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

One of Anthony Braxton's great records for BYG, and like the other one, a very cool session that has Braxton playing in a vibe that shows his AACM roots much more clearly than a lot of other sessions! He's playing here with a number of other Chicago expatriates – including Leo Smith on trumpet, Steve McCall on percussion, and Leroy Jenkins on violin – and between them, the four players handle a huge amount of string, reed, percussion, and keyboard instruments, switching off and on in a warmly experimental sound that characterizes the best work of the Chicago avant garde from the time. Tracks include "The Light On the Dalta", "Simple Like", and one of Braxton's weird symbol compositions. Ironically, this French session from the late 60s still stands as one of the best ways to witness the budding Chicago genius of the AACM! CD

2 classics by the Art Ensemble Of Chicago – back to back on one CD! At the time they were taking Paris by storm, the Art Ensemble recorded these brilliant albums – both of which are some of their strongest early work, far more well-formed than any of their individual expressions recorded earlier in Chicago! The CD features the group at their best – playing very tightly, but also with a sense of whimsy and imagination, and the kind of free-thinking exploration that informed a whole generation of jazz musicians, offering a different mode of expression than the spiritualism of the post-Coltrane years. Includes "A Brain For The Seine", a real classic by the band – plus "Jackson In Your House", "Get In Line", "Song for Charles", "Dexterity" and "Old Time Religion", and "Rock Out". 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

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

An unusual live recording by Thelonious Monk – one recorded at the tail end of his famous quartet years on Columbia, but which features him leading an expanded nine-piece group for the date! Usual group members Charlie Rouse (tenor), Larry Gales (bass), and Ben Riley (drums) are expanded by the addition of Ray Copeland on trumpet, Johnny Griffin on tenor, Jimmy Cleveland on trombone, and Phil Woods on alto – all of whom join together in some nice angular readings of Monk classics that include "Epistrophy", "Evidence", "Blue Monk", and "Oska T". 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

A strong French session from 1969 – one in which Lacy gets back to his roots with a bunch of Monk compositions – working in the angular mode that first helped him get modern in the late 50s, after starting his career as a trad jazz player. The group on the set features Jean-Francois Jenny-Clark on bass, Aldo Romano on drums, and Michel Graillier on piano – and Lacy proves once again that the soprano sax has some incredible powers, when placed in the right hands! Titles include "Epistrophy", "Ruby My Dear", "Mysterioso", and "Friday the 13th". (Material also issued under the album name Epistrophy in earlier French versions.) 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

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

2 landmark Archie Shepp albums in one package! Blase is filled with long, spiritual tracks that comprise some of his best European recordings of the decade, and the titles include "There is a Balm in Gilead", "Touareg", and "My Angel". The group includes Jeanne Lee on vocals, plus Lester Bowie, Malachi Favors, Dave Burrell, and Philly Joe Jones – and the whole thing has that great Paris spiritual free jazz party feel to it! Live At The Pan-African Festival was recorded in Algiers during the Pan-African Festival in 1969. The recording is a very unique one, and features Shepp's group with Grachan Moncur, Clifford Thorton, and Dave Burrell – plus lots of Algerian musicians! The sound is haunting, and the record really stands apart from Shepp's other BYG albums. Titles include "We Have Come Back" and "Brotherhood at Ketchaoua". CD

A tremendous bit of jazz history – 2 classic Archie Shepp albums on 1 CD! Yasmina features Archie Shepp at his spiritual best – recording in Paris in 1969, and absorbing a heck of a lot of pan-African influences! The centerpiece of the album is the amazing "Yasmina" – a long track that builds with passion and fire, pulsing with an intensity that you'd expect more from Pharoah Sanders than Shepp himself. Next up is "Sonny's Back", a wonderful straight jazz groover with Archie and Hank Mobley on twin tenors upfront – making a rare and memorable recorded appearance together! The set's capped off by a mellow version of "Body & Soul", one that points towards the more soulful side of Shepp's work in the 70s. Poem For Malcolm is one of Shepp's most memorable LPs for BYG. Side one has him playing with Burton Greene, Alan Silva, Philly Joe Jones, and Claude Delcloo on the extended Mamarose/Poem For Malcolm. The track starts out with very free playing, then moves into a more subdued passage, with Shepp's recitation of his "Poem For Malcolm". Side two has a great lineup that includes Grachan Moncour III, Malachi Favors, and Hank Mobley, who gives one of the wildest performances of his life! The group runs through the 20 minute track Rain Forest/Oleo, and begins with a dark, spare performance, then leaps into a reading of "Oleo" that's filled with fire. 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

The first album from Gong – and a weird little masterpiece that's left an undeniable imprint over the years! There's a definite proggish feel to the set, and some jazz rock elements too – but the overall approach is considerably madder than most at the time – hardly headed for the charts, and with more than enough space for weird little twists and turns that really keep things interesting! Production has a nicely rough quality that makes the record quite different from the group's later work – and the lyrics have a nicely looney feel that's a bit like work by Syd Barrett or Kevin Ayers. Titles include "Radio Gnome", "You Can't Kill Me", "Tried So Hard", "Tropical Fish Selene", "Squeezing Sponges Over Policemen's Heads", and "Wet Cheese Delirium". CD

A crucial album from Archie Shepp – one that finds him enjoying new freedoms on the French scene at the end of the 60s – which then helps him take off from his earlier Impulse Records modes, at a level he'd then bring back to the label in the early 70s! There's a very free-thinking sense of combination here – as Shepp is breaking down from his idea of a more unified sound in the material – and opens the door at points to work from Jeanne Lee on voice and Chicago Beau and Julio Finn on harmonicas – in a lineup that also includes Malachi Favors on bass, Dave Burrell on piano, and Philly Joe Jones on drums. These are long, spiritual tracks that comprise some of his best European recordings of the time, and the titles include "There is a Balm in Gilead", "Touareg", "Blase", and "My Angel" – plus a strong reading of "Sophisticated Lady" – which maybe points the way towards some of the Shepp experiments in the late 70s. CD

A seminal live set from tenorist Archie Shepp – and some of his freest, least-structured material ever! Shepp's still a righteous force here on his horn, but there also seems to be equal emphasis on the contributions of all members of the group – woven together in a really rich tapestry of sound, but with less of the structuring righteous concepts of some of Archie's other work – especially his sides for Impulse. Shepp had really been experiencing some new freedoms on the French scene of the late 60s – even more so than in the US avant outfield – and you can definitely hear him taking flight here, with a like-minded group of players that includes Clifford Thornton on trombone and shenai, Alan Shorter on flugelhorn, Joseph Dujean on guitar, Beb Guerin on bass, and Claud Delcloo on drums. This first part of the live set features one long track – "The Early Bird" – a slow building number that goes increasingly outside as it progresses, featuring some very over the top solo work from Shepp, who also plays a bit of piano on the set! Piano returns on "Huru" – another long track that has Shepp laying down these beautiful blocky passages that are surprisingly personal amidst the freer energy of the group. 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

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

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

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

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

Groovy work from one of the greatest voices in American pop in the 60s – the amazing Joanie Sommers, a singer whose style went way beyond most of her contemporaries! Right from the start, Joanie's got a range that's breathtaking – a voice that's equally comfortable in jazz, rock, or mainstream vocals – and which is often recorded by Warner Brothers with some impeccable production that brings it out even more! There's usually a slight sense of echo, a dash of drama, and some well-constructed rhythm patterns used on these early 60s singles – very top-shelf studio work that's made these Sommers singles sparkle for decades – even though most of them barely cracked the charts at the time! The package is a treasure trove of great girl pop from a bygone age – and with a focus on singles, you'll find plenty that hasn't already hit the reissue market – including a fab duet with Ed Kookie Byrnes! Titles include "Ruby Duby Du", "When The Boys Get Together", "My Block", "The Great Divide", "Goodbye Summer", "I'd Be So Good For You", "One Boy", "Why Don't You Do Right", "Since Randy Moved Away", "Big Man", "Passing Strangers", "Johnny Get Angry", "Kookie's Love Song", "I'll Never Be Free", and "Talk Until Daylight". CD

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