When the history of Danish jazz of the 1980s and 1990s is written, a very special chapter will have to be devoted to the emergence and flowering of what could be called "the jazz sinfoniettas" - that is, a group of about half a dozen musicians combining the complexity of the traditional big band with the mobility of the small combo. As the latest offshot of a jazz tradition that has included groups headed by Charles Mingus, Gil Evans and to some extent even Duke Ellington, this medium-sized format allows for a very wide range of expressions alle the way from collective improvisation to complex scores, from tight ensemble to individual freedom. However, the Copenhagen Art Ensemble is not based on the vision of a single composer and musician, but on the ambition of several musicians to work with various kinds of music. The group was originally formed in 1990 as Jazzgroup 90, but adapted its present unjazzlike name in 1996, when the saxophonist Lotte Anker and trombone player Ture Larsen took over as artistic directors. Over the years it has performed with leading jazz musicians like the American trumpet player Randy Brecker and saxophonist Bob Berg, the British pianist, composer and Jazzpar Prize winner Django Bates, the Norwegian trumpet player Nils Petter Molvær and his compatriot the pianist Jon Balke and the traditional Afro-Cuban Bàtá group of Rune Olesen. The ensmble has been involved in a number of unconventional projects including work with theatre music and collaboration with the Danish String Quartet and Zapolski Quartet.