown’, the nine- member group composed from numerous ethnic, musical and geographic directions, is known globally for their original recordings and powerhouse concerts. Their unique ensemble spirit sparks audiences to their feet and has made them crowd favorites from the Hollywood Bowl to the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Manteca’s hyper original compositions feature some of the most respected soloists in Canadian jazz and have been critically acclaimed all over the world. Their creative output is prodigious with 14 releases, seven of which have been released in the past 15 years alone.

“One of contemporary music’s most accomplished and original artists.” - Jazz Times

“Gut grabbing originality.” - Toronto Star

”Wildly spirited and yet remarkably controlled. Everything is in balance, utopian indeed.” - The Globe & Mail

“A view of world jazz that seems limitless - party music the way the cats in long ago Nawlins originally envisioned it. Space station party music done right.” - Mid Western Record

18 Aug 2023

MANTECA – “THE OFFSPRING PROJECT”

It was a grey fall day in 2020, mid-pandemic. I’m driving along Sherbrooke Street in Montreal, talking on the phone, handsfree, of course, to our woodwind department, Colleen Allen: “I feel like the next record should be a project, something with an idea behind it. We’ve been making records since 1979; if we just do another eight songs, what’s the story? Who’s going to care about that?” “You mean like Read More

THE STORY 14 cds 1 Juno

Manteca is a Juno Award winning, Toronto based, pan cultural, artists collective, founded by bassist Henry Heillig and myself in 1979.

We are nine. On September 15, 2023 Manteca released its 14th recording “The Offspring Project” worldwide.

The band has toured globally performing at prestigious jazz and cultural festivals from Los Angeles to Stockholm.

Manteca’s archives have been collected by the National Library of Canada and the Canadian Museum of History.

THE BACKSTORY

This band has been part of my life for 44 years. If you could stand on stage at my position, enveloped in that semi-circle of musical power, grace, impact and joy, you’d know in a heartbeat why I haven’t missed a downbeat in 44 years, 14 recordings and tours all over the world. I am so proud of the players, past and present, who have made the Manteca journey a trip out of this world.

Over the years I have written so often about Manteca that words have begun to fail me. So, I’m going to give two critics the last word.

In 1989 the Globe and Mail Jazz Critic Mark Miller called Manteca;

“A friendly, sensuously-attractive place to visit – a musical utopia…it is evocative, even ethereal and yet it can also have great physical presence, it is wildly spirited and yet remarkably controlled. Everything is in balance, utopian indeed.”

Fast forward to 2020 and these words from critic Chris Spector:

“So, here’s some funky futurists that have been at it 41 years, copped a Juno and still manage to heat up the frozen North with their view of world jazz that seems limitless. Collecting moves from the past and the future and fusing them into their own version of fusion, this is easily a nu take on jazz as party music–the way the cats in long ago Nawlins originally envisioned it. Space station party music done right."

Houston, we have no problem.

August 17, 2022 - 8:00 PM Opening Concert Markham Jazz Festival - Markham Museum 9350 Markham Road, Markham, Ontario www.markhamjazzfestival.com - Tickets are here:
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/manteca-live-and-in-concert-tickets-372160190147?aff=ebdssbdestsearch

August 19, 2022 - 7:30 Prince Edward County Jazz Festival - Regent Theatre, 224 Main St. Picton, ON. K0K 2T0 info@pecjazz.org

March 8 - Manteca Presents: Road Stories at Revolution w/ Special Guests Elizabeth Shepherd & John Orpheus - tickets:

https://mantecamusic.bandcamp.com/merch/manteca-presents-road-stories-at-revolution-with-special-guests-elizabeth-shepherd-john-orpheus

March 15 Manteca Presents: Road Stories at Revolution with Special Guests Clerel & Lyne Tremblay tickets:

https://mantecamusic.bandcamp.com/merch/manteca-presents-road-stories-at-revolution-with-special-guests-clerel-lyne-tremblay

March 22 Manteca Presents: Road Stories at Revolution w/ Special Guests Whitehorse & Chelsea McBride feat. Jackson Welchner tickets:

https://mantecamusic.bandcamp.com/merch/manteca-presents-road-stories-at-revolution-with-special-guests-whitehorse-chelsea-mcbride

March 23 7:30 Road Stories From Revolution -Toronto -Live performance / prerecord

March 24 7:30 Road Stories From Revolution -Toronto - Live performance / prerecord

March 25 7:30 Road Stories From Revolution - Toronto - Live performance / prerecord

2019

July 4 11:00 PM Festival International de Jazz de Montréal - Les Sessions Heineken - montrealjazzfest.com

July 5 11:00 PM Festival International de Jazz de Montréal - Les Sessions Heineken -montrealjazzfest.com

July 6 11:00 PM Festival International de Jazz de Montréal - Les Sessions Heineken - montrealjazzfest.com

September 14 6:00 PM Kensington Market Jazz Festival - El Gordo's Backyard BBQ 218 August Ave Toronto

November 6 7:30 PM First Ontario Performing Arts Centre Partridge Hall, St. Catharines, Ontario https://www.firstontariopac.ca

2022