Marion Brown, Sweet Earth Flying (side A)

Perhaps the strangest thing about this album is the track list on side A, "Sweet Earth Flying" parts 1, 3, 4, and 5—what happened to part 2?! Marion Brown is at his mellowest on 1974's Sweet Earth Flying—it's still far jazzier, for lack of a better word, than Afternoon of a Georgia Fawn, with lots of organ (sometimes played by both Brown and Paul Bley). It's also surprising that only a year later, Brown leapt to the very high-energy found on Vista. The movements here set up a nice groove and sit in it, and even the poetic section works nicely. The gatefold is nice, and the cover photo is charming, but the mastering is unfortunately a bit murky.