Ken Vandermark is an American composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist.
Hal Russell was an American free jazz composer, band leader and multi-instrumentalist who performed mainly on saxophone and drums but occasionally on trumpet or vibraphone. Russel's fiery music was marked by significant humor, not unlike much of Dutch drummer Han Bennink's output. His music was so accessible that People magazine hailed The Finnish Swiss Tour on ECM as one of its top 5 albums of the year. Russell set the table for the free improv and free jazz scene which exploded later in the 1990s in Chicago.
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.
Marc Charles "Mars" Williams was an American jazz and rock saxophonist. He was a member of the American new wave band The Waitresses from 1980 to 1983, and a member of the British post-punk band The Psychedelic Furs from 1983 to 1989 and again from 2005 until his death in 2023. Williams also was a founding member of the acid jazz group Liquid Soul, and a member of the free jazz-oriented NRG Ensemble.
Kent Kessler is an American jazz double-bassist.
Music for Large & Small Ensembles is a double album by Canadian jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler recorded over two sessions in January and February 1990 and released on ECM later that year. The Sweet Time Suite' is Wheeler's most ambitious extended work for big band since 1969's Windmill Tilter.
NRG Ensemble was an American free jazz ensemble founded in the late 1970s by saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell.
The Essence of George Russell is an album by American jazz composer and pianist George Russell originally released on the Swedish Sonet label in 1971, and subsequently reissued on the Italian Black Saint label in 1983. The album featuring performances by Russell with a large ensemble, mostly Nordic musicians, including Stanton Davis, Jan Garbarek, Terje Rypdal, Arild Andersen, Jon Christensen and orchestra.
Ode to the Death of Jazz is an album by Finnish jazz drummer and bandleader Edward Vesala recorded over two sessions in April and May 1989 and released on ECM the following year. The ensemble consists trumpeter Matti Riikonen, woodwind section Jorma Tapio, Jouni Kannisto and Pepa Päivinen, accordionist Taito Vainio, rhythm section Jimi Sumén, Iro Haarla and Vesala, and percussionist Tim Ferchen.
Overtime is an album by the Dave Holland Big Band that won the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album in 2005. Recorded in 2002, the music centers on the four-movement "Monterey Suite", a piece commissioned by the Monterey Jazz Festival. The big band on this record is on the “small” side, at thirteen players. The rhythm section consists of Holland with vibraphonist Steve Nelson and drummer Billy Kilson, continuing the format established over many of Holland’s Quintet records. Featured players include tenor saxophonist Chris Potter, alto saxophonist Antonio Hart, trumpeter Alex Sipiagin and trombonist Robin Eubanks. This is Holland's first album since departing ECM, through which he had released nearly all of his albums since his 1972 debut Conference of the Birds, for his own Dare2 label.
NRG Ensemble is the debut album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1981 and released on Nessa. It was reissued in 2012 with new artwork and two bonus tracks previously unreleased from a demo tape the band gave to producer Chuck Nessa prior to the sessions.
Hal's Bells is a solo album by American jazz multi-instrumentalist and composer Hal Russell recorded in May 1992 and released on ECM later that year.
The Hal Russell Story is the final album by the Hal Russell NRG Ensemble, recorded in Switzerland in July 1992 and released on ECM the following year—Russell's final recording before his death, five weeks later.
Hal on Earth is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in 1989 which was originally released on cassette and released on CD on the Abduction label in 1995.
Conserving NRG is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell recorded in 1984 and released on the Principally Jazz label.
Generation is an album by American avant-garde jazz composer, bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell's NRG Ensemble with Charles Tyler, recorded in 1982 and originally released on the Nessa label. It was reissued in 2014 with two bonus tracks previously unreleased from an early audition recording made when the band was a pre-Sandstrom quartet.
Calling All Mothers is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their first after the death of bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1993 and released on the Quinnah label.
Blow Horn is an album by FJF, a quartet formed by Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and American reedist Ken Vandermark with the Chicago's NRG Ensemble rhythm section of bassist Kent Kessler and drummer Steve Hunt. It was recorded in 1995 and released on Okka Disk.
This Is My House is an album by American jazz group the NRG Ensemble, their second with saxophonist Ken Vandermark in place of the bandleader and multi-instrumentalist Hal Russell, which was recorded in 1995 and released on Delmark.
