Grachan Moncur III was one of the top trombonists of the jazz avant-garde in the 1960s although he had only a few chances to lead his own record sessions. This 1964 set (which has been reissued on CD) was one of his finest, a quintet outing with bassist
Cecil McBee, two of the members of
the Miles Davis Quintet (pianist
Herbie Hancock and drummer
Tony Williams), and tenor saxophonist
Wayne Shorter just a brief time before he joined
Miles. The group performs four of
Moncur's challenging originals, including "Nomadic" (which is largely a drum solo) and "The Twins," which is built off of one chord. None of the compositions caught on but the strong and very individual improvising of the young musicians is enough of a reason to acquire the advanced music. ~ Scott Yanow