Actions album cover
Actions

Fire! Orchestra

2020
Rune Grammofon

Polish composer Krszystof Penderecki wrote “Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra” in 1971 after hearing the Globe Unity Orchestra; it was recorded by a group that included luminaries like Peter Brötzmann, Manfred Schoof, Kenny Wheeler, Tomasz Stanko, Albert Mangelsdorff, Willem Breuker, Terje Rypdal, Han Bennink and more. Although it was scored, it had the feel of John Coltrane’s Ascension or Ornette Coleman’s Free Jazz, with swinging ensemble passages punctuated by solo and duo sections. In 2018, Mats Gustafsson and the Fire! Orchestra were commissioned to revisit “Actions…” for a festival in Kraków, Poland, and radically expanded the piece from 16 minutes to 40, slowing it down into one of their trance-like epics, and adding electric guitar, bass, and organ to give it a psychedelic rock feel at times. Even if you’ve never heard the original (surprisingly hard to find these days), this performance stands on its own.

Phil Freeman

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