(also known as The Group or ) was an avant-garde free improvisation group considered the first experimental composers collective.

History

The collective was formed by Italian composer Franco Evangelisti in Rome in 1964. Drawing on jazz,

serialism In music, serialism is a method of Musical composition, composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other elements of music, musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, thou ...

, musique concrete, and other avant-garde techniques developed by contemporary classical music composers such as Luigi Nono and

Giacinto Scelsi Giacinto Francesco Maria Scelsi (; 8 January 1905 – 9 August 1988, sometimes cited as 8 August 1988) was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French. He is best known for having composed music based around only one pitch, ...

, the group was dedicated to the development of new music techniques by improvisation, noise-techniques, and anti-musical systems. The group members and frequent guests made use of extended techniques on traditional classical instruments, as well as prepared piano, tape music and electronic music. During the 1970s the music continued to evolve to embrace techniques and genres such as guitar feedback and

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

. In addition to concerts, the group issued a series of albums and contributed to many scores by group member

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone (; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, orchestrator, conductor, and trumpeter who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 scores for cinema and television, as well as more than 100 classica ...

, including ''

A Quiet Place in the Country ''A Quiet Place in the Country'' ( it, Un tranquillo posto di campagna, french: Un coin tranquille à la campagne) is a 1968 giallo thriller film directed by Elio Petri, and starring Franco Nero and Vanessa Redgrave. Based on the short story "Th ...

'' (1968) and ''

Cold Eyes of Fear ''Cold Eyes of Fear'' ( it, Gli occhi freddi della paura) is a 1971 Italian-Spanish thriller film directed by Enzo G. Castellari, starring Fernando Rey. Plot A handsome young playboy (Gianni Garko) picks up a pretty Italian girl (Giovanna Ralli) ...

'' (1971). The group slowly disbanded after Evangelisti's death in 1980.

Main Members

* Franco Evangelisti (piano, percussion) *

(trumpet, flute) * Egisto Macchi (perc, celesta, strings)

Other Members at times

* Mario Bertoncini (perc, piano) * Walter Branchi (double-bass) * Richard Aaker Trythall (piano) * John Heineman (trombone, cello) * Roland Kayn (Hammond organ, vibraphone, marimba) * Frederic Rzewski (piano) *

Giancarlo Schiaffini Giancarlo Schiaffini is an Italian jazz trombonist and tubist most associated with avant-garde music, free improvisation and free jazz. A member of the Italian Instabile Orchestra, Schiaffini has worked with such artists as Mario Schiano, Lol Coxh ...

(trombone, assorted wind instruments) *

Giovanni Piazza Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

(horn, flute, violin) * Antonello Neri (piano, et al) * Jesus Villa Rojo (clarinet, et al) Xoán M. Carreira, «Jesús Villa Rojo», Madrid: SGAE, 87 páginas. * Bruno Battisti D'Amario (allsorts)

Discography

* 1966 "Nuova Consonanza", LP RCA * 1967 "The Private Sea of Dreams" (as ''Il Gruppo''), LP RCA Victor * 1968 "Improvisationen" LP Deutsche Grammophon * 1970 "The Feed-back" (as ''The Group''), LP RCA * 1973 "Improvvisazioni a Formazioni Variate" (also known as "Gruppo d'Improvvisazione Nuova Consonanza"), LP General Music * 1975 "Nuova Consonanza", LP Cinevox Records. Reissue 2007 CD Bella Casa * 1976 "Musica su Schemi", LP Cramps Records. Reissue 2002: LP Get Back, CD Ampersand * 1992 "1967-1975", CD Edition RZ * 2006 "Azioni", CD Die Schachtel * 2010 "Niente", CD Cometa Edizioni Musicali. Reissue * 2012 LP The Omni Recording Corporation/The Roundtable * 2011 "Eroina", CD Cometa Edizioni Musicali

References

Experimental musical groups Italian electronic music groups Musical groups established in 1964 {{Italy-band-stub