ICP Orchestra

ICP Orchestra “This band could kick the rears of countless mainstream repertory orchestras with its expressiveness and power.”—Chicago Sun-Times Founded in 1967 by pianist Misha Mengelberg, drummer Han Bennink, and long-departed saxophonist Willem Breuker, the Dutch collective ICP (Instant Composers Pool) Orchestra has for 40 years showcased the work of groundbreaking musicians. The group combines classic swing and bebop by Ellington and Monk with the music of Kurt Weill and Charles Ives, European dance band music, African rhythms, and free improvisation. Their irreverent approach to jazz, which includes unexpectedly humourous theatrics, intersects with keen artistic intelligence. Kevin Whitehead writing in New Dutch Swing: “ICP’s music drifts from one locus to another like the action in a dream, where guiding intelligence may thwart rational progress. Some compositions feature glaring wrong notes or brazenly dumb ideas; no piece exists in a definite state. Players have the option of making some willfully idiot melody sound better or even worse…this is jazz/improvised music at its most deft and sophisticated.” With Ab Baars and Michael Moore sax & clarinet, Tobias ... more...