Instant Composers Pool (ICP) is an independent Dutch

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

and

improvised music Musical improvisation (also known as musical extemporization) is the creative activity of immediate ("in the moment") musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous ...

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed ...

and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

. Founded in 1967, the label takes its name from the notion that improvisation is "instant composition". The ICP label has published more than 50 releases to date, with most of its releases featuring the ICP Orchestra and its members.

History

Founding

In 1967 saxophonist

Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinetist. Career During the mid 1960s, he played with percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg, co-founding the I ...

, pianist

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

and drummer

Han Bennink Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano. Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal fig ...

founded the ICP label in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...

. Mengelberg and Bennink had been playing together since 1961 and found success as members of Eric Dolphy's quartet in 1964, as documented on his live album '' Last Date''. Mengelberg had also been involved in the

Fluxus Fluxus was an international, interdisciplinary community of artists, composers, designers and poets during the 1960s and 1970s who engaged in experimental art performances which emphasized the artistic process over the finished product. Fluxus ...

art movement and was developing a composition style that involved musical games. As European

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians duri ...

musicians, they were butting up against disinterest in their music from contemporary jazz labels, so they formed a

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-contro ...

as a means to release their own recordings. Mengelberg coined the label's name as a testament to improvisation being composition at the instant that the music is played. ICP's first records documented Breuker and Bennink's New Acoustic Swing Duo, and a trio of Mengelberg and Bennink with

John Tchicai John Martin Tchicai ( ; 28 April 1936 – 8 October 2012) was a Danish free jazz saxophonist and composer. Biography Tchicai was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, to a Danish mother and a Congolese father. The family moved to Aarhus, where he st ...

, whose album was titled ''Instant Composers Pool''. Breuker left ICP in 1974 to concentrate on his group, the Willem Breuker Collective, and went on to found his own record label, BVHaast. Mengelberg and Bennink intensified their collaboration and, widening their own musical project as the Instant Composers Pool Tentet with saxophonist

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus movement ...

and cellist Tristan Honsinger. Throughout the 1970s, the ICP label continued to release records, many as co-productions with other European independent labels, including albums by

Jeanne Lee Jeanne Lee (January 29, 1939 – October 25, 2000) was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers who included Gunte ...

, Derek Bailey,

Dudu Pukwana Mthutuzeli Dudu Pukwana (18 July 1938 – 30 June 1990) was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist (although not known for his piano playing). Early years in South Africa Dudu Pukwana was born in Walmer Township, Port Elizabeth, ...

, Steve Lacy, Paul Rutherford,

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

Maarten Altena Maarten van Regteren Altena (born January 22, 1943) is a Dutch composer and contrabassist. Altena attended the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (he studied contrabass) and graduated in 1968. Between 1980 and 1985, he studied composition with Robert ...

and

. Most of these releases were of limited (and sometimes even numbered) edition and featured a distinctive idiosyncratic graphic design by Bennink.

1980s–present

By the 1980s, the ICP began to recruit younger musicians, as well as classical/ new music violinist

Mary Oliver Mary Jane Oliver (September 10, 1935 – January 17, 2019) was an American poet who won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her work is inspired by nature, rather than the human world, stemming from her lifelong passion for solitary ...

. Under Mengelberg's guidance, the ICP Orchestra made studies of and recorded albums of music by jazz greats Duke Ellington, Herbie Nichols and

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", ...

. In the late 1980s and early 90s, ICP members collaborated with members of American

post-punk Post-punk (originally called new musick) is a broad music genre, genre of Punk Music, punk music that emerged in the late 1970s as musicians departed from punk's traditional elements and raw simplicity, instead adopting a variety of avant-garde s ...

Indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band Sonic Youth and began their long musical career with Dutch experimental punk band The Ex with whom they continue to tour and record. In recent years, the ICP label has focused its releases solely on members of the ICP Orchestra, including Wolter Wierbos,

, Tristan Honsinger and

Tobias Delius Tobias Delius (born 15 July 1964) is a tenor saxophonist and clarinettist. Early life Delius was born in Oxford, England, on 15 July 1964. His mother was German and his father was Argentine. Delius was brought up largely in England and Germany. ...

. The label's earlier vinyl and cassette back catalog had not been issued on CD until the release of the label's complete catalogue as a 54-disc boxed set to commemorate the ICP's 45th anniversary in 2012.

Label discography

*ICP 001: Willem Breuker/Han Bennink ''New Acoustic Swing Duo'' LP (1967) *ICP 002: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink/John Tchicai ''Instant Composers Pool'' LP (1968) *ICP 003: Willem Breuker ''Lunchconcert for Three Barrelorgans'' LP *ICP 004: ''Han Bennink/Derek Bailey'' LP *ICP 005: Misha Mengelberg/John Tchicai/Han Bennink/Derek Bailey ''Fragments'' LP *ICP 006: Misha Mengelberg/Paul Rutherford/Peter Bennink/Peter Brötzmann/Evan Parker/Han Bennink/Derek Bailey ''Groupcomposing'' LP (1971) *ICP 007/008: Various artists ''Instant Composers Pool'' 2×LP (1970) *ICP 009: Willem Breuker ''The Message'' LP (1971) *ICP 010: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''Instant Composers Pool'' LP (1972) *ICP 011: Han Bennink ''Solo'' LP *ICP 012: Maarten van Regteren Altena ''Handicaps'' LP *ICP 013: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''Een Mirakelse Tocht'' six 7" flexi-discs (1972) *ICP 013: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''Midwoud '77'' LP (1974) *ICP 014/SAJ 03: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''Einepartietischtennis'' LP (1974) *ICP 015: Eric Dolphy/Misha Mengelberg/Jacques Schols/Han Bennink ''Epistrophy'' LP *ICP 016: Steve Lacy ''Lumps'' LP *ICP 017/018: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''Coincidents'' double cassette (1976) *ICP 019: Maarten van Regteren Altena ''Tuning the Bass'' LP *ICP 020: ICP 10-tet ''Tetterettet'' LP (1977) *ICP 021: Dudu Pukwana/Han Bennink/Misha Mengelberg ''Yi Yole'' LP *ICP 022: ICP Orchestra ''Live Soncino'' LP *ICP 023: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''Bennink Mengelberg'' LP *ICP 024: Misha Mengelberg & ICP Orchestra ''Japan Japon'' LP (1982) *ICP 025: ICP Orchestra Extension ''Red White and Blue (Herbie Nichols)'' cassette (1984) *ICP 026: ICP Orchestra ''Two Programs: Herbie Nichols/Thelonious Monk'' CD (1987) *ICP 027: Han Bennink ''Solo'' VHS *ICP 028: ICP Orchestra ''Bospaadje Konijnehol I'' CD (1990) *ICP 029: ICP Orchestra ''Bospaadje Konijnehol II'' CD (1991) *ICP 030: Misha Mengelberg ''Mix'' CD *ICP 031: Misha Mengelberg/Han Bennink ''MiHa'' CD + anniversary book *ICP 032: Wolter Wierbos ''X Caliber'' CD *ICP 033: Tobias Delius 4 Tet ''The Heron'' CD *ICP 034: Tobias Delius 4 Tet ''Toby's Mloby'' CD *ICP 035: Han Bennink ''Solo'' *ICP 036: Tristan Honsinger '' A Camel's Kiss'' CD *ICP 037: Steve Beresford/Han Bennink ''B + B (in Edam)'' CD *ICP 038: Mary Oliver ''Witchfiddle'' CD *ICP 039: Tobias Delius 4 Tet ''Pelikanismus'' CD *ICP 040: ICP Orchestra ''Oh, My Dog!'' CD (2001) *ICP 041: Mary Oliver/Thomas Lehn/Han Bennink ''Pica Pica'' CD (2004) *ICP 042: ICP Orchestra ''Aan & Uit'' CD (2004) *ICP 043: ICP Orchestra ''Weer is een Dag Voorbij'' CD (2005) *ICP 044: Misha Mengelberg ''Afijn'' DVD (2009) *ICP 045: Alessandra Patrucco/Tristan Honsinger/Misha Mengelberg/Ab Baars/Han Bennink ''Circus'' CD (2006) *ICP 046: ICP Orchestra ''Live at the Bimhuis'' CD *ICP 047: Oliver & Heggen ''Oh, Ho!'' CD *ICP 048: Tobias Delius 4 Tet ''Luftlucht'' CD (2010) *ICP 049: ICP Orchestra ''ICP Orchestra'' CD (2010) *ICP 050: ICP Orchestra ''!ICP! 050'' LP (2010) *ICP 1275-1: Various artists ''Complete Boxed Catalogue (limited edition)'' 52 CDs + 2 DVDs + book + blueprint (2012) *ICP 051: ICP Orchestra ''East of the Sun'' CD (2014)

References

{{Authority control Dutch jazz ensembles Dutch record labels Experimental music record labels Jazz record labels Record labels established in 1967