DESCRIPTION:
Grachan Moncur III & The Jazz Composer's Orchestra - Echoes Of Prayer (JCOA Records)

Grachan Moncur III, trombone, voice; Carla Bley, piano; Leroy Jenkins, violin; Carlos Ward, sax, flute; Hannibal Marvin Peterson, trumpet; Stafford Osborne, trumpet; Janice Robinson, trombone; Jack Jeffers, trombone; Perry Robinson, clarinet; Mark Elf, guitar; Keith Marks, flute; Cecil McBee, bass; Charlie Haden, bass; Jeanne Lee, vocals; Mervine Grady, vocals; Titos Sompa, congas, talking drum; Coster Massamba, Frederick Simpson, Malonga Quasquelourd, Jakuba Abiona, percussion; Beaver Harris, drums.

Recorded April 11, 1974 at Blue Rock Studio, New York City

[From Wikipedia]
The Jazz Composer's Orchestra was a jazz group founded in 1965 to further avant-garde jazz in New York City. Carla Bley and Michael Mantler were important in its organization and style.

Its origins lay in the Jazz Composers Guild, an organization founded by Bill Dixon which grew out of the series of 1964 concerts in New York, known as the "October Revolution in Jazz" and subsequent regular performance settings. A big band, formed by Bley and Mantler, became known as the Jazz Composers Guild Orchestra, which made its first record in April 1965. After the demise of the Guild, the big band continued as the Jazz Composer's Orchestra. A non-profit organisation was established in 1966, the Jazz Composers Orchestra Association Inc. (JCOA).

The Orchestra's first release was 'Communication' in 1965. Their 1968 double-album The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (also known as Communications) featured soloists Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Roswell Rudd, Pharoah Sanders, Larry Coryell, and Gato Barbieri.

JCOA Records was founded for released from the Orchestra and its members.

Albums included commissioned works by Roswell Rudd, Clifford Thornton, Don Cherry, Leroy Jenkins and Grachan Moncur III.

The group's last performance was in 1975.

Discography

1965: Communication
1968: The Jazz Composer's Orchestra (produced by Michael Mantler)
1971: Escalator over the Hill (a chronotransduction by Carla Bley & Paul Haines)
1973: Relativity Suite (produced by Don Cherry)
1973: Numatik Swing Band (produced by Roswell Rudd)
1975: The Gardens of Harlem (produced by Clifford Thornton)
1975: Echoes of Prayer (produced by Grachan Moncur III)
1975: For Players Only (produced by Leroy Jenkins)