A key composer and saxophonist of the free jazz movement, Joe Maneri became a professional musician at 15, playing clarinet and saxophones. He was experimenting with atonal playing as early as the mid-40s while teaching and performing with a variety of ethnic Jewish, Greek, and Middle Eastern bands. In 1960, he was commissioned to complete a piano piece for a program of music presented at the Carnegie Recital Hall. The resulting work proved so advanced and dauntingly complex that it remained unperformed for two decades. During the '70s, Maneri explored microtonal music but had all but abandoned public performance. An appearance with Carla Bley at the 1992 Montreal Jazz Festival helped revive his career. He subsequently recorded for ECM Records, often with his violinist son, Mat.