“And while Hess’s overall plan seems to be going after beauty and swing---, the basic attack has as much surging outward-motion as you’re likely to ask for.” Brian Coley - SPIN Born in Abington, Pennsylvania, Hess grew up in New Jersey, attending Trenton State College, before moving to Colorado in 1981. He graduated with a doctorate in music composition from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1991. His early experiences include studies with saxophonist Phil Woods, a stint with bandleader Fred Waring, and composing music for the world premiere of a Sam Shepard play. As a composer, his influences encompass the contributions of the great figures in jazz history, avant-garde classical sources, as well as Anthony Braxton and the members of the AACM. He is currently Director of Composition at The Metropolitan State College of Denver. Committed to exploring the boundaries of notated and improvised music, Fred Hess attended the Creative Music Studio, Woodstock, NY (1979), founded the Boulder Creative Music Ensemble (1982), Denver’s Creative Music Works Orchestra (1993), and was a member of drummer Ginger Baker’s DJQ. Recording twelve CDs under his own name, Hess received Colorado’s Composition Fellowship (1986/1994), won Denver’s inaugural Hennessey Jazz Search (1992), the Jazz Composers Alliance, Julius Hemphill Award (2000), and first prize at the First International Jazz Composers Symposium (2006). Favorable articles and reviews have appeared in DownBeat, Jazziz, JazzTimes, Coda, The Wire, JazzWise, Cadence, and online jazz websites. WHAT IS A CREATIVE ENSEMBLE? Here are three possible answers: 1) an ensemble that acts or reacts creatively to a musical situation. 2) an ensemble that plays Creative Music (music that allows the players significant freedom of choice in the music making.) 3) an ensemble that has its origins in the ambitious experiments of such composers as Anthony Braxton, George Lewis Leo Smith, and Roscoe Mitchell. The Boulder Creative Music Ensemble fits all these criteria. The brainchild of reedman composer Fred Hess, BCME came into existence in 1982. In 1978, Hess attended the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, NY to study the compositional techniques of the aforementioned composers. After moving to Boulder, Colorado in 1981, Hess found a group of like-minded musicians who became the core BCME members. In early 1982, the ensemble began concertizing,while keeping a regular rehearsal meeting, meeting every Sunday at 11AM. This continued until 1990, when the ensemble recorded its final projects, heard for the first time on this CD. During its decade of activity, the BCME often collaborated with artists from other disciplines, structuring improvisations to include calligraphy, storytelling, dance, mime, and even Japanese flower arranging into its vision of a user-friendly performance practice. This central element, a spontaneous music making environment, is present in all their music. Whether working with visual structures (which create controlled textures full of instrumental color), or, specifically composed materials (integrating jazz elements with the improvisatory techniques usually associated with the later twentieth-century classical ensemble), the BCME remains a fruitful example of a new kind of musical vision - the Creative Ensemble.