Here are some outside blasts from the past.
On this 1994 reissue, Wadada Leo Smith plays trumpet, koto, bamboo-flute, percussion and even adds vocals as he teams with Sabu Toyozumi’s intuitive drumwork on these six originals. Smith’s horn has a Kenny Dorham sweetness with Toyozumi’s clever support on the 15 
minute “Creative Music-1-Red Mountain Garden, Wild Irises and Glacier Lines” giving a portend of his later works dedicated to worldly wonders. His horn goes staccato with up and down ebbs for “Burning Meditation” and squeezes out subtones on “Voices-Agano River Flow.” Some African percussion has him giving Third World voicings on “There are Human 
Rights Blues” with his flute going tribal on “Don Cherry, A Silver Flute Song.” Impressively cogent.
A 2017 concert at the Los Angeles club The Blue Whale has legendary cornetist Bobby Bradford co-lead with Hafez Modirzadeh on soprano sax, kama and kheen as the are supported by the intuitive Roberto Miguel Miranda/b and Vijay Anderson/dr on five originals. Bradford mixes middle eastern reeds and muted brass with exotic soprano sax work on a slithering “Raphael” as Miranda bows a trancelike groove. Anderson’s brushes gently coax muted cornet and understated reeds on “Free the Idea” and the harmonies get impressionistic on “Almost Not Crazy.” The team is cheerful as they skip along on “One Bar Lowe” before the team puffs and drifts to a close on “Crooked Blues.” Long brush strokes.
Pianist Howard Riley is found at three different concert settings in 1976 New York. He plays solo for each performance, with a mix of using piano strings and other parts for percussion as his fingers scramble for “Blocks.” His fingers reach for dark tones on a kinetic 25 minute run of “Big City” and gives some swinging stride work on a bluesy “Flower Street” before going full fisted on a hard hitting “Tolerance.” Each song goes from 13-25 minutes, but he never runs out of ideas.
Recorded at the University of Massachusetts, this 1981 album has legendary alto saxist Marion Brown do a collection of standards mixed with a pair of Billy Strayhorn tunes. Concerning the latter, Brown’s rich vibrato and lyricism makes full use of every nuance on “My Little Brown Book” while he drips with passion on a sighing “Lush Life.” Burrell is in full stride on a clear and bluesy “Gossip/Fortnuado” and the two get Monish for an angular “La Placita.” Only gents at this stage in life can sound so authoritatively relaxed as on the deep “Pua Mae “Ole.” This one is a gorgeous life affirmer.
Liudas Mockunas plays soprano, water prepared soprano, water prepared keyless overtone saxophones and percussion during this 46 minute tribute to H20 and beyond. The one piece movement goes from water bubbling through the pipes to scratches, buzzes, rattles in the plumbing, flutters that sound like leaky valves and mouthpiece musings that imitate a bad connection on a PVC. Is this music or motivation to call the local plumber?
From a 2016 concert at the Loft in San Diego, CA, the trio of Larry Ochs/ts-sss, Mark Dresser/b and Vladimir Tarasov/dr deliver four Jones-titled pieces,filled with free thinking ideas. Ochs brings his high pitched sopranino sax and shrieks over Tarasov’s wild gallop on “Twelve Angry Jones.” Dresser bows with a scratchy fuzziness while Ochs reaches for the stratosphere on tenor for “Three Jones Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” and probes the bass with pizzicato’d abandon with Ochs on “The Jones Who Knew Too Much.” Ochs’ tenor hangs ‘em high for a overpowering “A Fistful of Jones,” making this a white knuckler of a ride for both music and movie fans.
Speaking of titles, you get two songs named “Baza” from bassist Rafal Mazur and Martin Kuchen, playing alto and sopranino sax. “Baza 1” has as many squawks as a duck pond, mixed with eerie breathings and melancholic strums and bows. “Baza 2” has gasping reeds and plucking strings, more tentative in mood, without anyone out to flex too many muscles. As Martin Luther said, “if you’re going to sin, sin boldly.” This 2017 concert recording is a bit hesitant on the experimental side as far as temperament.
Pianist Simon Nabatov, bassist Barry Guy and Gerry Hemingway on drums, marimba and voice create 12 exotic moods on this 2015 recording. Hemingway’s marimbas is a good call, adding African exoticism to “Parting” and “Basket Glide” while his brushes team with spacious piano and bass for an incandescent “Scroll Back.” The team gets a bit bluesy for “Forty Days” but also shows some friskiness as they fragment on “Shades Examined” and “Vacant Prophecy.” Intuitive and mystical.