THE JAZZ COMPOSER'S     ORCHESTRA

     JCOA 1001/2 

     Soloists
     Don Cherry  (cornet)
     Gato Barbieri
(tenor saxophone)
     Larry Coryell 
(guitar)
     Roswell Rudd 
(trombone)
     Pharoah Sanders 
(tenor saxophone)
     Cecil Taylor 
(piano)

     Orchestra

        conducted by Michael Mantler
     7 saxophones
        (Steve Lacy, Jimmy Lyons, Frank 
        
Wess, Lew Tabackin, Charles Davis, 
         and others)
     7 brass
        (Randy Brecker, Bob Northern,
         Julius Watkins, Jimmy Knepper,
         Howard Johnson, and others)
     piano
        (Carla Bley)
     5 basses
        (Steve Swallow, Charlie Haden, 
         Reggie Workman, Eddie Gomez,
         Ron Carter, and others) 
     drums
        (Andrew Cyrille, or Beaver Harris)

     recorded January, May, June 1968
     New York

 

TITLES
 
Communications #8 / Communications #9 / Communications #10 / Preview / Communications #11
scores available here
listen to selected excerpts
 
REVIEWS

The silver-boxed Jazz Composer's Orchestra double album ......... was one of the most important jazz records in the Sixties ..... some of the most remarkable music of the last decade....
- MELODY MAKER

Placed within a framework of truly impressive free form compositions by Michael Mantler, the soloists perform at the very peak of their musical gifts........By any standard of musical excellence, it is a masterpiece.
- ROLLING STONE

This is the most forceful sustained performance that Taylor has recorded, and one of his very best as well.
- DOWN BEAT

Finally a towering orchestra response from the new music - the complete and hard burn. This is something that anyone interested in contemporary music and thought can't be without. All these forceful movers are channeled toward utter excitation, with a sound so much of now that it turns you around, cuts you deeply and stirs you as nothing before ... Michael Mantler, already an overwhelming mind at the age of 25, has made all this a reality (he's musical director of JCOA). Mike has built meaningful masterworks as features for his soloists; his scores seem intuitive, propelling and cushioning the players. The compositions overflow with the exciting and the unexpected.
- JAZZ & POP

This music heralds a new stylistic current, which might have a powerful influence not only on the future of jazz but on the future of the whole of contemporary music.
- JAZZ FORUM

The record is a stunning musical success....
- TORONTO DAILY STAR

JAZZ ALBUM OF THE YEAR  (International Critics Poll 1968 - JAZZ & POP)

GRAND PRIX DU DISQUE DE L'ACADÉMIE CHARLES CROS  (France)

 

 
 
 
 
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