June 20, 2010 – LSR – 8PM – GLOBE UNITY ORCHESTRA
(Alexander von Schlippenbach, Evan Parker, Henrik Walsdorff, Gerd Dudek, Rudi Mahall, Axel Dörner, Johannes Bauer, Christof Thewes, Jean-Luc Cappozzo, Paul Lovens, Paul Lytton)
In 1966 German pianist Alexander Von Schlippenbach received the invitation to write a composition for a 14-pieced free jazz Big Band to be presented at the Berlin Jazz Days. The title of the composition: Globe Unity
This was the birth of this unique orchestra which received great critics but the concert also has been titled “a men´s joke featuring the devil”. The artistic director of the festival Joachim-Ernst Berendt also took care of the promotion of the band afterwards. The band released their first recording on the Saba label and performed at the “Donaueschinger Musiktage” the most important contemporary music festival in Germany. The first line-up involved musicians like Peter Broetzmann, Manfred Schoof, Gerd Dudek or Mani Neumeier.
During the first years the compositions of Alex Von Schlippenbach were the basis referring to the collective interaction play. Graphic notation has been used and later on GLO also integrated ragtime pieces of Jelly Roll Morton.
During the period of 1970 – 1977 the band music has been developped in a different way. The music of Eisler and Kurt Weill, musical humor and arrangements of Willem Breuker were added to free improvisation. Peter Kowald and Alex Schlippenbach were the two directors of the group at that time.
The orchestra toured half of the world, from Toronto via New York and from Bonbay to Java. All these tours have been arranged and sponsored by the German Goethe Institute. Also all important European Jazz Festivals have been played.
In 1982 the GLO received the “Down Beat Jazz Poll” – “Talents deserving wider recognition”. The 20 th anniversary has been celebrated at the Berlin Phiharmony in 1986, followed by a legendary concert at the Chicago Jazz Festival in 1987. At the end of this concert the audience was waving white handkerchiefs to show that GLO has won the battle. At that time GLO was freely improvising in total including individual solos.
After a break of some years the musical history of the band was continued with a concert in Aachen in 2001. Then GLO performed at the internationally well-known Jazz Em Agosto Festival – Lisbon in 2005. The 40 th. band anniversary has been celebrated with a recording at the SWR radio station – Baden-Baden and the jubilee concert at the Berlin Jazz Fest in November 2006. Kenny Wheeler, George Lewis and Jen Bishop guested the orchestra for this occasion. Concerts at Mannheim, Bielefeld, the Burghausen Jazzweek, Tours, Brest, Dachau, Hasselt, Amsterdam, Rome and Zagreb followed. Musicians like Albert Mangeldorff, Peter Kowald , Bob Stewart , Willem Breuker, Peter Broetzmann, Kenny Wheeler, Guenter Christmann or George Lewis, to only name a few – have joined this unique orchestra during the decades .
Globe Unity Orchestra
http://www.intaktrec.ch/133-a.htm
