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London Jazz Composers Orchestra
London Jazz Composers Orchestra: That Time
by John Sharpe
Issued to coincide with the 50th Anniversary of the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, That Time uncovers a fascinating window on the early years of the pioneering company which are only sparsely documented elsewhere. The first two tracks from Berlin and Donaueschingen date from 1972, some six months after the LJCO's debut album Ode (Intakt, 1996), while the last two were captured in 1980, the same year as Stringer (Intakt, 2006). Engineer Ferran Conangla has done a marvelous job ...
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by Derek Taylor
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 ...
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by Glenn Astarita
Bassist, composer and British Free-Jazz icon, Barry Guy along with the much celebrated “London Jazz Composers Orchestra” represent a who’s who of the European avant-garde jazz scene. On Double Trouble Two, Guy enlists American pianist Marilyn Crispell along with Swiss drummer Pierre Favre and compatriot, pianist Irene Schweizer. Taken or approached as a whole, Double Trouble Two is a musical narrative or epic represented through 5 parts. “Part I” commences with pianist’s Schweizer and Crispell alternating and converging through a ...
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