It’s Never Enough

“25 years seems an absurdly long time to keep a band going. Two abiding and powerful forces have promoted this continuity: The constantly evolving creativity of the musicians and my desire to research an expanded scenario for the large ensemble.” And we must be dealing with truly powerful forces: another 25 years have passed since the eminent double-bassist Barry Guy wrote these words, and his London Jazz Composers Orchestra has gone from strength to strength. Since 1970, almost 50 musicians representing myriad countries, backgrounds and styles have played with the ensemble. Seventeen of them perform in the capital of Małopolska as a warmup ahead of the 15th Krakow Jazz Autumn. The celebrations of the group’s half-century start with concerts by small ensembles (6 March at Alchemia and 7 March at the Manggha Museum), culminating with a final concert by the full orchestra on 8 March at the Manggha Museum. They present a brand-new arrangement of the piece Harmos, among other audience’s favourites. (Bartosz Suchecki, “Karnet”)

Photo by: Krzysztof Machowina