Creative Music Studio

During the '70- and '80's, the Woodstock-based Creative Music Studio was considered the premier study center for contemporary creative music. Founded in 1971 by Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso and Ornette Coleman, CMS brought together leading innovators in the jazz and world music communities. Unprecedented in its range and diversity, CMS was an acknowledged phenomenon in the international music world, providing participants with the rare opportunity to interact personally with the musical giants of improvisation and musical thought on a daily basis.

CMS is credited as the birthplace of Worldjazz - the improvisational and compositional expansion of the world's musical traditions. Now one of the main driving forces in many styles of music, this concept was pioneered very early at CMS, guided by authentic leaders. Hundreds of live concerts were recorded, many heralded as landmark performances. Thousands of workshops, master classes, concerts and colloquia inspired a generation of musicians who took with them the ideas, concepts and practices developed at CMS. The CMS community still exists in a remarkable network of creative musicians, many of whom came to CMS from Asia, Europe and South America.

CMS started a Fund Drive for its ARCHIVE PROJECT to preserve the large collection of its live recordings created from1972 until1986.This collection of recordings is unique in its artistic scope: the CMS program featured some of the most outstanding and ground-breaking composers/performers in World Jazz, World Music, New Music, guiding ensembles of highly motivated emerging artists.See "News"