Jazz Articles about The Contemporary Jazz Quintet

like 176

The Contemporary Jazz Quintet: Actions 1966-67

by Germein Linares
November 23, 2005

At any moment, the dialogue to some '60s sci-fi movie seems ready to enter the eerie, spooky world of Actions. “Geez, Jim. Where have we landed?" “This, Timmy, this is planet free jazz circa 1967." Cue the “singing saw," the album's most prominent feature, and you can almost see the string pulling the spaceship off to the heavens. The Contemporary Jazz Quintet's Actions is certainly an evocative work; its moods are more dreamy than factual, its execution more fantasy than ...

like 186

The Contemporary Jazz Quintet: Actions 1966-67

by Jerry D'Souza
May 26, 2005

One of the notable aspects of Atavistic's Unheard Music Series is the wealth of material it keeps unearthing from the vaults. Time does not seem to efface this music; instead, it stamps the indelibility of the compositions. So it is with the material here, which was recorded almost forty years ago.

The core of the Contemporary Jazz Quintet was formed in 1959. At first it played music that hinged on hard bop, but when Ornette Coleman came along, ...