Belonging to an incredible, audiophile reissue initiative dedicated to the seminal Jazz Actuel series - one of the greatest depositories of 1960s free jazz - at long last we're gifted one of the greatest of them all: the first ever fully authorized reissue of Jacques Coursil's towering 1971 LP, Black Suite, fully remastered from the original 1969 analog master tapes. Featuring an all-star line-up of Anthony Braxton, Arthur Jones, Burton Greene, Beb Guérin, and Claude Delcloo, it has long remained one of the rarest and most sought after releases by Actuel, standing apart from the pack through its unparalleled artistry, balancing tonal and rhythmic density against an aching sense of sparsity and space.

Any fan of free jazz knows that few single catalogs of recordings rival the French imprint BYG Records' Jazz Actuel series. For decades, the 52 albums comprised under its banner have been celebrated and chased by collectors, regarded as one of the great historical depositories of this radical, real-time form of sonic creativity. The result of a perfect storm which saw many countless African American luminaries flee the racial oppression of their own country - some for brief periods, and others permanently - for the more welcoming conditions and receptive audiences of Europe, and the staging of the Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers during June of 1969, which swelled their ranks, BYG, already deeply dedicated to this music, jumped at the chance to capture the moment and drew an incredible assembly of free jazz titans into the studio - Don Cherry, Sunny Murray, The Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and his Arkestra, Anthony Braxton, Frank Wright, Alan Silva, Paul Bley, Andrew Cyrille, and Clifford Thornton, to name only a handful - collectively producing an unparalleled body of enduringly revolutionary sound. Unfortunately, despite the fervor around them, original pressings were relatively poor, denying these remarkable recordings the fidelity that their achievements deserved. At long last, Charly Records has embarked upon a fully authorized audiophile reissue initiative dedicated to key titles in the Jazz Actuel series, finally offering these releases the attentiveness that they've always deserved, drawing upon the original analog master tapes. So far we've seen beautifully produced vinyl and extended CD reissues of Alan Silva's Luna Surface; Grachan Moncur's New Africa; Art Ensemble Of Chicago's Reese And The Smooth Ones, Message to Our Folks, and A Jackson in Your House; Anthony Braxton's X0 N0-47A; Clifford Thornton's Ketchaoua; Don Cherry's Mu - First Part and Mu - Second Part; Paul Bley's Ramblin'; Sun Ra's The Solar-Myth Approach Vol 1 and The Solar-Myth Approach Vol 2; Archie Shepp's Blasé, Yasmina, A Black Woman, Live At The Panafrican Festival, and Poem For Malcolm, and a number of others. Their latest addition - the first ever authorized reissue of Jacques Coursil's legendary Black Suite - is arguably the most exciting to appear yet. Originally released in 1971, falling relatively late in the series and one of its rarest and most sought after titles, this groundbreaking recording by the French trumpeter - one of only a handful to feature him as a leader before disappearing from view for decades - backed by the insane line-up of Anthony Braxton, Arthur Jones, Burton Greene, Beb Guérin and Claude Delcloo. A towering work in two parts, rooted in truly visionary artistry - tense, slow, and complex - this stunning reissue has been fully restored and remastered from the original 1969 master tapes, and pressed onto glorious audiophile vinyl, housed in a matte laminate gatefold sleeve, with a polylined paper inner sleeve and an insert featuring exclusive liner notes from author and jazz specialist Kevin Le Gendre. Easily one of the most important and exciting free jazz reissues of the year, within what has already proven to be an astounding start to 2026, this is definitely one not to be missed!

A true artist's artist, Jacques Coursil's name lingers on tongues and percolates within the history of 1960s avant-garde jazz, but remains far too unknown beyond the most dedicated fans. Born in Paris, France, in 1938 to Martinican parents, Coursil began his musical studies at the age of nine on the violin, before switching to trumpet as a teenager, drawing his early influences from radical classical composers like Webern and Schoenberg and numerous threads of American jazz and African music. Following studies in literature and mathematics, he departed for New York where he quickly befriended the drummer Sunny Murray and saxophonist Frank Wright, both of whom brought him into the heart of the city's thriving avant-garde scene and invited him to join their respective bands and contribute to the recordings that would comprise their legendary debut releases on ESP. As a result of those sessions, ESP would offer the opportunity to record his first endeavor as a leader, backed by Marion Brown and Eddie Marshall, which to this day tragically remain unreleased. During this same period, he rehearsed with Sun Ra's Arkestra and joined Bill Dixon's band, proving himself a formidable force among giants as he "firmly intended to deconstruct the whole apparatus of rhythm. I wanted to 'destroy' the beat and harmony too. So, I wanted to play atonal without any rhythmic framework. I also wanted to stop playing scales, to get away from melody."

While he would remain in New York until 1975, supporting himself by teaching French and mathematics, in 1969 Coursil briefly returned to France during the creative ferment of post-May '68 and the Pan-African Cultural Festival in Algiers, where he recorded his two lone releases as a leader from this era, 1969's Way Ahead with the saxophonist Arthur Jones, bassist Beb Guérin, and drummer Claude Delcloo; and 1971's towering Black Suite, adding Anthony Braxton on contrabass clarinet and Burton Greene on piano to the aforementioned ensemble.

Comprising two extended, meditative movements, Black Suite is a quintessential work of its moment, fusing radical ideas at the vanguard of sound with deep considerations of cultural identity / Black intellectual thought, and revolutionary Civil Rights politics. Drawing upon ideas partially inspired by Bill Dixon through which Coursil developed his own version of serialism, Black Suite stands fairly singular within the canon of free jazz, slowly unfurling through passages marked by silence, and carrying degrees of density and sparsity, within which each player delivers their interventions in a way that often feel entirely independent from the whole, before coming together in dynamic collaborative clusters. As the guitarist Eugene Chadbourne, who regarded Black Suite as "one of the best examples of just how beautiful modern jazz can be" reflected: "As kind of the lost voice of the trumpet in modern jazz, Coursil is not only a great discovery for the modern jazz fan, but a fine creative vintage that holds up to repeat visits over the years. His control of the difficult horn and totally original melodic thinking really makes his playing stand out among the admittedly thin ranks of avant-garde trumpet players. None of the players who have Coursil's technical mastery play with as much heart and soul." He concluded that the album "is one of the best examples of just how beautiful modern jazz can be."

Drawing upon the ideas of key figures in Black intellectual thought - Frantz Fanon, Léopold Sédar Senghor and Aimé Césaire - across the length of Black Suite the transnational ensemble of Coursil, Jones, Guérin, Claude Delcloo, Braxton, and Greene channel the urgency of revolutionary, Afrocentric politics, fed by the trumpeter's African and Caribbean cultural roots and the sonic touchstones therein, into one of the most remarkable creative accomplishments of the era: an album that defies expectations at every turn, shimmering with tension, virtuosity, and towering skill.

While BYG Records' Jazz Actuel series overflows with so much talent and achievement - collectively standing as one of the greatest bodies of recording ever produced - making it impossible to pick a single favorite, Jacques Coursil's Black Suite stands high among the greatest of them all and has remained a longstanding favorite for those in the know. Its sense of urgency and importance is only amplified by the fact that it was the last LP to bear the trumpeter's name following a retreat from performance and recording, in favor of teaching and study, that began not long after its completion and endured until one of his former students, John Zorn, coaxed him out of retirement during the early 2000s, to much subsequent acclaim. As brief as the album's thrillingly challenging two sides may feel, Black Suite stands on its own and ensures Coursil's name will never be lost. This first ever fully authorized, audiophile pressing comes in two stunning editions, one on CD and the other pressed on black vinyl, fully restored and remastered from the original 1969 master tapes, and housed in a matte laminate gatefold sleeve, with a polylined paper inner sleeve and an insert featuring exclusive liner notes from author and jazz specialist Kevin Le Gendre. Even here, words defy how good it is. Beyond essential for any fan of free jazz and experimental music at large.