Home » Jazz Articles » The Composers' Orchestra Berlin
Jazz Articles about The Composers' Orchestra Berlin
About The Composers' Orchestra Berlin
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
The Composers' Orchestra Berlin: Holding Pattern

by Jack Bowers
Holding Pattern is the fourth album by The Composers' Orchestra Berlin, which, as the name denotes, is an ensemble wherein the members of the orchestra are not only improvising instrumentalists but are also the composers." Every one of its ten selections was written and arranged by members of the ensemble. According to the jacket notes, there is no fixed line-up; the composers can select instruments from the pool [of twenty-three musicians] to develop a brand-new...orchestral repertoire with stylistic influences ranging ...
Continue ReadingHazel Leach / Composers' Orchestra Berlin: Postcard Collection

by Jack Bowers
These picturesque postcards" from composer / arranger Hazel Leach's well-appointed Composers' Orchestra Berlin are addressed to various locales in Europe and South America, presumably designed to echo musically the special nature of each site. Oddly enough, as there are only eight cards to be delivered, the album opens with Postcards 10 and 11, aimed at Caracas, Venezuela, and Tucuman, Argentina, respectively. There's a Postcard 9 as well, directed to Kalavrita, Greece, and one unnumbered memo, Postcard aus Schlabendorf am See," ...
Continue Reading