Anthony Braxton, who switches here between alto, flute, clarinet, sopranino and contrabass clarinet, is heard interpreting six of his originals in a wide variety of settings. Most accessible are his three performances with a quartet also including trumpeter
Kenny Wheeler, bassist
Dave Holland and drummer
Jerome Cooper.
Braxton also adds violinist
Leroy Jenkins to the group on one piece and has a duet with
Richard Teitelbaum's moog synthesizer. However, the most historic performance is by an unaccompanied saxophone quartet consisting of
Braxton,
Julius Hemphill,
Oliver Lake and
Hamiet Bluiett; this band (with
David Murray in
Braxton's place) would soon emerge as
The World Saxophone Quartet. The wide amount of variety on this set makes this album a perfect introduction to
Anthony Braxton's potentially forbidding but logical music. ~ Scott Yanow