Manfred Mann Chapter Three

Manfred Mann Chapter Three was a British experimental jazz rock band founded by South African keyboard player Manfred Mann and long-time partner Mike Hugg. The line-up for its debut at Newcastle's Mayfair Ballroom on 24 October 1969 was; Mike Hugg, Mann, Bernie Living, Steve York and Craig Collinge, augmented by a five-piece brass section of Clive Stevens, Carl Griffiths, Dave Coxhill, Gerald Drewett and Sonny Corbett. The band's approach centred on the "time, no changes" approach of Miles Davis and John Coltrane applied to slow, funky grooves with voodoo lyrics inspired by Dr John alternating with blaring big-band horn riffs and improvised free-jazz solos reminiscent of Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler. Although intelligible at a time when artists like Davis himself were crossing over into the rock/funk field and American "jazz-rock" ensembles such as Blood, Sweat and Tears and The Mothers of Invention espoused brass sections and atonality, the formula was limited and the band expensive to maintain, so it was short-lived and disbanded after two albums. A third album was recorded in 1971, but shelved before its release.