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, Steve
Marcus, Jimmy Lyons,
Frank Wess,
Lew Tabackin, George Barrow,
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, Richard Davis,
and others)
drums
(Andrew Cyrille, or Beaver
Harris)
recorded January,
May, June 1968
New York
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)
