Composer, vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Karen Mantler returns to the stage with her collection of songs about the current times we live in. Her distinctive voice and chromatic harmonica playing are featured in tales of woe offset by deadpan humor and bluntly elegant compositions. Set in a fascinating minimalist context, she is supported by Doug Wieselman on guitar and bass clarinet and Kato Hideki on bass.
Karen Mantler is the daughter of jazz musicians Carla Bley and Michael Mantler. As a songwriter and bandleader, she has attracted a world-class roster of musicians to her band over the years, including Steven Bernstein, Eric Mingus, Arturo O’Farrill, and Doug Wieselman. As an instrumentalist and vocalist, Mantler has performed frequently in Europe with various musicians, most notably John Greaves, Chris Cutler, Peter Blegvad, Dagmar Krause and Annie Whitehead. As a Hammond organ player, Karen toured and recorded with The Carla Bley Big Band from 1988 – 2009. She was also a cast member of the live performances of Escalator Over The Hill in 1997, 1998 and 2006. She appeared in many Hal Willner productions over the years. Robert Wyatt included three of Karen’s compositions on his 2003 recording, Cuckooland, which also featured her on chromatic harmonica and vocals. She was briefly a member of Anton Fier’s band The Golden Palominos in 2013. Her 5th CD as a leader (featuring Doug Wieselman and Kato Hideki) was released in 2014 on the label XtraWATT (ECM). Downbeat magazine gave the album 4 1/2 stars. She appears on the Ghost Train Orchestra / Kronos Quartet recording Song and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog as a guest vocalist and chromatic harmonica player and has performed with them several times in NYC. In 2024, she played chromatic harmonica and Hammond organ on her mother’s final big band arrangement “Blue Palestine”, which was commissioned by Arturo O’Farrill for The Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra and appears on his recording Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley.
Kato Hideki is a composer, musician & producer. His compositions include: Hope & Despair featuring Dougie Bowne, Zeena Parkins & John Zorn; Tremolo of Joy featuring Charles Burnham, Briggan Krauss, Ed Tomney & Calvin Weston; and Tokoshieni for Ballet X, which was performed at the Kennedy Center and was awarded the Charles and Joan Gross Family Prize. His collaborations include Death Ambient with Fred Frith & Ikue Mori; The Walk with Kramer; and OMNI with Toshimaru Nakamura and Tetuzi Akiyama. As a musician, he has worked with Tony Buck, Eyvind Kang, Christian Marclay, Arturo O’Farrill, Yoshihide Otomo, Marc Ribot and many others. He has produced albums for Eszter Balint, Karen Mantler and Stew.
Doug Wieselman is a composer, arranger and musician. He co-leads Kamikaze Ground Crew who have recorded 5 albums as well as leading his own ensemble – Trio S with Jane Scarpantoni and Kenny Wollesen. As a musician, he worked with Hal Willner, Bill Frisell, Eyvind Kang, Robin Holcomb, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed, Steven Bernstein, Martha Wainwright, CocoRosie and John Lurie and the Lounge Lizards, among many others. In theater he has worked with director Robert Woodruff and the Flying Karamazov Brothers, in dance with Jerome Robbins and Paul Taylor. For 7 years he composed music for the hit Nick Jr. cartoon show The Backyardigans in association with Evan Lurie.