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

An excellent session for BYG! Anthony Braxton is recorded here with a number of other Chicago AACM players, including Steve McCall, Leroy Jenkins, and Leo Smith. The instrumentation includes an amazing range of oddball sound sources, including Hohner Organ, sirens, logs, mouth organ, sound machine, and chimes, and the set's played with all the sense of humor and adventure you'd expect from some of the young AACM players. The record begins with the extended "Composition No 1", which is a fairly free piece; then it moves into a nice solo by Braxton, and then a set of "small compositions", which have some excellent horn interplay between Braxton and Smith. The LP ends with a cool spoken piece by Braxton called "This Time...". Wild stuff, and a great record from his early period. CD

One of the excellent non-Art Ensemble sessions cut by the team of saxophonist Joseph Jarman and percussionist Don Moye – work that draws on their experience in the groundbreaking Chicago group, but also takes them into rich new territory on their own! The group's a quartet – with trombone and flute by Craig Harris, and bass and reeds by Rafael Garrett – and the tracks long, and slow-building – as concerned with sound overall as they are with improvisation, in a style that reminds us of some of the best mellower early 70s moments of the Art Ensemble, but with loft jazz touches too. Jarman plays a very large range of reed instruments, and Moye matches with lots of varied percussion – and titles include "Sunspots", "Jawara", "Happiness Is", and "Zulu Village". LP, Vinyl record album