The Manhattan Project (album)

The Manhattan Project
Studio album by The Manhattan Project
Released	1990
Recorded	December 16, 1989
Genre	Jazz fusion
Label	Blue Note
Producer	Lenny White

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Allmusic	[1]

The Manhattan Project is a jazz fusion album, the only recording to be made by a band of the same name comprising Wayne Shorter, Michel Petrucciani, Stanley Clarke, Lenny White, Gil Goldstein and Pete Levin. The arrangements were written by Lenny White and Gil Goldstein, and the album was recorded live before an audience at Chelsea Studios, New York, with Alec Head engineering. Executive producers were Michael Cuscuna and Stephen Reed.

The project was the brainchild of White, who proposed transforming traditional jazz standards based on saxophone/piano arrangements with multiple synthesizers. The musicians invited for the project ranged from jazz traditionalist Petrucciani to longtime fusion experimenter Clarke.^[2] The project was also just one of many collaborations between White and Clarke.^[3] The musicians experimented with blues and funk arrangements of the standard jazz songs, and used both electric and acoustic instruments.^[4]

The 1989 album has since been augmented by a DVD featuring a performance filmed the same year and released in 2005.^[5] The performance included a seven-song set by Shorter, Petrucciani, Clarke, and White.^[6]

Track listing

1. "Old Wine, New Bottles" (Lenny White) – 6:54
2. "Dania" (Jaco Pastorious)– 7:38
3. "Michel's Waltz" (Michel Petrucciani) – 4:40
4. "Stella by Starlight" (Ned Washington, Victor Young) – 8:45
5. "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (Charles Mingus) - 9:28
6. "Virgo Rising" (Wayne Shorter) - 5:41
7. "Nefertiti" (Wayne Shorter) - 8:54
8. "Summertime" (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, DuBose Heyward) - 8:54

Personnel

• Wayne Shorter - Tenor and Soprano Saxophone
• Michel Petrucciani - Piano
• Stanley Clarke - Acoustic and Electric Bass
• Lenny White - Drums
• Gil Goldstein - Keyboards
• Pete Levin - Keyboards

References