A fantastic package that explores the full range of genius on the legendary avant label BYG/Actuel – one of the most important European imprints at the end of the 60s! Actuel was home to some of the best avant garde jazz coming out of Paris in the late 60s and early 70s – an especially important document of the post-68 revolution in European music – at a time when so many American players where showing up in France, and finding great opportunities in the new freedoms of the scene! The package features seminal sides from US avant musicians – like Steve Lacy, Anthony Braxton, Clifford Thornton, Don Cherry, Jimmy Lyons, Archie Shepp, Sonny Sharrock, Sunny Murray, Grachan Moncur III, and The Art Ensemble Of Chicago – and it also features work by European musicians like Claude Delcloo and Jacques Coursil, plus genre-busting work by MEV and Gong as well. The 3CD box features a 48 page book – with lots of great illustrations, and notes from Thurston Moore and Byron Coley – and the set features 26 long tracks in all! CD

Beautiful work from the Art Ensemble – and one of their undisputed classics! The record features some of the most perfectly realized moments the band ever cut to wax, with a blend of whimsical multi-instrumental improvisation, and a strong sense of the spiritual tradition in jazz. The album features one long piece – "Reese & The Smooth Ones" – and it's a stunning array of spontanteous instrumentation, with a jagged sound that never stops reinventing itself! CD

Seminal work from the Art Ensemble of Chicago – recorded during their most creative period ever! The album was recorded live in October of 1969 – at a time when the group had pulled up roots and moved to France for a few years, bursting on the European scene with unique creativity that was not getting the recognition it deserved in their hometown of Chicago. The studio sets from this time are already the stuff of legend, and have thankfully made it back on reissue heavily the past few years – and this brilliant live set stands perfectly next to them – matching any of the LPs in the Great Black Music series on BYG/Actuel for sheer creative brilliance and soulful energy! Fontella Bass joins the group for a bit of vocals, and the 2CD set features 2 long tracks – "Bon Voyage" and "Oh Strange". CD

A mighty heavy group – paying tribute to the late drummer Alvin Fiedler – working with the kind of fierce improvisation that Fiedler would have really loved! Tenorist Kidd Jordan was a frequent musical partner of Alvin on record – and the group here really recreates some of the intensity they could deliver together – with Hamid Drake on drums and percussion, Joel Futterman on piano, and William Parker on bass – soaring out beautifully on one extended improvisation that takes up the entire record! Futterman is ferocious on piano, really matching the searing sounds that come from Jordan's horn – as he blows with a legacy of bold, spontaneous creation that almost takes us back to the years of ESP Records or BYG/Actuel. CD

Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks on this second volume include "The Utter Nots", "Outer Spaceways Inc", "Scene 1 Take 1", "Strange Worlds", "Ancient Ethiopia", "Pyramids", and "Interpretation". CD

Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks titles include "Spectrum", "The Satellites Are Spinning", "Seen III Took 4", "Adventures Of Bugs Hunter", "Legend", "The Realm Of Lightning", "The Utter Nots", "Outer Spaceways Inc", "Scene 1 Take 1", "Strange Worlds", "Ancient Ethiopia", "Pyramids", and "Interpretation". CD

Really unique material from Sun Ra – a pair of recordings that were initially circulated much more strongly than some of his Saturn Records material, thanks to the power of the BYG/Actuel label in the early 70s – but tracks that actually come from a variety of different sessions that Ra himself did with the Arkestra in the late 60s! Tracks are shortish, but very inventive – a well-chosen snapshot of all the new ideas that the group were cooking up during the end of the 60s in New York, with an increased mission to explore the outer reaches of space, and use more electronics than ever before! Ra plays some killer keyboards – moog, spacemaster, and acoustic piano – often with these really eerie tones – and other players include Kwame Hadi on trumpet, Akh Tal Ebah on space dimension mellophone, Ali Hassan on trombone, Marshal Allen and Danny Davis on alto and flute, John Gilmore on tenor, and Pat Patrick on baritone – and the whole group vocalizes at points, joined by other singers who include June Tyson and Art Jenkins. There's also some great use of "strange strings" on the sessions, not to mention a bit of reverb – and tracks titles include "Spectrum", "The Satellites Are Spinning", "Seen III Took 4", "Adventures Of Bugs Hunter", "Legend", "The Realm Of Lightning", "The Utter Nots", "Outer Spaceways Inc", "Scene 1 Take 1", "Strange Worlds", "Ancient Ethiopia", "Pyramids", and "Interpretation". CD

There might be a trumpet in Archie Shepp's soul, but the album features him on tenor and soprano sax – working in a wonderfully spiritual vein that's almost in the same mode as his early 70s work on Impulse! The album features some very long, drawn out tracks – but ones that build nicely with Shepp's soulful styles of the 70s – that groove he explored a bit on the Black Saint label, with a bold sense of majesty and power, presented with more control than the BYG/Actuel years. The album features some great vocals – again recalling Archie's later Impulse years – and players include Walter Davis Jr on electric piano, Dave Burrell on acoustic piano, Charles Greenlee on trombone, Ray Draper on tuba, and Beaver Harris on drums. Titles include "There's A Trumpet In My Soul", "Zaid", "Down In Brazil", and "It Is The Year Of The Rabbit". CD

One of a rare few albums done by pianist Cecil Taylor for the Blue Note label in the 60s – some of the most outside work recorded for the imprint at the time! The word "structures" here is perhaps a bit misplaced – as the work has a strong sense of freedom with the soloists – who operate based on a system of energy and impulses described by Taylor in the notes, at a level that's maybe one of his most inventive, ambitious expressions of the decade! The whole lineup is great – with especially strong horn work from Eddie Gale on trumpet, Jimmy Lyons on alto, and Ken McIntyre on alto, oboe, and bass clarinet – and Taylor's piano gets accompaniment from two groundbreaking bassists – Henry Grimes and Alan Silva – plus drums from Andrew Cyrille. Given the lineup, and the format, the whole thing almost feels more like one of the BYG/Actuel avant sessions than Blue Note in the 60s – and titles include "Steps", "Enter Evening (Soft Line Structure)", "Unit Structure/As Of A Now/Section", and "Tales (8 Whisps)". CD

A package without much in the way of notes, but which includes some really killer work from the great Don Cherry – some of his famous French recordings done for the BYG/Actuel label at the end of the 60s, and which really helped point the way towards all the directions he'd take in the 70s! The music is a strong bridge between the more avant styles he was recording at Blue Note, and some of the global experiments he was beginning to do overseas – served up here with help from Ed Blackwell and Okay Temiz on percussion, Johnny Dyani on bass, and Cherry on pocket trumpet, flute, piano, and other instruments. Titles include "Bamboo Night", "Blue Lake", "Amejelo", "East (parts 1 & 2)", "Orient (Part 1)", and "Smiling Faces Going Places". CD

One of Hampel's best sessions – a spiritually infused, freely structured session that feels like the best late 60s work on BYG/Actuel! Of course, it helps that the group on the record includes Anthony Braxton, Steve McCall, and Willem Breuker – plus usual suspect Jeanne Lee – creating a fine mix of European free players and AACM avant work. McCall's early percussion work is especially striking here – and takes the record way past the usual Hampel style. Titles include "Crepuscule", "We Move", "Morning Song", and "The 8th Of July 1969". Reissue includes two alternate take of "We Move", plus a short alternate version of the title track. CD

2 of Sunny Murray's classic sides for the BYG label, on one CD! Sunshine is one of Sunny's rarest from the time – and a full-on session that features Lester Bowie, Arthur Jones, Roscoe Mitchell, Archie Shepp, Kenneth Terroade, Dave Burrell, and Malachi Favors. The large group wails mightily, with a spiritual edge that's a bridge between Murray's New York avant roots and some of the late 60s work of the AACM. Side one features the extended "Flower Trane", and side two contains "Real" and "Red Cross". Even Break is one of the best-ever BYG/Actuel sessions, and one that has the unlikely pairing of east coast avant players Sonny Murray and Byard Lancaster, with Art Ensemble Of Chicago bassist Malachi Favors! Murray plays drums, and reads a bit of poetry, while the band wails behind him in powerful turgid lines of hard free jazz that represent all there is to say about the freedom of the Paris jazz scene in 1969. 4 long tracks – "Invisible Blues", "Complete Affection", "Giblets – Part 12", and "An Even Break". CD

A tremendous recording from the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – done during the same Paris stretch as their Great Black Music classics on the BYG/Actuel label – and a set that easily matches, if not tops, those classics! You can really hear the group finding their own space here – taking some of the free jazz explorations of the Chicago scene in the late 60s, and forging them with an even earthier use of both percussion, and the more offbeat sonic possibilities of their own instruments – often with a sense of surprise that you don't always get from some of their later albums. Titles include the side-long "The Spiritual" – plus "Toro", "Lori Song", and "That The Evening Sky Fell Through the Glass Wall and We Stood Alone Somewhere?" (And they wondered why they never got their songs on the radio!) CD

One of the most obscure ensembles of the groundbreaking Paris scene of the end of the 60s – a progressive group that featured Glenn Spearman on saxes, Takashi Kako on piano, Bob Reid on bass, Boulou Ferret on guitar, and Sabu Toyozumi on drums! There's an energy here (no pun intended) that matches other work from the BYG/Actuel generation – but somehow the overall sound is a bit different – earthier at times, with a starker approach to the work that we really love. Spearman's talent on reeds is remarkable (the album stands as one of a rare few examples of his genius on wax) – and we're also struck by the power of Kako's work on piano, which has a majesty of color and tone that almost matches Cecil Taylor at times. Tracks are long, and titles include a version of the Art Ensemble's "People In Sorrow", plus "Emergency Theme", "Kako Tune", and "Infidels". CD

An incredible collective of musicians – all recording here under the mighty leadership of Archie Shepp! The feel of the session is a highly collaborative one – far more so than even Shepp's other Paris work for the BYG/Actuel label – as a richly varied lineup that includes Leroy Jenkins, Sonny Murray, Clifford Thornton, Noah Howard, and Dave Burrell come into play with Shepp's work on soprano sax, and some additional work by bluesmen Chicago Beau and Julio Finn. Finn plays some airy harmonica lines next to spare viola from Jenkins – setting a spacious mood for the album's two longer tracks as the rest of the players come into the mix to fill things out in a mode that builds with rhythmic intensity. The album features the tracks "Black Gypsy" and "Epitaph Of A Small Winner" – plus the shorter modal number "Pitchin Can". CD