by Scott Yanow
Recorded when the Art Ensemble of Chicago was in Paris and between drummers (Don Moye would not join up until 1970), this English imported LP has a continuous piece featuring trumpeter Lester Bowie, reed players Roscoe Mitchell and Joseph Jarman and bassist Malachi Favors all playing plenty of &little instruments& (which include various horns, gongs, logs, bells, sirens, whistles, steel drums, marimba, and banjo, among others) in addition to their mainstays. The episodic music continually holds one's interest, and overall, it makes a unified (if unpredictable) statement.