Jazz Composers Orchestra Famous Silver Double LP

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The Jazz Composer's Orchestra was an American jazz group founded by Carla Bley and Michael Mantler in 1965 to further orchestral avant-garde jazz.

Its origins lay in the Jazz Composers Guild, an organization founded by Bill Dixon which grew out of the series of 1964 concerts in New York, known as the "October Revolution in Jazz" and subsequent regular performance settings. A big band, formed by Bley and Mantler, became known as the Jazz Composers Guild Orchestra, which made its first record in April 1965. After the demise of the Guild, the big band continued as the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. A non-profit organisation was established in 1966, the Jazz Composers Orchestra Association Inc. (JCOA).

The Orchestra's first release was Communication in 1965. Their 1968 double-album The Jazz Composer's Orchestra featured soloists Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Larry Coryell, and Gato Barbieri.[1]

JCOA Records was founded for releases from the Orchestra and its members.

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer.[4] 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.

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."[2]

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." 

Personnel

·       Michael Mantler – conductor, composer, 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

Production

·       Paul Goodman – engineer

·       Paul Haines – liner notes

·       Paul McDonough – artwork, cover design

·       Timothy Marquand – liner notes

(from Wikipedia)