Conference Of The Birds is the titletrack (last track on side A) on the album by bassist Dave Holland.

Conference of the Birds is an album by the Dave Holland Quartet, recorded in 1972 and released in 1973. It is jazz bassist Holland’s second collaboration with composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton, as well as his second album on EMC records. The liner notes describe how birds would congregate each morning outside Holland’s London apartment and join with one another in song.

Each piece on the album is “open form,” with a theme stated at the beginning to set key, tempo, and mood. The players are then free to improvise in whatever direction they choose. Stuart Nicholson writes: “Conference of the Birds emerged as a definitive statement of swinging free expression. It was, in essence, a return to the rugged discipline of early 1960s free improvising by working off melodic foundations using the ‘time, no changes’ principle to achieve greater control over that elusive quarry, freedom.”[source]

All compositions by Dave Holland: Four Winds / Q & A / Conference of the Birds / Interception / Now Here (Nowhere) / See-Saw

Dave Holland – Bass
Sam Rivers – Reeds, Flute
Anthony Braxton – Reeds, Flute
Barry Altschul – Percussion, Marimba