Zurich Concerts

{{Infobox album

| name = Zurich Concerts

| type = live

| artist = Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra with Anthony Braxton

| cover = LJCO_Zurich_Concerts.jpg

| alt =

| released = 1988

| recorded = November 11, 1987; March 27, 1988

| venue = The Taktlos Festival, Rote Fabrik, Zürich

| studio =

| genre = Free jazz

| length = 1:34:17

| label = Intakt
CD 005

| producer = Intakt Records

| chronology = Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra

| prev_title = Stringer

| prev_year = 1984

| next_title = Harmos

| next_year = 1989

}}

Zurich Concerts is a double live album by Barry Guy and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra featuring recordings of two large-scale compositions, one by Guy, the other by guest artist Anthony Braxton. The Guy work was recorded on November 11, 1987, at Rote Fabrik in Zürich, while the Braxton work was recorded on March 27, 1988, at the same location. The album was initially released on LP in 1988 by Intakt Records, and was reissued on CD in 1995.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/zurich-concerts-mw0000415820 |title=Anthony Braxton / Barry Guy / London Jazz Composers' Orchestra: Zurich Concerts |first=Thom |last=Jurek |website=AllMusic |access-date=January 15, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/barry-guy/zurich-concerts-with-anthony-braxton-with-london-jazz-composers-orchestra(live) |title=Barry Guy - Zurich Concerts |website=Jazz Music Archives |access-date=January 15, 2023}}{{cite web |url=https://www.intaktrec.ch/005-a.htm |title=Barry Guy / London Jazz Composers' Orchestra / Zurich Concerts |website=Intakt Records |access-date=January 15, 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://www.efi.group.shef.ac.uk/labels/intakt/int005.html |title=Intakt 005 Zurich concerts |website=EFI Group |access-date=January 15, 2023}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzlists.com/SJ_LJCO.htm |title=London Jazz Composer's Orchestra discography |website=JazzLists |access-date=January 15, 2023}}

Reception

{{Album ratings

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{rating|4|5}}

| rev2 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz

| rev2Score = {{rating|3.5|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2008 |pages=906 }}

}}

In a review for AllMusic, Thom Jurek wrote: "the attendees at these Zurich concerts were treated to the most intimate and prophetic of expressions in these two evenings. They were also given evidence of the very ground on which free improvisation and new composition stand linked to one another."

The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings noted that "this is one of the few occasions when [Braxton's] contact with British and European improvisors has seemed to yield a genuinely communicative music," and stated that "whereas Guy likes to work with existing sub-groups of the orchestra, Braxton layers compositions... in dense palimpsests."

CD track listing

;Disc 1

  1. "Polyhymnia " (Barry Guy) – 37:30

;Disc 2

  1. "Composition 135 (+41, 63, 96), 136 (+96), 108B (+86, 96), 134 (+96)" (Anthony Braxton) – 56:47

Personnel

References