Anthony Braxton

Featuring: Dave Holland, Barry Altschul, Chick Corea, Kenny Wheeler

condition (records/cover): NM / EX (minimal yellowing on back)

Gatefold sleeve.

1971: Anthony Braxton in London with Kenny Wheeler, Dave Holland and Barry Altschul - the working circle of the Circle era, documented across two LPs of compositions that swing, splinter and reassemble with that unmistakable Braxton logic. Wheeler's burnished brass is the perfect foil for the alto's angular flight - lyricism under structural pressure, executed flawlessly - and the Holland-Altschul team plays this difficult music like it is the most natural thing in the world, because for them, after the Circle immersion, it was. The Freedom label did crucial service documenting Braxton in this period when American labels mostly would not touch him.

The title's completeness claim proved wildly premature - the man was just getting started on one of the largest bodies of work in the history of the music - but the sessions remain among his most approachable and rewarding: the system in youth, hot-wired and generous. Double LP, and a cornerstone of the early shelf.