Misha Mengelberg

He was born in Kiev in Ukraine, the son of the conductor Karel Mengelberg, who was himself the nephew of the conductor Willem Mengelberg. He briefly studied architecture before entering the Royal Conservatory in The Hague where he studied music from 1958 to 1964. While there he won first prize at a jazz festival in Loosdrecht and became associated with Fluxus. His early influences included Thelonious Monk and John Cage, who he heard lecture at Darmstadt.

His first appearance on record was on Eric Dolphy's last album, Last Date (1964). Also on that record was the drummer Han Bennink, and the two of them, together with Piet Noordijk formed a quartet which had a number of different bassists, and which played at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1966. In 1967 he co-founded the Instant Composers Pool, an organisation which promoted avant garde Dutch jazz performances and recordings, with Bennink and Willem Breuker.

Mengelberg has played with a large variety of musicians. He has often performed in a duo with fellow Dutchman Bennink, with other collaborators including Derek Bailey, Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker and (on the flip side of a live recording with Dolphy) his pet parrot. He has also written music for others to perform (generally leaving some room for improvisation) and has overseen a number of music theatre productions, which usually include a large element of absurdist humour.

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