CD from the "Touchstones" Series.
It had been preceded by ECM duo albums with Barre Phillips and with Derek Bailey as well as the cooperative band Circle’s great Paris Concert, but Conference of the Birds, recorded in 1972, was Dave Holland’s first album as a full-fledged leader. An album of driving, progressive jazz it is also of historical significance as the only occasion when Sam Rivers and Anthony Braxton, two of the music’s most strikingly original saxophonists, recorded together. Inside Dave’s compositions they could meet – if briefly – and share ideas. This summit meeting received raves from the press. “If you’ve found the new music lacking in swing, cohesion and variety, get to this album,” insisted Down Beat in a five star review. “It’s Holland’s date but each man contributes equally. The six Holland tunes offer great improvisational frameworks, and his bass playing, both arco and pizzicato, couldn’t be better… Don’t miss this one.”
Conference of the Birds, 1972 aufgenommen, war Dave Hollands erstes ECM-Album als alleiniger Leader. Voll treibendem progressivem Jazz, hat es historische Signifikanz als die erste Session, bei der Sam Rivers und Anthony Braxton, zwei der originellsten Saxophonisten des Genres, gemeinsam aufnahmen. Dieses Gipfeltreffen erntete Lobeshymen in der Presse: „Wenn sie bisher Swing, Zusammenhang und Abwechslungsreichtum im neuen Jazz vermisst haben, dann hören sie sich dieses Album an“, empfahl Downbeat in einer Fünf-Sterne-Rezension.
