The history of Barry Guy's Jazz Composers’ Orchestra begins in 1970 with Ode, the first manifesto of this new way of individual/ collective collaboration at the interface of a structured intervention and the freedom of improvising. Ten years later, after from a stylistic point of view pluralistic beginnings, a work of equal significance has been created: Stringer. The orchestra has found its language, The musi- cians breathe the newly gained freedom in different playing combinations of solo high points and collective complexity. From Ode through Stringer we move on to Study in another ten year leap. Even less than before, Barry Guy measures himself against historic forms or current conventions. He creates a complex process of events from a simple struc- ture, a work which unfolds out of, and in the end sinks back into, silence. One could make associations with ethnic music cultures and John Cage's idea of music. What really happens is defined by the interrelationship between this new type of composer and the musicians involved.

Engineer: Peter Pfister
Liner notes: Barry Guy, Bert Noglik
Photo: Jim Four

Compositions by Barry Guy. Mastered 2005 by Urs Hirscher, Dynamo Tonstudio Zürich. Executive Production: Patrik Landolt Produced and published by Intakt Records.