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

Don Cherry really breaks out here on his classic Mu sessions from France – using the new freedoms of post-68 Paris to explore themes at a level that would set the tone for generations to come! The album's very spare, and very improvised – with Cherry on pocket trumpet, piano, and wooden flute – plus a bit of percussion too – alongside drummer Ed Blackwell, who's equally unbridled – showing a huge evolution since the time both he and Don spent in the group of Ornette Coleman! There's a few echoes of the global elements that Cherry would later embrace more strongly in the 70s – but the core energy here is mostly improvised jazz, handled at a level that really makes a lot better use of the freedom than some of Don's contemporaries. First part of the sessions feature the tracks "Total Vibration", "Sun Of The East", "Brilliant Action", and "Terrestrial Beings". CD

Don Cherry really breaks out here on his classic Mu sessions from France – using the new freedoms of post-68 Paris to explore themes at a level that would set the tone for generations to come! The album's very spare, and very improvised – with Cherry on pocket trumpet, piano, and wooden flute – plus a bit of percussion too – alongside drummer Ed Blackwell, who's equally unbridled – showing a huge evolution since the time both he and Don spent in the group of Ornette Coleman! There's a few echoes of the global elements that Cherry would later embrace more strongly in the 70s – but the core energy here is mostly improvised jazz, handled at a level that really makes a lot better use of the freedom than some of Don's contemporaries. Titles on this second part include "Bamboo Night", "The Mysticism Of My Sound", "Psycho Drama", "Smiling Faces Going Places", "Teo Teo Can", and "Dollar Brand/Spontaneous Composing/Exert Man On The Moon". 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