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The Composers' Orchestra Berlin
The COB is a large orchestra, with strings, horns and rhythm section, founded in autumn 2010 by composer & conductor Hazel Leach. The members of the orchestra are not only improvising instrumentalists, but are also the composers. There is no fixed line-up: the composers can select instruments from the pool, to develop a brand-new and innovative orchestral repertoire with stylistic influences ranging from classical to jazz and from folk to free…. the music written for this band has no exclusion zones.
Since its founding in the autumn of 2010 the COB has become an established part of the Berlin jazz-scene, with regular concerts in the Kunstfabrik Schlot.
In 2014 it won international recognition with the release of two very different CDs: the audio-book “Spazieren in Berlin” (texts by Franz Hessel, music by ten COB-composers, produced by the rbb (Radio Berlin Brandenburg) and the first orchestra CD “Free Range Music” (Jazzhausmusik). Subsequent releases are ‘Postcard Collection’ (JHM 2018), ‘Vanishing Points’ (JHM 2020), ‘Holding Pattern’ (JHM 2022). and 'Exoplanet' (JHM 2023).
The latest CD 'Telling Stories' is to released in April 2026 on JHM.
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The Composers' Orchestra Berlin: Telling Stories
by Jack Bowers
The Composers' Orchestra Berlin is precisely that: a 15-piece ensemble, now a battle-tested 16 years old, all of whose handsome compositions on its eighth recording, Telling Stories, were written and arranged by members of the orchestra or its conductor and music director, Hazel Leach. The COB includes a small string section (two violins, viola, cello) that is more than mere window dressing, as it plays an important role on most numbers, as does the solitary 'trumpet section' (Amadeo ...
Continue ReadingThe Composers' Orchestra Berlin: Holding Pattern
by Jack Bowers
Holding Pattern is the fourth album by The Composers' Orchestra Berlin, which, as the name denotes, is an ensemble wherein “the members of the orchestra are not only improvising instrumentalists but are also the composers." Every one of its ten selections was written and arranged by members of the ensemble. According to the jacket notes, “there is no fixed line-up; the composers can select instruments from the pool [of twenty-three musicians] to develop a brand-new...orchestral repertoire with stylistic influences ranging ...
Continue ReadingHazel Leach / Composers' Orchestra Berlin: Postcard Collection
by Jack Bowers
These picturesque “postcards" from composer / arranger Hazel Leach's well-appointed Composers' Orchestra Berlin are addressed to various locales in Europe and South America, presumably designed to echo musically the special nature of each site. Oddly enough, as there are only eight cards to be delivered, the album opens with Postcards 10 and 11, aimed at Caracas, Venezuela, and Tucuman, Argentina, respectively. There's a Postcard 9 as well, directed to Kalavrita, Greece, and one unnumbered memo, “Postcard aus Schlabendorf am See," ...
Continue Reading"COB is a completely new, innovative and inventive approach to the design of a large jazz band, and the songs are performed by imaginative, unique and creative musicians."
Robert Ratajczak http://longplayrecenzje.blox.pl/
The talents and generous, collaborative vibe of C.O.B. are a refreshing example of applied diplomacy and truly move as one.
New York City Jazz Record. Daniel A. Brown
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The Composers' Orchestra Berlin
Location: Berlin
Instrument: Band / ensemble / orchestra
Formed: 2010
