A great solo performance from Jerome Cooper – not just drums and percussion, but work on flute, balaphone, and other instruments too! Cooper really brings all of his most thoughtful elements into play here – working slowly, and covering space with ideas that really take some time to stretch out and find themselves – then confidently move forward to open up new chapters in the performance – a bit like some of the best early moments of the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, but presented here as a solo act! Side one features "The Unpredictability Of Predictability", in four movements – and side two features "Bert The Cat". LP, Vinyl record album

An amazing blend of free jazz and fusiony touches – a partially electric session that's a real standout in the New York loft jazz scene! The album was produced by Noah Howard at Ornette Coleman's Artist House studio – but it's got a sound that's quite different from work by either of those big names associated with the set. Daniel plays trumpet and flugelhorn on the record – always with an open, spacious tone that soars one minute, meanders the next – allowing plenty of room for contributions from other group members who include Khan Jamal on vibes, Jerome Cooper on drums, Tim Ingles on electric bass with wah wah, and Richard Daniel on Fender Rhodes – again played with wah wah and echoplex! The added processing really does cool things to the electric sides of the music – spacing them out nicely, and creating a wide-toned sound that's a nice contrast to Jamal's vibes and Daniel's horn. All tracks are long, and titles include "Tapestry", "Sweet Dreams", and "Mozambique". CD also features the previously unreleased bonus track "Asagefo". CD

Wonderfully spiritual sounds from the great Rahsaan Roland Kirk – a rare, unissued live recording done for French radio at the start of the 70s – superbly recorded, and every bit as great as Kirk's Atlantic Records classics from the time! The tunes are long, and the setting is lean – with a style that echoes the brilliance of his Volunteered Slavery album, but with more of an edge – less of the humor that Rahsaan could bring to the stage, and lot more bite – both on his reeds, and the work of group members Dick Griffin on trombone, Ron Burton on piano, Vernon Martin on bass, Jerome Cooper on drums, and Joe Texidor on percussion. Kirk blows alto, tenor, soprano, flute, stritch, manzello, and clarinet – and titles include "Three For The Festival", "Sweet Fire", "Inflated Tear", "Volunteered Slavery", and "My Cherie Amour". LP, Vinyl record album

One of the excellent avant sides for Muse from the early 70's, and a record that features Lester Bowie playing in a number of different settings – all with a sound that's different from his Art Ensemble recordings, and from his work for ECM. One track has him playing a duet with pianist John Hicks, another has him in a percussion quartet with Philip Wilson, Jerome Cooper, and Charles Shaw, and some have him in a larger group with players like Cecil McBee, Hicks, Julius Hemphill, and brother Joseph Bowie. Tracks include "Fast Last", "F Troop Rides Again", and "Lonely Woman". LP, Vinyl record album

Pure genius from The Revolutionary Ensemble – and one of the records that really helped set the stage for the New York loft jazz sound of the 70s! The lineup is quite unique – percussion from Jerome Cooper, violin from Leroy Jenkins, and bass from Sirone – a much more subtle lineup of instruments than you'd hear on previous avant sides from ESP – with a resultantly different sound as well – one that's got more subtle colors and tones, and a slow-building, organic approach to improvisation that definitely shows an influence from the experiments of the AACM in Chicago. The album features one long track – "Vietnam (parts 1 & 2)" – but it's got a heck of a lot of variety over its nearly 50 minutes of music! CD

A surprising release on A&M for the Revolutionary Ensemble – formerly a much more underground group, but still sounding great here recording for a bigger label! The lineup features Jerome Cooper on piano, bugle, drums, and a variety of percussion instruments – with Sirone on bass and trombone, and Leroy Jenkins on violin, thumb piano, recorder, and small gongs! Titles include "Trio for Trio", "Chinese Rock", and "Ponderous Planets". LP, Vinyl record album

Seminal work from the New York avant scene of the mid 70s – an important series of recordings done by Alan Douglas, and sides that initially broke the creative spirit of the scene to a much wider audience! There's a loose, openly creative spirit to these recordings that's a marked change from the intensity of the New York avant recordings of the 70s – a maturity, and confidence, that's come from some of the players' previous work in avant scenes in Chicago, St Louis, and elsewhere – coming together in New York's limelight with some really amazing energy! This 3CD set brings together tracks from all 5 volumes of the original LPs – over 3 hours' of music, with work by players who include Kalaparusha Maurice McIntyre and David Murray on tenors; Ken McIntyre, Marion Brown, Oliver Lake, Jimmy Lyons, and Byard Lancaster on alto saxes; Randy Weston, Anthony Davis, and Sonelius Smith on piano; Ted Daniel, Leo Smith, and Olu Dara on trumpet; Khan Jamal on vibes, George Lewis on trombone, Jerome cooper on percussion, and many others too! CD

One of the best of the Wildflower series of freeform loft jazz sessions – and a record that features a side of work apiece by both Sunny Murray and Roscoe Mitchell. Murray leads his Untouchable Factor group, with David Murray, Byard Lancaster, Khan Jamal, and Fred Hopkins – and the group plays Murray's extended piece "Something's Cookin". The other side of the record features Roscoe leading a trio with Jerome Cooper and Don Moye, on the decidedly more moody "Chant". LP, Vinyl record album

The Revolutionary Ensemble is Leroy Jenkins on violin and harmonic, Sirone on bass, and Jerome Cooper on multi-dimensional drums and percussion. CD