Nine Compositions 2003

Listeners longing to immerse themselves in Anthony Braxton’s sound-world will be richly rewarded by this historic DVD -- the latest in a dizzying four decades of recorded work from the improvised music pioneer and 1994 MacArthur Fellow.  Five of the Nine Compositions are installments in Braxton’s Ghost Trance Music series, while the other four are gems from his early composition catalog.  Two of the tracks were recorded live in San Francisco's historic Victoria Theater by Myles Boisen.
 
It’s a DVD with no video – but it’s loaded with over six hours of high-resolution (24-bit, 48 kHz)  audio, and compatible with any DVD player. Two of the tracks are over an hour and a half in length, but this format lets the lucky listener hear each piece in its entirety without having to change discs.

The all-luminary large ensemble, with twelve to thirteen members, takes on Composition No. 328 dedicated to Liza Minnelli, Composition No. 190 dedicated to Johnny Cash, Composition No. 292 dedicated to master instrumentalist/ composer Steve Lacy – and Composition No. 327, dedicated to master composer/teacher Florence Price.  A more intimate contrast comes from the quartet Composition No. 322 in honor of Oscar Brown Junior, and the trios, Compositions No. 23E, 72H, 74E, and 75.