A la tête
du London Jazz Composers Orchestra depuis 1970, le contrebassiste Barry
Guy n’en finit pas d’interroger la faculté qu’a
l’individu de s’affirmer au sein d’un collectif là
pour respecter des règles. Celles qu’un musicien doit suivre
pour rendre une œuvre écrite, tout en évaluant les
permissions d’y instiller un peu de Soi improvisé. Deux
pièces enregistrées à dix ans d’intervalle
illustrent ici le propos.
En 1980, Guy menait un Stringer long de quatre mouvements (Four Pieces
For Orchestra). Oscillant déjà entre jazz et contemporain,
gestes déraisonnables et structures contraignantes, il dirige
un ensemble d’une vingtaine de musiciens dans un univers de métal.
Bande passante chargée de propositions variées, la première
partie chancelle au gré des assauts du contrebassiste Peter Kowald
avant d’accueillir les percussions insatiables de Tony Oxley et
John Stevens, ou le free appliqué du saxophoniste Trevor Watts.
Continuant à distribuer les solos, Guy engage Kenny Wheeler à
déposer sa trompette sur une suite répétitive et
baroque, en guise de deuxième partie. Puis arrive l’heure
des souffles : Peter Brötzmann et Evan Parker rivalisent d’emportement
sur Part III, quand le clarinettiste Tony Coe préfère
confectionner quelques phrasés courbes. En guise de conclusion,
les batteurs reviennent le temps d’un grand solo, qui pousse l’ensemble
à investir enfin un chaos revendiqué et intraitable.
Si Stringer trouve naturellement sa place dans la riche discographie
de la scène improvisée européenne de son époque,
Study II, enregistrée en 1991, échappe davantage aux classifications.
Cette fois, l’orchestre bâtit une musique nouvelle tirant
sa substance des expériences de Berio ou de Cage. Montent des
nappes quiètes, écorchées tout juste par des notes
multidirectionnelles échappant au cadre ou par quelques grincements
promettant la charge à venir.
Grâce aux coups de Paul Lytton, les musiciens trouvent la faille
et s’y engouffrent à 17 : la contrebasse de Barre Phillips,
les saxophones d’Evan Parker, Trevor Watts et Paul Dunmall, le
piano retenu d’Irène Schweizer, le trombone de Conrad Bauer,
surtout, imposent un marasme fertile. Ainsi, Study II prouve qu’une
décennie peut accueillir l’évolution. Et que la
somme des documents la concernant peuvent servir une même idée
sur un timbre différent. Deux élans parmi tellement d’autres,
mais grâce auxquels Barry Guy lustre les rayons rococo d’une
musique exubérante et singulière : la sienne, et un peu
celle de chacun des autres.
Chroniqué par Grisli, Infratunes, January 2006, France
I N T A K T (Zürich)
bringt mit Study II, Stringer (Intakt 095) zwei tolle Aufnahmen mit
dem LONDON JAZZ COMPOSERS ORCHESTRA für Ohren, die sich, wie meine,
nicht an orchestraler Blasmusik satt hören können. Während
ich Stringer, 1980 bei BBC aufgenommen, schon als 1983er FMP-LP in den
Händen hielt, wird die Study II, 1991 im Züricher RadioStudio
DRS mitgeschnitten, nun erstmals zugänglich. Beide belegen den
besonderen Impetus von Guy, Möglichkeiten zu testen, große
Klangkörper zu organisieren, ohne den Faktor Freiheit zu eliminieren.
Die 18- bzw. 17-köpfigen Orchestras von 1980 & ‘91 weisen
kaum Überschneidungen auf, nur Trevor Watts, Evan Parker, Philipp
Wachsmann & Guy selbst sind sowohl als auch beteiligt. Überhaupt
zeigt sich, dass Guy mit dem LJCO eben nicht ein bewährtes Konzept
immer nur variierte. Study II z.B. dreht sich fast meditativ und repetitiv
um Atemzüge, ein dröhnminimalistisches, immer wieder sich
großartig steigerndes Ein und Aus, Sich-Öffnen & -Schließen,
Sonnenauf- & untergang, und lässt den Spielern die Freiheit,
sich beim 'Öffnen‘ & ‚Loslassen‘ improvisatorisch
zu entfalten. Um dann wieder einzukehren bei einem Ruhepol, einem Fokus
der Entspannung, wobei Conny Bauers Posaune im Duett mit dem Kontrabass
eine prominente Rolle zukam. Die Four Pieces for Orchestra aka Stringer
dagegen zeichneten sich aus durch ein besonders umfangreiches Konvolut
an Notenmaterial und detailierte Vorschläge für das Was und
Wie. Die 'Mitkomponisten‘ waren durch Informationsfülle einigermaßen
konsterniert. Dennoch setzten sie Guys Ambition, eine viersätzige
symphonische Form in einem molekular-egalitären Kontext auszureizen
und mit verdoppelter Rhythsection (Guy & Kowald, Oxley & Stevens)
und glänzender Brasspower den Unterschied zu unterstreichen zwischen
einem 'bombastischen‘ Erhabenen, das einen mit der Macht des Schicksals
erschlägt, und einem sublimen, das prachtvoll schillernd auf einen
offenen Horizont hin führt, mit dem Feuereifer um, der dieser Fire
Music erst das Zündende gibt. Stringer lebt vom Kontrast zwischen
individueller Gischt und einer im getragenen Tutti dahin fließenden
überpersönlichen Grundströmung, die man als Natur, Geschichte
oder Kollektiv lesen könnte. Der Nachhall von Guys Experimenten
mit internen, auf Persönlichkeit und Eigenkreativität basierenden
Fäden und Korrespondenzen und permanent changierenden 1-, 2- 3-
& 4-kernigen Nuklei, ist bis hin zu Brötzmanns Chicago Tentet,
Atomic/School Days und der Territory Band zu hören. In Stringer,
das übrigens Bezug nimmt auf ein informelles, an Tàpies
erinnerndes Gemälde von Fred Hellier, und zeigt, dass Guy sich
schon früh mit Fragen einer nichthierarchischen Organisation von
Fläche, 'Farbe‘ und Raum in der Zeit beschäftigte, verlegt
er, nicht zuletzt mit Wheelers Trompetensolo in Part II, den Fidelio-Ton,
der schon Bloch so begeistert hat, in die Organisation der Musik selbst.
So, dass sich der ethische Effekt, den auch Pettersson, Ruders oder
die Spektralisten rein klanglich erzielen, schon aus der von unten her
organisierten Machart der Musik entwickelt, aus dem Geist und dem in
den Parts III & IV in immer prächtigerer Kakophonie ineinander
züngelnden Feueratem der Einzelnen.
Bad Alchemy, Rigobert Dittmann, Januar 2006
Fürwahr ein starkes
Kollektiv mit ungestümen individuellen Beiträgen, wie Guy
in der Rückschau dieser fantastischen Aufnahmen beurteilt. Stringer,
erstmals 1983 auf FMP veröffentlicht und lange vergriffen, ist
eine vierteilige Komposition, deren vier Stücke ausbalanciert eine
vereinigte Stärke bilden sollten, so Guy. Study II, 1991 im Radio
Studio Zürich aufgenommen, bildet dagegen ein Improvisationsszenario
ab, das einen Rahmen für Solo-Performances bildet, die mitunter
ob ihrer kraftvollen Energie nur noch Freude machen. Die Verbindung
von orchestralem Rahmen und improvisierter Dynamik hat Guy so gut wie
selten ein anderer zeitgenössischer Komponist hinbekommen. Diese
Aufnahmen sind beste Belege für die zeitlose Energie, die ein bewusst
agierendes Kollektiv hinbekommen kann, um sich in der Dialektik von
Freiheit und Struktur form- und inhaltgestaltend bewegen zu können.
Honker, Terz, Deutschland, Januar 2006
Bassist / composer Barry
Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra has been a force to be reckoned
with in the world of large ensemble improvised / composed music since
its debut release Ode way back in 1970 (originally on Incus, reissued
by Intakt), and this latest package is also something of a retrospective,
bringing together 1991's "Study II", which clocks in at just
under 20 minutes, and the "Four Pieces for Orchestra" released
as Stringer on Jost Gebers' FMP imprint in 1983 (and recorded three
years prior to that for BBC Radio 3's Music In Our Time series at the
Beeb's Maida Vale studios in London). As usual, the line-up is impeccable:
saxophonists Trevor Watts and Evan Parker and trombonist Alan Tomlinson
appear on both sessions, and the Stringer date also features (wait for
it) Kenny Wheeler, Harry Beckett, Dave Spence, Paul Rutherford, Alan
Tomlinson, Paul Nieman, Melvyn Poore, Peter Brötzmann, Larry Stabbins,
Tony Coe, Phil Wachsmann, Howard Riley, Tony Oxley, John Stevens and
Peter Kowald. Might as well run through the personnel on the later session
while we're at it: Irène Schweizer, Henry Lowther, Marc Charig,
Jon Corbett, Conrad Bauer, Radu Malfatti, Steve Wick, Simon Picard,
Paul Dunmall, Peter McPhail, Paul Lytton and Barre Phillips. The booklet
also includes some splendid photos of the Stringer band to remind us
how old we've all got in the intervening years – but the music
has aged magnificently.
I first came across Guy's work back in the – ahem – formative
years when I was acquiring Lutoslawski, Ligeti, Xenakis and Penderecki
vinyls at a ridiculous and irresponsible rate of knots (ask my bank
manager if you don't believe me), and have always associated his large
ensemble pieces more with mainstream European avant-garde as a result;
the raw intensity of the surging brass clusters, spidery strings (complete
with added electronics), Darmstadt freakout piano (courtesy Howard Riley)
and double-headed percussion assault (Oxley and Stevens – talk
about being spoilt) still have much in common with some of Penderecki's
semi-graphic scores of the 60s and 70s, though the Polish composer would
have had a hard time notating the extended technique pyrotechnics of
Messrs Parker and Brötzmann. This is music of mass effect rather
than note-to-note detail, in which pitches function more as black holes
than suns, sucking in adjacent clusters and blusters; even the ostinato
that underpins Stringer's second movement (there are twelve notes but
not all twelve notes of the chromatic scale – it's not a series),
which is gently displaced against itself in canon to form a backdrop
to a spectacular solo feature for Kenny Wheeler, serves as a reservoir
of intervals for the trumpeter to draw on rather than a blueprint for
any kind of serial development as such.
Guy's liners astutely point out the differences between the two sessions,
specifically the fact that Peter Pfister, recording "Study II"
in Zürich in 1991, used individual close up mics as opposed to
producer Stephen Plaistow's "symphony orchestra perspective"
on Stringer. Not that it makes a huge difference, but there are a few
bright flashes of trumpet (Lowther?) and trombone (Bauer?) in the later
recording that stand out rather more than they might have done at the
Maida Vale session, in which even the apocalyptic splutters of Brötzmann
are kept at a safe distance. It's a shame perhaps that the outstanding
solo tuba and clarinet work in the third movement isn't a little more
prominent, but let's not complain: this music has been out of print
for far too long and it's great to see it out and about again.
DW, Paris-Transatlantic Magazine. Global Coverage of New
Music. February 2006
The London Jazz Composers Orchestra remains on indefinite hiatus, victim
of the twin torpedoes of finances and logistics. Founder and leader
Barry Guy filled the breach with a streamlined version dubbed the New
Orchestra. But even blessed with the broad merits of the reconfigured
band, it’s hard not to feel pangs of nostalgia for its more populous
precursor. New LJCO recordings may not be forthcoming, but this recent
Intakt reissue provides two ambitious and distinct archival pieces by
two different incarnations of the group.
Originally released on LP by FMP in 1980, the sectional “Stringer”
makes use of what many would consider a dream roster. The reed section
alone, with Watts, Parker, Brötzmann and Coe, contains enough firepower
to level marble prosceniums, not to mention the bass and percussion
tandems of Guy/Kowald and Oxley/Stevens. Regrettably, the BBC recording
isn’t the best at capturing the band in a good audio balance.
The “rhythm” section in particularly sounds somewhat distanced
in the mix.
But the fidelity issues are truly a minor problem. Guy makes clever
use of a myriad of combinations throughout the piece’s four parts.
In the notes he describes tensions that arose from his detailed scores,
several of the musicians bucking at the structured bit imposed by his
charts. Those interpersonal tensions are hardly evident in the sounds
and improvisation guides the action as much as the skeletal body of
Guy’s composerly influence.
Detailed booklet annotations allow easy identification of who’s
doing what and when, but the piece feels almost too crammed with activity,
particularly in the second two parts where baton tradeoffs occur in
swift succession. Among the standout passages are Wachsmann’s
electronics-laced arco work in heated conversation with Oxley on the
opening and close of “Part I” and a striking relay of reeds
on the opening half of “Part III.”
I found myself wishing repeatedly that these passages and others had
even more temporal girth to expand and develop. Miraculously, at forty-odd
minutes long the piece feels short and some of the sub-groups (Parker
teamed with Guy, Kowald and Stevens, for one) all but beg for greater
spotlight space.
“Study II” dates from nearly eleven years later and benefits
significantly from the expert engineering of Peter Pfister (a shame
he wasn’t on hand for the BBC date). Structurally, it’s
quite different from its predecessor. The band builds opening and closing
passages that dramatically subsume individual voices. The controlled
drone-like effects are both calming and starkly at odds with what you
might expect from a band populated by celebrated free jazz blast furnaces
like Parker and Dunmall.
As if like clockwork, cracks in the ice soon occur and the band erupts
into a series of molten solos and ensembles, before freezing over once
again for the finale. The contrast of order and finesse with tumult
and temerity, austere cold with raging heat, makes for a very rousing
listening experience. With luck, Intakt has more waiting in the vaults
and plans to release it sooner rather than later.
By
Derek Taylor. All About Jazz, USA, February 2006
At the end of its first decade,
The London Jazz Composers Orchestra had effectively purged itself of
the 'jazz' component and was already moving into a phase where the dialectic
of written to improvised music was not just the premise but the irreducible
substance. Stringer (Four Pieces For Orchestra) comes from
that time. Recorded in 1980 at the BBC's Maida Vale and released as
an FMP LP, it had an odd, slightly remote quality that is dramatically
improved in this remastering, almost a different piece. The drama of
instrumental groups and solo order is recontextuaiised. Study 11 is
more recent, but still from LJCO's past, a soaring piece for trombonist
Connie Bauer.
Brian Morton, The Wire, March 2006
This newly-released outing looms as a modern/free jazz fest, highlighting
studio sessions performed in 1983 (“Stringer,” London) and
1991 (”Study II,” Switzerland) and led by bassist Barry
Guy’s multinational orchestra, featuring a who’s who of
the Euro jazz and improvisation scene. The bassist steers the ensemble
through a potpourri of mood-evoking frameworks. In addition to spiraling
soprano sax solos by Evan Parker and yearning lines by trumpeter Kenny
Wheeler, Guy’s compositions boast ominous strings and horns passages
instilled with climactic movements and more.
Within the foundations of these two performances, segmented into multi-part
iterations, the large ensemble bridges frenetic impetuses with layered
and largely cascading movements. Fiery soloing endeavors by saxophonist
Peter Brötzmann and many other luminaries intimate the band’s
unfathomable depth. Many of the musicians’ vociferous discourses
translate into deconstructions of previously avowed motifs. In certain
spots, the music looms as a constant renewal process. But there are
sonorous parts, dabbled with minimalist musical gestures. In the liners,
Guy describes the recording techniques used for both sessions.
These works include a multitude of musical forms; avant classical practices
are interspersed with boisterous improvisational exercises and garrulous
third-stream passages. And a sense of drama is exploited through the
artists’ individual reckonings of Guy’s sound-sculpting
methods and loosely based intentions. These compositions radiate a new
approach which defies the norm, while providing the listener with a
feast for the heart and soul.
Glenn Astarita, All About Jazz, March, 2006
Barry Guys London Composers
Orchestra gehört zu den alten Intakt-Stammkunden, Guy mit seinem
Gesamtwerk gleich gar. Mit 14 Aufnahmen ist er im Katalog vertreten.
Mit der neuen CD „Study II, Stringer“ greift Guy zwei seiner
älteren Aufnahmen auf, die den Weg seiner großorchestralen
Kunst sehr gut belegen.
Bert Noglik skizziert Guys Konzept sehr treffend, wenn er darauf verweist,
dass Guy die Idee der europäischen Sinfonie verbindet mit dem in
der Musikgeschichte mehr oder weniger vergessenen Phänomen des
spontanen Musizierens. Genial löst Barry Guy diese Aufgabe, lässt
bei aller vorgegebenen Struktur der Individualität der Musiker
viel Raum, ihren Klangideen wie Gestaltungen. Insoweit greift er auf
die Konzeption des Jazz zurück, löst sich aber sehr deutlich
von diesem durch die neuen Strukturen, die eher der Neuen Zeitgenössischen
Musik zuzuordnen sind. Insoweit bezieht Barry Guy mit seinem Werk, auch
und vor allem mit dem London Composers Orchetsra, das das erhebliche
kleinere New Orchestra inzwischen abgelöst aber nicht ersetzt hat,
eine ganz eigene unverwechselbare Position im musikalischen Zeitgeschehen,
das seit vielen Jahren von Intakt Records dokumentiert und weltweit
bekannt gemacht wird.
Mit „Stringer“, einem vierteiligen Konzert für Orchester,
ist Guy noch deutlich näher an der Entstehung des im Jahr 1970
aus der Taufe gehobenen Orchesters, während „Study II“
viele feste Strukturen aufgegeben hat. Heraus sticht ein langes Solo
des Posaunisten Conny Bauer. Monumental wie die Musik in ihren leisen
wie großorchestralen, vollmundigen Phasen ist die Liste der beteiligten
Musiker, z.B. Iréne Schweizer, Henry Lowther, Radu Malfatti,
Trevor Watts, Evan Parker, Paul Dunmall, Philipp Wachsmann, Barre Philips,
Peter Kowald, Howard Riley, Tony Oxley und so weiter und so weiter.
Hans-Jürgen von Osterhausen. Jazzpodium, Deutschland,
April 2006
British bass virtuoso extraordinaire
Barry Guy has been meeting a single challenge head on for 35 years now:
composing pieces for an orchestra mainly staffed by free jazz players
(Peter Brötzmann, Evan Parker, Paul Lytton, Paul Lovens, Phil Wachsmann).
This issue combines two pieces recorded ten years apart. The first,
"Study II", (cut in 1991) is an etude of sound masses running
under 20 minutes and comes to a peak of intensity after the halfway
mark, only to subside back into stillness. In spite of its inherent
freedom, this piece demands great collective discipline from the 17
players involved.
"Stringer", in contrast, is a more solo-oriented excursion
for individuals and sub-groupings of the 18-man ensemble. The power
here is impressive, magnified by two basses and two drum sets which
fan the flames ignited by the horn players. The piece was first released
in 1982 on Free Music Productions, the leading
label at that time for this kind of music. This time, this massive 42-minute
opus (divided in four movements) and "Study lI" make their
first CD appearance on the Swiss lntakt Records.
Also worth listening to is the latest creation of this exceptional musician,
titled "Oort-Entropy" (Intakt CD-101 ), a work scored for
his slightly downsized, ten-piece unit known as the Barry Guy New Orchestra.
While this comes as no news to the cognoscenti, it is nonetheless highly
recommended for anyone with ears yearning for more than just the usual
big band fare. (Check out lntakt's website for an overview of its catalogue
and its list of distributors: www.intaktrec-ch)
Marc
Chénard, The Music Scene, Ontario, Spring 2006.
With Intakt CD 095 we get
into heavyweight modern composition with two Barry Guy works for the
London Jazz Composers Orchestra. "Study 11" is the more recent
piece, a work of long, layered drones that climaxes in harsh brass statements,
a flutter of trumpets leading to a long energetic but melancholy trombone
solo by Conrad Bauer.
That piece is just the prelude to the main attraction, "Stringer,"
a 1980 recording that was previously released on vinyl by FMP in 1983.
This composition is a different beast, loud, cranky and nervous with
Guy's menacing themes serving as the platform for the playing of a Stunning
collection of heavyweight European improvisers. Philip Wachsmann dominates
the dark, massed shapes of Part I with ghostly electronic violin. Then
Kenny Wheeler shines in Part 11 with a virtuoso display of his purest
and loveliest trumpet playing. A saxophone "Dream Team" of
Trevor Watts, Evan Parker, Larry Stabbins, Peter Brotzmann, and Tony
Coe comes on strong in Part III with gale force blowing, and in Part
IV you get a rare chance to hear percussion masters Tony Oxley and John
Stevens play together and mesh very well, Oxley with big crashes and
Stevens with small rapid fire ticks. The two men also take turns supporting
small groups drawn from the brass section and the two bassists, Guy
and Peter Kowald.
We know from previous large group endeavors like the Globe Unity Orchestra
that this pool of musicians is very good at submerging its own great
talents to the demands of a large group but Barry Guy creates particularly
powerful structures from these building blocks. This CD continues the
very high quality of Guy's LJCO recordings.
Jerome Wilson, Cadence, Mai 2006
Greg
Buium, Downbeat, August 2006
This CD represents a tying-up of loose ends for the now-disbanded LJCO,
coupling the previously unreleased Study II with the long out-of-print
Stringer. As often with Guy’s work, there’s a sense of multiple
structures simultaneously in play: Stringer is at once a balanced four-part
structure loosely echoing symphonic form, and a dense network of personal/musical/social
connections. Among other things, the piece juxtaposes multiple editions
of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble (Stevens, Watts, Parker, Kowald, Wheeler,
and Rutherford are all present) and brings it into collision with the
Howard Riley Trio (Riley and Oxley are here too). The disc is also notable
for Peter Brötzmann’s sole LJCO appearance, effortlessly
out shouting the entire 18-piece ensemble. Study II is by contrast one
of Guy’s simplest and most mysterious compositions — in
Guy’s words: it’s “about breathing, building, opening-up
and returning.” Both pieces mark key stylistic turning-points
for the LJCO, and, while atypical of its output, are no less enjoyable
for that.
By Nate Dorward, Exclaim, Canada, June 25, 2006
It is a generally accepted
maxim that Barry Guy’s London Jazz Composers Orchestra is indeed
one of the most gripping and stylistically unique large ensembles in
improvised music history. Though various reasons—economic and
otherwise—have forced Guy to downsize his conception into a tentet
format as of late, the LJCO’s legacy remains solid and perennially
potent. With this reissue of 1983’s wonderful Stringer LP, appended
here by a previously unreleased 20-minute piece from 1991, “Study
II”, the final piece of the puzzle is now again available.
While the LCJO mostly drew on an A-list of British talent (Evan Parker,
Henry Lowther, Paul Dunmall, Paul Lytton, Trevor Watts, Barre Phillips,
etc.), Guy frequently called upon additional talents from a dense pool
of European improvisers. For Stringer, originally recorded by the BBC
on March 26, 1980 (and not released until 1983), there are quite a few
guests of note not normally associated with this conglomeration, including
Peter Brötzmann, Kenny Wheeler, and Peter Kowald, while “Study
II” focuses on Conrad Bauer. Of course, Guy’s writing and
arranging style is what makes this such an engrossing listen, with its
mix of ensemble chaos and beauty, small group pairings, and, as expected,
captivating solo improvisations. Although, as Guy’s instructive
liners point out, his charts were not always met with enthusiasm by
their interpreters.
On Stringer, subtitled “Four Pieces for Orchestra”, Guy
attempts to create four separate events that focus on specific instrumentalists
or groupings, as well as the ensemble, tied together by a somewhat obscured
theme and the inspiration of Fred Hellier’s cover paining. Phil
Wachsmann is the hero of its initial segment, with his heavily effected
violin scraping, scrawling, and stoking the large ensemble to enormous
heights. “Part II” presents the most solemn moments of the
piece, with a sensitive string opening laying the groundwork for a regal
Wheeler statement over the shifting horn patterns.
Following this moving passage, “Part III” contains the most
intense moments of the piece, with the saxophones being the key fire-spitters.
Parker takes the first brief solo, Brötzmann adds some riveting
shrapnel, then Larry Stabbins contributes gauzy burr followed by Tony
Coe’s wiry clarinet, all unraveling over percussive and blustery
ensemble touches. The final portion brings it all together, with various
highlights being the initial percussion exchange (between Tony Oxley
and John Stevens!), the Rutherford-Guy-Oxley triad, shades of Guy’s
“Ode”, over which Brötzmann soars, and the concluding
thunder augmented by Watts’ biting alto and the strings.
“Study II” is a group effort, highlighted by an ominous,
muted horn swell at its outset, a classically-influenced venture that
brings to mind modern composers, as well as the minimalism of Cage.
At various points, the horns rise into a chatter and tension flutters,
with the centerpiece being an exchange between Guy’s puckish bass
and Conrad Bauer’s trombone that ultimately concludes in a mode
similar to the opening drama. While some might quibble that this is
unexpectedly tame—it may be more muted than the title piece—it
is no less Guy.
Now that the London Jazz Composers Orchestra output has been reissued
to the CD-buying public by Intakt, what’s next? Will the band
be back some day? Will Guy continue with his compacted New Orchestra?
Who knows what is lurking in Guy’s basement (or Euro radio stations,
or, even in Guy’s head), but most importantly, as with other work
from the LJCO, this is timeless art that is thankfully out again for
us to consume.
Jay Collins, One Final Note, 17 April 2006
Klaus
Nüchtern, Falter, Österreich, Nr. 16 / 2006
![](images/rev_LJCO _ John Scofield.jpg)
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