An all-flute masterpiece that reinvented the instrument's role in jazz.
The live tracks from this era — captured at Montreux, at the Village Vanguard, at a high school in Akron, Ohio — show a man conducting chaos like a symphony. He would stop mid-song to lecture the audience about civil rights, about the death of the blues, about the need to listen with all your ears. Then he’d blow a whistle, tap-dance in his chair, and launch into “Volunteered Slavery.” Then he’d blow a whistle, tap-dance in his
The set itself consists of featuring unissued performances. It covers essential albums such as We Free Kings , Domino , and Rip, Rig and Panic in their entirety. Three horns strapped to his chest
But if you put your ear to the speaker — just barely — you can still feel him there. Three horns strapped to his chest. A blindfold over sightless eyes. Smiling into the dark, playing a future no one else could hear. Then he’d blow a whistle