The New York Contemporary Five

The short-lived quintet known as The New York Contemporary Five had a lasting impact on the free jazz movement. It was formed in 1962 with trumpeter Don Cherry, who had been working with free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman; tenor saxophonist Archie Shepp, Danish alto saxophonist John Tchicai (whose father was Congolese), a former member of the quintet assembled by the poet and filmmaker Jorgen Leth, who moved to New York shortly before the Contemporary Five’s formation; acoustic bassist Don Moore, who had played with Shepp and Bill Dixon, and drummer J.C. Moses, who had played with Clifford Jordan and trumpeter Kenny Dorham. This rare performance, given at Copenhagen’s Koncertsal on 17 October 1963, has epically-extended cuts of Don Cherry’s Consequences and Ornette Coleman’s Emotions, plus a peppy take of Thelonious Monk’s Monk’s Mood.