THE JAZZ COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra 

(1968 / Full Album)

This is one of the most cacophonous things I have ever heard. It makes Sun Ra sound like Benny Goodman. Im reminded of a class I took many years ago at North Texas. It was required, and it was taught by Morgan Powell. It was called Jazz appreciation or some such thing. Its purpose was to expose students to music they might have never encountered before. There was nothing new to me until he played one recording, Ornette Colman’s Double Quartette. 50 years ago I couldn't get into it and neither today can I. This recording to me is a big band representation of the same thing. But as it was 50 years ago, it’s something worth listening to and trying to understand.  BTW, I don’t

German-born composer/trumpeter Michael Mantler and his then-wife Carla Bley were instrumental in developing within jazz the idea of self-sufficiency and independence from established record companies. Their creation of the Jazz Composer's Orchestra, with recordings released on their own label, was the culmination of this endeavor, and the first recording was one of the masterpieces of creative music in the '60s. Mantler had come from the European avant-classical tradition and sought to provide an orchestral framework supporting some of the most advanced musicians in avant-garde jazz -- and he succeeded magnificently. His style tends toward the brooding and darkly romantic with harsh, cynical edges, a perfect foil for the robust, shackle-breaking improvisations found herein. The cloudy, roiling swirls that open "Communications #8," echoed by Bley's stabbing piano chords, lay the groundwork for inspired soloing by Don Cherry and the pre-Last Tango and still extremely fiery Gato Barbieri. Subsequent pieces include an amazing feedback showcase for Larry Coryell and a gorgeous, somber work featuring bassist Steve Swallow and trombonist Roswell Rudd. All of this is a preview for, well, "Preview," an utterly incendiary flight by Pharoah Sanders over a pounding rhythm by the orchestra, a piece that will leave the listener bruised, battered, and exhilarated. Except that the best is yet to come: a 34-minute, two-part composition, a concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra, that finds the pianist at the height of his powers, just beginning to enter the third phase of his development where he fused ultra-high energy playing with rigorous logic and heartbreaking beauty. The breadth of this piece, its expansiveness, and its tension between order and chaos is one of the single high watermarks 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.

• Michael Mantler – conductor, producer

• Don Cherry – cornet, trumpet

• Randy Brecker – flugelhorn

• Stephen Furtado – flugelhorn

• Lloyd Michels – flugelhorn

• Bob Northern – French horn

• Julius Watkins – French horn

• Jimmy Knepper – trombone

• Roswell Rudd – trombone

• Jack Jeffers – bass trombone

• Howard Johnson – tuba

• Al Gibbons – soprano saxophone

• Steve Lacy – soprano saxophone

• Steve Marcus – soprano saxophone

• Bob Donovan – alto saxophone

• Gene Hull – alto saxophone

• Jimmy Lyons – alto saxophone

• Frank Wess – alto saxophone

• George Barrow – tenor saxophone

• Gato Barbieri – tenor saxophone

• Pharoah Sanders – tenor saxophone

• Lew Tabackin – tenor saxophone

• Charles Davis – baritone saxophone

• Carla Bley – piano

• Cecil Taylor – piano, liner notes

• Larry Coryell – guitar

• Kent Carter – bass

• Ron Carter – bass

• Bob Cunningham – bass

• Richard Davis – bass

• Eddie Gomez – bass

• Charlie Haden – bass

• Reggie Johnson – bass

• Alan Silva – bass

• Steve Swallow – bass

• Reggie Workman – bass

• Andrew Cyrille – drums

• Beaver Harris – drums