The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz group that grew out of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) in the late 1960s. The ensemble integrates many jazz styles and plays many instruments, including "little instruments": bells, bicycle horns, birthday party noisemakers, wind chimes, and various forms of percussion. The musicians would wear costumes and face paint while performing. These characteristics combined to make the ensemble's performances both aural and visual. While playing in Europe in 1969, five hundred instruments were used.
Augusta Read Thomas is an American composer and University Professor of Composition in the Department of Music at the University of Chicago, where she is also director of the Chicago Center for Contemporary Composition.
Frank Wright was an American free jazz musician, known for his frantic style of playing the tenor saxophone. Critics often compare his music to that of Albert Ayler, although Wright "offers his honks and squawks with a phraseology derived from the slower, earthier funk of R&B and gospel music." According to AllMusic biographer Chris Kelsey, Wright "never recorded even a single record under his own name for a major label; he was 'underground' his entire career." In addition to tenor saxophone, Wright also played the soprano saxophone and bass clarinet.
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. 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.
The Hearinga Suite is an album by Muhal Richard Abrams released on the Italian Black Saint label in 1989 and features performances of seven of Abrams compositions by an eighteen-member orchestra. Abrams dedicated the music on the album to Steve McCall and Donald Raphael Garrett.
Gittin' to Know Y'All is a various artists album recorded during the annual Baden-Baden Free Jazz Meeting in 1969 and released on the MPS label in 1970. It features one track by the Baden-Baden Free Jazz Orchestra conducted by trumpeter Lester Bowie, one by the Terje Rypdal Group, one by Karin Krog, and one by The Willem Breuker-John Surman Duo. This historic session was the first time that many of these European and American jazz musicians performed together in a large group setting.
Frederick A. Fox was an American composer and former music educator specializing in contemporary classical music.
Thierry Joseph-Louis Escaich is a French organist and composer.
This Time... is an album by the American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton, recorded in 1970 and released on the BYG Actuel label. As on his previous album, Braxton performs with trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith, violinist Leroy Jenkins and drummer Steve McCall.
Creative Orchestra Music 1976 is an album by American jazz saxophonist and composer Anthony Braxton recorded in 1976 and released on the Arista label. The album was subsequently included on The Complete Arista Recordings of Anthony Braxton released by Mosaic Records in 2008.
Shock Treatment is an album by trumpeter Don Ellis recorded in 1968 and released on the Columbia label.
The Ratchet Orchestra is an avant garde jazz musical group based in Montreal, Canada. The band was started in the early 1990s, when musical director Nicolas Caloia began experimenting with improvised chamber jazz. Members such as Tom Walsh, Jean Derome, Lori Freedman, Sam Shalabi, and Christopher Cauley soon joined. Four members played on their 1994 eponymous debut.
Song for Someone is the second album led by trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler which was recorded in 1973 and released on the Incus label. The album was rereleased on CD on Psi Records in 2004.
Orchestre National de Jazz is a French orchestra that was created by French Ministry of Culture in 1986. It has had 12 musical and artistic directors, more than 200 soloists and recorded 33 albums. Orchestre National de Jazz won the Victoires du Jazz in 2009 and 2020, and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2012 for the album Shut Up And Dance composed by John Hollenbeck.
Luna Surface is an album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva, recorded on August 17, 1969 and released later that year on the BYG label as part of their Actuel series. His first recording as leader, it features Silva on violin along with a large ensemble known as the Celestrial Communication Orchestra.
Homage to Africa is an album by American free jazz drummer Sunny Murray. It was recorded in Paris in August 1969, and released on the BYG Actuel label in 1970. On the album, Murray is joined by saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell, Archie Shepp and Kenneth Terroade, trumpeter Lester Bowie, cornetist Clifford Thornton, trombonist Grachan Moncur III, vocalist Jeanne Lee, pianist Dave Burrell, bassist Alan Silva, and percussionists Malachi Favors, Earl Freeman, and Arthur Jones.
Inscape–Tableaux is an album by bassist Barry Guy. It was recorded on May 18 and 19, 2000, at Rote Fabrik in Zürich, Switzerland, and was released in 2001 by Intakt Records. On the album, which features a seven-part composition by Guy, he plays bass and directs members of his New Orchestra: Evan Parker and Mats Gustafsson on saxophone, Hans Koch on saxophone and clarinet, Herb Robertson on trumpet, Johannes Bauer on trombone, Per Åke Holmlander on tuba, Marilyn Crispell on piano, and Paul Lytton and Raymond Strid on percussion.
Alan Silva & the Sound Visions Orchestra is a live album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva. It was recorded in May 1999 at St. Nicholas of Myra Church in New York City during the annual Vision Festival, and was released in 2001 by Eremite Records. On the album, Silva is joined by a large ensemble known as the Sound Visions Orchestra.
H.Con.Res.57/Treasure Box is a live, 4-CD album by multi-instrumentalist Alan Silva. It was recorded on May 24 and 27, 2001, at the Uncool Festival in Poschiavo, Switzerland, and was released in 2003 in limited quantities by Eremite Records. On the album, Silva is joined by a large ensemble known as the Celestrial Communication Orchestra. The performances marked the first occasion on which Silva's choice of musicians was completely unrestricted in terms of budget or geography.
