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One of the most obscure chapters in the career of Ennio Morricone – important avant garde work recorded in the mid 60s, just at a point when he was beginning to rise in soundtrack fame! The ensemble is a key Italian modernist group featuring Morricone, Giovanni Piazza, Mario Bertoncini, Egisto Macchi, Gualtiero Branch, Jesus Villa Rojo, and Francesco Evangelisti – mostly classically-trained musicians, but working here in a set of improvisations that are extremely spare, and which are very much at the lower end of the sound spectrum. Many of the sounds on the set are right at the frontiers of hearing – and others, while more present, disappear as quickly as they emerge – further enforcing the mystery and mood of the record. And while the overall style is quite different than Morricone's soundtrack work, the group was clearly a key testing ground for his ideas of sound and space that emerged later. Titles include "Soup", "Scratch", "Settimino", and "Eflot".

A classic 70s outing from The Gruppo Di Improvisazione – historically important Italian avant collective, similar to AMM or MEV – with a really groundbreaking approach to their sound! We say "sound" here instead of "music" – because the album's filled with dark textures and subtle instrumental touches – more sonic than melodic at most moments, and used in really stark, spare ways. Ennio Morricone's featured on some bracing trumpet lines – and other members include Egisto Macchi on percussion, and Giancarlo Schiaffini on trombone. Titles include "Schema 1, 2, 3" and "Ommagio A Giancinto Scelsi".

Rare work from this legendary Italian improvisational group – a lineup that features famous modernists Mario Bertoncini, Egisto Macchi, and Walter Bianchi – as well as soundtrack genius Ennio Morricone! The sounds are quite dark and abstract – often somewhere out in the space of Morricone's more atonal soundtracks from the early 70s, but even looser overall – as you can feel the improvisational energy of the players coming together – feeling out space between spare percussion, strings, and horns. The record actually has one famous funky number – "Haschich", which has this amazing break underneath some off-tuned sitar and other odd noises – but most other tracks are much darker and more outside. Other titles include "Orgasmo", "Eroina", "Aghi", "Warum", "Raptus", and "Stridori" – plus another take on "Haschich".