Early Future and Finders Keepers are back with a brand-new pressing of one of the greatest artifacts from the 1970s / 80s New York underground free jazz scene, New Life Trio's Visions Of The Third Eye. A meeting of three brilliant players - the drummer Steve Reid, the guitarist Brandon Ross and the bassist David Wertman - it's a writhing, genre-bending excursion into improvised, artistic wizardry unlike anything else. This is the loft era at its absolute best!

Few musical idioms have ever been more closely aligned with the avant-garde spirit than free jazz. It is a radical quest for freedom - creative, social, intellectual, political, and spiritual - manifesting in sound, that sprang from African American communities, beginning during the late 1950s and early 60s, before catching fire across the ensuing decades, and spreading across the globe. Among the most celebrated bodies of work to emerge from free jazz’s second wave, is that of the late great drummer Steve Reid. Working within a tight knit circle of artists based in and around New York City, he produced a handful of records - primarily issued by his own imprint Mustevic - across the 70s and early 80s, that stand among the great holy grails of the idiom. Easily among the rarest and most sought after is the LP, “Visions Of The Third Eye”, made by Reid, with the guitarist Brandon Ross and the bassist David Wertman in 1980, as the band New Life Trio. Out of print for more than 40 years, it’s a raucous excursion into artistic brilliance that sounds like nothing else. Thankfully, with original copies as rare as hens' teeth and commanding heavy sums, Early Future and Finders Keepers have joined forces to finally deliver the first ever reissue of this holy grail.

Steve Reid, who tragically passed away, too young, in 2010, was a singularly brilliant figure in the history of 20th century music. Born in the South Bronx and raised in Queens, he started drumming at 16. While still in his teens, he joined the Apollo Theatre House Band and recorded with Martha and the Vandellas under the direction of Quincy Jones. Socially and politically conscious, his career was temporarily sidelined when he refused to register for the draft during the Vietnam War, leading to his arrest as a conscientious objector and a two-year prison term.

Following his release, Reid hit the ground running, working with Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, James Brown, Fela Kuti, Dionne Warwick, Horace Silver, Sun Ra, and Freddie Hubbard, as well as a session drummer for Motown. While the drummer’s work spanned numerous idioms of music, by the mid 1970s he had fully embraced free improvisation, and formed incredibly fruitful relationships as a member of New York’s underground loft scene, particularly with Charles Tyler, Frank Lowe, Arthur Blythe, Ronnie Boykins, Ahmed Abdullah, and numerous others. To support this, in 1974, Reid formed the Legendary Master Brotherhood and his record label, Mustevic Sound, and began to record as a leader, producing three iconic records - “Nova”, “Rhythmatism”, and “Odyssey Of The Oblong Square” - over the coming years. While jointly billed under the banner, New Life Trio - the band he formed with the guitarist Brandon Ross and the bassist David Wertman - “Visions Of The Third Eye”, issued in 1980, can be understood as the finale of this incredible run.

The last LP issued on Reid’s Mustevic Sound imprint, “Visions Of The Third Eye” is a burning gem. It only takes a few turns into the grooves to realize why collectors have been chasing it as furiously as they have for so long. Sure, the original pressing is rare, but damn this one is pure artistic brilliance and fire. Part of “Visions Of The Third Eye’s” singularity draws on the fact that each member of the ensemble is playing a rhythm instrument, embedded with its own palette of tonality. While Reid’s drums provide a central force, each player rests with the interplay in striking balance and equivalency to the others. From chugging, to playful funky moments, and furious onslaughts, the tonal limits of each instrument provides a startling amount of space and awareness, that would likely be impossible in another arrangement, as the band traces through striking patterns, rising and falling as they go, working with a precision and directness that feels alive and raw, without ever sacrificing a sense for how brilliant each player is.

An album where nothing is lost, and everything is out there and exposed, New Life Trio’s “Visions Of The Third Eye” is one of the great documents from loft era New York free jazz. This first time ever reissue is long overdue, and with luck it will bring each of its players - Steve Reid, Brandon Ross, and David Wertman - to the forefront of the collective mind.