In 2005, cornetist Rob Mazurek was approached by The Chicago Cultural Center and the Jazz Institute to put together a group that would represent the more contemporary / avant-garde side of sound in Chicago for a concert in Millennium Park’s Frank Gehry-designed concert hall. The music was conceptualized/composed in Manaus Brazil, Fontevraud, France and Chicago, and developed over more than a dozen performances of the Orchestra before it was recorded by John McEntire at his Soma Studio in Chicago. The group contains several great musicians, including some members of Tortoise.

This album is grounded in both free jazz and very structured compositions. Some moments jump out with many performers all improvising at once, a mash of the drums, horns, flute, bells all playing together (which would sound like a cacophony were they not so perfectly interwoven as they play off of one another), and while others move seamlessly as a cohesive unit, the songs still shine with individual flourishes from the performers beneath the surface.

Vaguely similar sounds: Davis' On the Corner

Get it here.