This is a great, great set. A big band that is cutting edge as well as traditonal. There are hours of listening joy here. Brilliant arrangements and every solo is pure quality musicianship. A pleasure for the ears. This is on the top of my jazz collection.
I recommend this Muhal album as the place to start. He is a masterful composer and arranger. And he has such good players in his band.
Muhal Richard Abrams is likely best known as a driving force behind the hugely influential Chicago co-op the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), but he's also an underappreciated composer. Not unknown by any means — he won Denmark's first Jazzpar Prize in 1990, before the international jury got around to David Murray, Lee Konitz, Tommy Flanagan and Roy Haynes. But Abrams 'orchestra rarely got the attention it… more »
