The Jazz Composers' Alliance (JCA) was founded to support, develop, and promote the art of composition in the jazz idiom. The JCA Orchestra, has been performing regularly since 1985.   The JCA’s concerts and recordings showcase a broad stylistic range, with influences from throughout America and the world. We also have several smaller groups.   Our first CD, Flux, was released in 1992, with contributions from Julius Hemphill and Sam Rivers along with those of our resident composers. Since then, we have released 10 more. The guest performer/composers that we have worked with include Anthony Davis, Richard Stolzman, Julius Hemphill, Maria Schneider, Dave Holland Steve Lacy, Tim Berne, Oliver Lake, Fred Ho and Henry Threadgill. Our album Why Do You Ride? was on Downbeat’s best of 2016.  Our current resident composers/administrators are David Harris, Darrell Katz, Mimi Rabson and Bob Pilkington. Harris, Katz and Rabson are all recipients of the Massachusetts Artist Fellowship, and collectively, this group has received many grants and awards, as well as performed and recorded with many other ensembles. Many other local composers have participated.   Darrell Katz has been the director of the organization for over 30 years.   The JCA Orchestra is made up of musicians and composers with many years of collective and varied professional experience. The JCA Orchestra has been up to the challenge of and requirements of a variety of composers. Notable soloists in the ensemble have include Hiro Honshuku, Jim Hobbs, Phil Scarff, Bill Lowe, Chris Speed, George Schuller, Helen Sherrah-Davies, John Medeski, and Rebecca Shrimpton.   The Jazz Composers Alliance was granted tax-exempt status in 1987.   Mimi Rabson - violinist, violist, composer, arranger, educator was dubbed "...dazzling, violin phenom" by the Boston Globe, and has “distinguished herself as one of Boston's most creative and versatile musicians.”   “…Darrell Katz has made a name as an imaginative and innovative composer, and this collection can only increase his reputation, such is his ability to create so many atmospheres and textures over the space of one record.” Downbeat, Simon Scott  “This is music for mind and soul” The Montreal Gazette “Crazy, avant-garde, third-stream, god-knows-what big band composition that manages to stay in touch with what Julius Hemphill called "the hard blues." Lerterland, David R. Adler   “.... every community should have one.” Willard Jenkins, Jazz Times Audiences:  “This CD demonstrates the full range and power of the JCA Orchestra. It also shows how many excellent composers are within its ranks and how the ensemble can stylishly navigate music that bursts with complex ideas. . The JCA Orchestra has quietly become one of the finest large jazz ensembles in the country” All About Jazz, Jerome Wilson  The JCA Orchestra has premiered over a 150 new works and commissioned new works, by Muhal Richard Abrams, John Carter, Marty Ehrlich, and Wayne Horvitz.