Rahul Sharma (Editor)

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (album)

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Released
  
1968 (1968)

Length
  
73:40

Release date
  
1968

Label
  
ECM Records

Recorded
  
January–July, 1968

Artist
  
Jazz Composer's Orchestra

Producer
  
Michael Mantler

Genres
  
Jazz, Free jazz

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (album) httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaen331Com

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (1968)
  
Relativity Suite (1973)

Similar
  
Jazz Composer's Orchestra albums, Jazz albums

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 double album from the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.

Contents

Mantler "updated" the album in 2014 as "The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Update" on ECM Records. It features the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band, a new orchestra with parallel orchestra instrumentation conducted by Christoph Cech, and new soloists: Michael Mantler (trumpet), Bjarne Roupé (guitar), Wolfgang Puschnig (alto saxophone), Harry Sokal (tenor saxophone), David Helbock (piano), and the radio.string.quartet.vienna.

Reception

Langdon Winner's Rolling Stone review stated "This is a record which all rock musicians as well as general audiences should listen to with care. The first JCOA album is a summit meeting on the Mount Olympus of contemporary jazz which deserves wide attention... By any standard of musical excellence it is a masterpiece." Brian Olewnick of Allmusic stated: "The breadth of this piece, its expansiveness, and its tension between order and chaos is one of the single high-water marks of avant-garde jazz. Communications is a masterwork in and of itself and laid the basis for stunning work by others in decades hence, notably Barry Guy and his London Jazz Composer's Orchestra. It's an essential document for anyone interested in avant jazz and late-20th century creative music"

Track listing

All tracks by Michael Mantler.

  1. "Communications #8" – 14:03
  2. "Communications #9" – 8:14
  3. "Communications #10" – 13:42
  4. "Preview" – 3:29
  5. "Communications #11" (part 1) – 15:32
  6. "Communications #11" (part 2) – 18:14

Personnel

  • Gato Barbieri – tenor saxophone
  • Carla Bley – piano
  • Ron Carter – bass
  • Don Cherry – cornet, trumpet
  • Larry Coryell – guitar
  • Andrew Cyrille – drums
  • Richard Davis – bass
  • Eddie Gómez – bass
  • Beaver Harris – drums
  • Jimmy Knepper – trombone
  • Steve Lacy – soprano saxophone
  • Jimmy Lyons – alto saxophone
  • Michael Mantler – conductor, producer, coordination, project coordinator
  • Roswell Rudd – trombone
  • Steve Swallow – bass
  • Lew Tabackin – tenor saxophone
  • Cecil Taylor – piano, liner notes
  • Julius Watkins – French horn
  • Howard Johnson – tuba
  • Reggie Johnson – bass
  • Steve Marcus – soprano saxophone
  • Charles Davis – baritone saxophone
  • Alan Silva – bass
  • George Barrow – tenor saxophone
  • Randy Brecker – flugelhorn
  • Kent Carter – bass
  • Bob Cunningham – bass
  • Bob Donovan – alto saxophone
  • Stephen Furtado – flugelhorn
  • Al Gibbons – soprano saxophone
  • Paul Goodman – engineer
  • Charlie Haden – bass
  • Paul Haines – liner notes
  • Gene Hull – alto saxophone
  • Jack Jeffers – bass trombone
  • Lloyd Michels – flugelhorn
  • Bob Northern – French horn
  • Reggie Workman – bass
  • Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone
  • Frank Wess – alto saxophone
  • Timothy Marquand – liner notes
  • Paul McDonough – artwork, cover design

    • Songs

    1Communications #814:09
    2Communications #98:19
    3Communications #1013:47

    References

    The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (album) Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA