Album Review: Mandoki Soulmates – A Memory of Our Future

Maybe you’ve heard of Mandoki Soulmates; until very recently I was completely unfamiliar with the jazz-prog supergroup – more of a collective, really – founded in 1992 by German-Hungarian musician and composer Leslie Mándoki. The group (as People) released two albums in the 1990s, and after re-branding as Mandoki Soulmates, they went on to release nearly a dozen more. The earliest lineup of the ensemble featured Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull), Jack Bruce (Cream) and Al DiMeola; heavy weights all. Subsequent released have features appearances by a long (too long to enumerate here) list of contributors. The group’s ethos is to advocate for the sociopolitical relevance of progressive jazz-rock; a tall order indeed.

The gorup’s latest release is 2024’s A Memory of our Future. It makes use of Madoki Soulmates’ by-now customary approach of bringing in all manner of musicians. This time around the list once again includes Anderson and DiMeola (Bruce passed away in 2014); other musicians include Mike Stern, Randy Brecker, Simon Phillips, John Helliwell (Supertramp) and Mark Hart (Supertramp, Crowded House) and at least a half dozen others.

Supergroup projects are, by definition, a very mixed bag. Blind Faith was aptly named. The Prog Collective has soared high, but it has also churned out some duds. So for the uninitiated, approaching A Memory of Our Future brings a skeptical attitude. All of this would fall into the very nice, but… category were it not for a solid set of tunes.

There’s a strongly melodic, mainstream feel to the songs. A progressive undercurrent adds welcome complexity, but not in a way that makes the music challenging. If there’s any modern point of reference for Mandoki Soulmates, it might be Phil Collins era Genesis, though it should be noted that the two groups sound little like each other. It’s more that there’s a catchy, accessible quality shared by both.

Anderson’s flute is prominent on tracks like “Blood in the Water.” It’s interesting to hear him play in a context that’s wholly removed from Tull; no one would mistake this music for Anderson’s band.

Mandoki is a percussionist, so it’s no surprise that drumming is central to many of the tracks. “Enigma of Reason” is such a track; it’s vaguely reminiscent of Peter Gabriel’s most commercial efforts. A yearning, melancholy and contemplative character informs it, and those qualities are consistent throughout the whole set. “The Big Quit” is a bit funkier, wih a skittery beat and some appealing – and unexpected use of acoustic guitar textures. The topical lyrics are thoughtful without being heavy-handedly preachy.

The tunes are a pleasingly varied lot, ranging from silky balladeering (“I Am Because You Are”) to light jazz (“Age of Thought”). One thing A Memory of our Future does comparatively little of is rock. There’s some musical and accomplished playing, to be sure, but the material isn’t designed for fist-pumping. The chugging “We Stay Loud” comes closest to a rock vibe, but the big vocal chorus and brass places it in a more pop-oriented mindset. The musicianship is never less than first-rate, and the melodies are strong without veering into cliché.

Mandoki is quite serious about this project: review copies were packaged with a trade paperback book an inch thick, a spiral-bound volume of press quotes, and a thick magazine’s worth of production notes and lyrics (in English and German) plus many color photos. Recorded using warm old-fashioned analog technology, A Memory of Our Future is released on vinyl (though my review copy is on compact disc).