After a 2004 set at Chicago’s Hothouse, Howard Reich of the Chicago Tribune described the Instant Composers Pool Orchestra like this: “Performing as if the Atlantic Ocean never separated Europe and North America, the Instant Composers Pool brilliantly merged the musical values of two continents, and then some. Listen closely, and there was no mistaking the merger of Kurt Weill-like cabaret motifs with Duke Ellington-inspired orchestrations, Mozartean string passages with uptempo march beats right out of John Philip Sousa.”
Bringing this magically merged international sound to Banff June 9 for the annual Banff Summer Arts Festival jazz series, the Netherlands-based Instant Composers Pool Orchestra headlines just one night in a month of great concerts. Kicked off May 22 with the first of more than a dozen intimate and improvised club dates, the series includes Saturday Night Jazz concerts with trumpet virtuoso Dave Douglas, director of the Centre’s Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music, and a host of handpicked musicians.
On June 15, Canadian trombonist and bandleader Hugh Fraser leads The Banff Centre’s Jazz Orchestra in a big band concert, followed June 18 by the Orchestra’s presentation of new work from the 2007 Jazz Composers’ Workshop. The series wraps up on June 23 with an orchestra concert featuring a special appearance by acclaimed composer and conductor Maria Schneider.
Created in 1974 by Oscar Peterson and Phil Nimmons, The Banff Centre’s program and concert series is one of the gems of the Canadian jazz scene, a hothouse of modern improvisational and orchestral composition and performance. In less than four decades, the program has grown into a mature, internationally acclaimed program at the leading edge of developments in jazz, attracting musicians and composers including Dave Holland, Muhal Richard Abrams, Kenny Werner, Django Bates, Kevin Eubanks, Anthony Braxton, Kenny Wheeler, Bill Frisell, Chucho Valdés and many others.
Tickets for all Banff Centre events are available through The Banff Centre Box Office: 1-800-413-8368 or 403-762-6301.
