Formed to explore the outer reaches of improvised jazz, the Fire! Orchestra is an expanded version of the Scandinavian free jazz trio Fire! The core of the group is comprised of Fire! members bassist Johan Berthling, saxophonist Mats Gustafsson, and drummer Andreas Werlin. The original band formed as an amalgam of jazz and noise music, and began releasing albums in 2009. The larger incarnation of the group, dubbed the Fire! Orchestra, emerged in 2013 with Exit!, followed by Enter the next year. The lineup has reached as many as 28 members, all musicians from various facets of the experimental Scandinavian music scene. Albums continued to arrive on the Norwegian label Rune Grammofon for the rest of the decade, including an ambitious interpretation of Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki’s Actions for Free Jazz Orchestra, released as Actions in 2020.
