Of course, the current shining of neo-liberal ideas also reflect on jazz journalism. For worshippers of the artistic ego and eulogists of so-called peculiarities lib "pigheadedness" and "unruliness" , to use only two outmoded expressions, skills such as higher developed technical capability on an instrument, compositional craftsmanship and teamwork abilities are nothing but annoying concepts which do not fit into their discourse But why should one exclude the other? without a hitch, the ancient technique of improvisation on a theme or composition, what one would like to call "referential" improvisation, can go hand in hand with referentialless total improvisation- In his book "Interaction - Opening up the jazz Ensemble", Graham Collier already made interesting suggestions to that end.
What occurs within a conventional big Brussels jazz Orchestra (BJO) can be described as an and balanced interaction between harmoniously expressed collective statements (full band episodes) and the paramount individual comments (improvisations) on that. To a large extent, it is this dialectic that still appeals to jazz musicians. E.g. the growing awareness of being a part of a rhythm or brass section concentratedly co-constructing a development of a theme so that it becomes a rhythmical, synchronized phrase which gathers momentum through harmonised layering. Lo and behold, here we have one of the feelings essential to a jazz musician's world of experience when playing in a big band setting.

In this case, the open rehearsal, which took place since 1993 under the guidance of saxophonist Frank Vaganée at the "Sounds" in Brussels on Tuesday evenings, have incubated a dynamic big band- A big band that consists of a congenial group of young musicians from the outskirts of Brussels, who are well-versed in instrument-technicality and who don't give a damn about language borders in Belgium. Initially, the B]O built up its repertoire by using the contemporary and challenging charts by, among others, Bill Holman, Bob Brookmeyer, Thad Jones and Rob Pronk. The more Belgium's Radio 3 captured live concerts of the Brussels Jazz Orchestra, the more the idea matured to release an anthology of these recordings on cd.
Around this time, people also started to judge the BJO on its own merits. Particularly, the orchestra's much talked-about performance at the 1995 Jazz Middelheim festival in Antwerp didn't bring a blush of shame to Belgian sheeks even though they took the stage immediately after Toshiko Akiyoshi's big band
Also important during this period was the shift in repertoire towards commissioned works from talented Belgian composers and arrangers.
And it was in spring 1997 that the Brussels Jazz Orchestra reached the height of its powers at its final concert of a demanding tour- All of the selections in the present anthology were recorded during this concert on May 18th at the cultural centre De Spil in Roeselare (West Flanders), opening the door to a representative sample of the BJO's capacities.