Manfred Mann Chapter Three

Circus

Thanks to Mick Maloney

There's security in selling records, security in being commercial and having the where-with-all to turn one's back on what's successful in hopes of finding a more rewarding outlet for creativity is commendable. Manfred Mann, chart toppers from England have done just that. Ignoring the sound that identified the group for so many years, Manfred Mann has added horns to his line-up and the name Chapter Three. The result isn't exactly causing fires to burn across the country, but the sound is intricate and experimental, a positive direction for any musical group.

The music is a blend of jazz and rock, but distinctly away from Blood, 'Sweat and Tears. One critic suggested that; like Pentangle in another area of music, Manfred Mann Chapter Three is far ahead of the usual rock audience. Manfred himself explains, "When I was in England I was much more trying to play strange music, but now I'm just sort' of getting into a funky groove and getting much less contrived. Listen to a jazz group, then listen to us," he suggested. "We sound like jazz next to a rock group, but next to a jazz band, it's all rock."

The band now consists of Mann, who plays organ, Mike Hugg on piano, Craig Collinge beating the drums, Bernard Living on alto flute, Steve York on bass and harmonica. The brass section is Sonny Corbett on trumpet, Carl Griffith playing tenor sax and flute, Paul Rutherford on trombone, and Dave Coxhill on baritone sax and flute. Conspicuously missing is a guitarist. John Mayall dispensed with drums, but a group without a guitarist? "As Mike was playing piano and I was playing organ," Mann reasoned, "it seemed like another chord instrument would be too much. What's the difference between a horn playing a part or a guitar playing the same thing? We just fiddled about for a long time trying various people and these guys just dropped in and out and we finally wound up with the right people. But we didn't want rock musicians and we didn't want jazz musicians; we wanted to find people who were willing to play rock yet they were playing horns. That's the thing we're looking for."

The group has recently released an album on Polydor with the new sound and have just completed touring the States.  They've had extraordinarv success in England with a string of top twenty hits. Manfred says the reaction there ~ is "extremely mixed." He believes "there's a small amount of people who are really knocked out and quite a lot of people who are confused, or just don't like it. I think we're hindered in England to some extent by our name. It has associations. It's not hip to dig Manfred Mann. It's associated not with teeny bopper music but top twenty records. What we're doing now doesn't fall within that market and it's difficult to get the audience."

Mann has been around a long time. Back in 1963 he and Mike Hugg, alwavs the nucleus of the group, had a hit song, "Doo-Wah-Diddy." The group back then was far more standardized. With Manfred and Mike, who incidentally played the drums and vibes back then, and Tom McGuinness on lead guitar, Plastic Ono Band member Klaus Voorman on bass and Michael D'Abo singing, the group was on its candy coated way. But, had ideas for a  group crystallised. "We'd like to remain a pop group," he said a few years back, "but also develop the instrumental side of our work, especially for America where the market is so great."

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