Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra

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Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra
General information
Genre (s) Free jazz
founding 1988
Founding members
Trumpet
 Benny Bailey , Thomas Heberer , Henry Lowther
Flugelhorn
 Kenny Wheeler
trombone
 Henning Berg , Hermann Breuer , Hubert Katzenbeier
Bass trombone
 Utz Zimmermann
Alto saxophone
 Paul van Kemenade , Felix Wahnschaffe
Tenor saxophone, flute, clarinet
 Gerd Dudek
Tenor saxophone
 Walter Gauchel
Baritone saxophone
 Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky
Baritone saxophone, bass clarinet
 Willem Breuker
piano
 Misha Mengelberg , Aki Takase
bass
 Günter Lenz
Drums
 Ed Thigpen
management
 Alexander von Schlippenbach

The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra is a big band of free jazz and European improvisation music founded in Germany .

The Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra was founded in 1988 by Alexander von Schlippenbach . The BCJO gave its first concert in May 1988 on the radio station RIAS Berlin ; In the following period, the broadcaster enabled the orchestra to work more frequently in their studios in the approximately seven-year existence of the formation. In May 1989, the BCJO's first album was released on the ECM label . Richard Cook and Brian Morton, in their The Penguin Guide to Jazz, compare the orchestra's music with Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra , but note that the BCJO played more formally structured, broad-based pieces with set times for improvisation by band members. The first album contains the long piece "Ana" by Kenny Wheeler , with solos by Thomas Heberer , Aki Takase and Gerd Dudek and two shorter ones by Misha Mengelberg , "Reef Und Kneebus" and "Salz" (with a solo by Benny Bailey ).

The BCJO consisted of German, Dutch, English, Japanese and US players; In 1995 she owned the trumpeters Henry Lowther, Thomas Heberer, Axel Dörner , Bruno Leicht , the saxophonists Felix Wahnschaffe, Gerd Dudek, Evan Parker , Claas Willeke and Walter Gauchel, the bass clarinetist Rudi Mahall , the trombonists Dan Gottshall , Marc Boukouya and Jörg Huke , Bass trombonist Utz Zimmerman , the pianists Aki Takase and Alexander von Schlippenbach, the bassist Nobuyoshi Ino and the drummer Paul Lovens . In 1996 the band toured Japan; The regular staff of the orchestra was mixed with Japanese musicians, such as Haruki Sato , Eiichi Hayashi and Hiroaki Katayama . a. a Dolphy Medley, reminiscent of similar projects by the Vienna Art Orchestra . In June 1997 the BCJO performed in Berlin and Hamburg with compositions by Manfred Schoof.

Discographic notes

  • 1989: Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (ECM)
  • 1993: The Morlocks ( FMP )
  • 1996: Live in Japan '96 (DIW)

literature

Web links