Anthony Braxton

Victo 40th Anniversary Super Sale. This concert offers a striking opportunity to hear the ensemble in full force. The 70-minute piece builds an inner logic of staggering detail, while never losing the propulsive flow. The shifting layers and counter-structures mount with scorching intensity and then break into pools of quiet tension only to explode off again. The momentum can march along with a galvanizing pulse, fracture into freedom, or cascade with a roiling sense of swing. Braxton has stated that the music played by this ensemble is the culmination of the Ghost Trance series. But as is always the case with Braxton, the consummation of one phase simply serves as the launching point for what is to come. And for both those who have been following his career for decades and initiates alike, the search is sure to bring new rewards.

Michael Rosenstein, November 2007