The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (album)

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
Studio album by
Released1968 (1968)
RecordedJanuary–July 1968
GenreFree jazz
Length73:40
LabelJCOA
ProducerMichael Mantler
Jazz Composer's Orchestra chronology
Communication
(1965)
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra
(1968)
Escalator over the Hill
(1971)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic
DownBeat
The Penguin Guide to Jazz
Rolling Stone(favorable)
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide

The Jazz Composer's Orchestra is a 1968 album by the Jazz Composer's Orchestra recorded over a period of six months with Michael Mantler as composer, leader and producer. Many of the key figures in avant-garde jazz from the time contributed on the album including Don Cherry, Pharoah Sanders, Gato Barbieri, Larry Coryell, Roswell Rudd, and Carla Bley. The album's finale features a two-part concerto for Cecil Taylor and orchestra.

Mantler "updated" the album in 2014 as The Jazz Composer's Orchestra Update on ECM Records. It features the Nouvelle Cuisine Big Band, an orchestra with parallel instrumentation conducted by Christoph Cech and new soloists: Michael Mantler (trumpet), Bjarne Roupé (guitar), Wolfgang Puschnig (alto saxophone), Harry Sokal (tenor saxophone), David Helbock (piano), and the radio.string.quartet.vienna.