Creative Construction Company, Creative Construction Company (side A)

By 1975, the Anthony Braxton Trio that left for Europe had grown to this leaderless sextet and returned to New York. The Leroy Jenkins piece, "Muhal", that fills Creative Construction Company find the group at their most abstract, with little if any recognizable jazz references. Proficient playing is juxtaposed with primitive use of "little instruments" like whistles, harmonicas, and percussion. The performance is beautiful and fascinating, but the composition can be structurally uninviting as it moves through a series of phases. I always enjoy damaged AACM freakouts, and Creative Construction Company is definitely a fine example. It sounds good for a live recording, though Steve McCall's drums are very distant when compared with all of the other close-mic'ed sounds.