The legendary Instant Composers Pool Orchestra (ICP) presents MISHAKOSMOS at Studio LOOS on Sept 30
from left to right: Ab Baars - Tristan Honsinger - Guus Janssen - Tobias Delius - Wolter Wierbos - Mary Oliver - Ernst Glerum - Thomas Heberer - Han Bennink
A unique opportunity to see and hear Han Bennink in the midst of this star ensemble in The Hague. ICP no longer performs so often in the Netherlands, the orchestra has largely shifted its activities abroad. ICP was founded in 1967 by, among others, Han Bennink and Misha Mengelberg, who died in March 2017. The Instant Composers Pool (ICP) played an important role in the development of European improvised music and, with a new generation of musicians – and Guus Janssen as pianist – continues to be an important force in the field of modern composed music and jazz. Now that 55-year-old ICP is back in the Netherlands, don't miss the opportunity to experience their concert! The orchestra plays music by Misha Mengelberg, the pianist who was there from the start. Drummer Han Bennink still plays along and is known all over the world. He really drums on everything. The music is a unique mix of catchy melodies, confusing and exciting improvisations, with ensemble playing at a particularly high level.
ICP will present de "Mishakosmos"
October 2021 will see the release of the first official book of Misha Mengelberg compositions, MISHAKOSMOS: The Music of Misha Mengelberg (ISBN 978-90-824144-7-9). It will be a "real book": hardcover and professionally spiral-bound, featuring more than 75 pieces of Misha's music ready to play or otherwise engage with, designed for fans, teachers, students, and especially the performing musician.
Curated and collated by Michael Moore, the list of compositions includes Blues After Piet, Peer's Counting Song, the Rollos, Gare Guillemins, Samba Zombie, Who's Bridge, and of course the perennial favourite De Sprong O Romantiek der Hazen, but also plenty more.
Quantities will be limited! If you'd like to pre-order for a discounted price (€25 not including shipping, offer valid until 30 September 2021), please send us an email at subdist@gmail.com (with a Subject line of MISHAKOSMOS and your shipping address included) and we'll get you sorted out.
Misha Criss-Cross
During the event, Studio LOOS will also exhibit “MISHA CRISS-CROSS” – an international group exhibition around Misha Mengelberg that was shown in 2017 in celebration of his 80th birthday. The visitors will be welcome to enjoy 251 photos by various international photographers, curated by Francesca Patella.
Kevin Whitehead (NJA Jazzbulletin) about ICP in Oost-Berlijn januari 2016:
“Ah, but the band sounded magnificent. The meld of five idiosyncratic horns can be breathtaking, not least when they ease out of an improvisation by slowly converging on the first note of the next tune. (Thomas Heberer’s quarter-tone trumpet’s handy for that.) As a late arrival to the saxophones, Toby Delius doesn’t even have formal parts; he alights by ear. The three strings are less cohesive on the heads, but jell when they improvise; string trios plus one are staples of the impromptu subgroups. Violist Mary Oliver’s sleek new-music chops are offset by Honsinger’s Mengelbergian anarchism on cello. Tristan’s conducted improvisations are spontaneous music theater: funny pantomime blossoms into music. Glerum somehow anchors the strings and Mengelberg/Bennink rhythm section simultaneously.”
The incomparable Instant Composers Pool Orchestra are like the Jedi Knights of improvisation: a collective of musical marvels hacking the conventions of their individual instruments, setting an arena to clash, challenge and coalesce with one another. Founded by the late pianist Mischa Mengelberg and maverick skinsman Han Bennink, the ICP Orchestra is part jazz band, part chamber orchestra. When performing live, harmony can be found in chaos and set arrangements are often employed playfully to instill confusion. Above all, the Composers Pool’s a one of a kind celebration of individuality within a collective.