Anthony Braxton

A cornerstone of avant-garde jazz, B-X0 NO-47A captures Anthony Braxton at a pivotal moment in his career and in the history of the Association For The Advancement Of Creative Musicians (AACM). Recorded in Paris in 1969 and newly restored from the original master tapes, this classic session finds Braxton leading a quartet of fellow AACM visionaries: trumpeter Leo Smith (before adopting the name Wadada), violinist Leroy Jenkins, and drummer Steve McCall.

The group’s instrumentation is strikingly diverse, with each member doubling on an array of “little instruments”-from chimes and logs to harmonica, darbuka, and the mysterious ‘sound machine’-giving the quartet a remarkably expansive and textural sound palette. The album’s three extended pieces, including compositions by Smith and Jenkins, move fluidly between high-energy improvisation and spacious, exploratory passages, embodying the AACM’s commitment to originality and creative freedom.

B-X0 NO-47A is celebrated as a classic in Braxton’s vast discography, a record that helped define the “New Thing” movement and the avant-garde’s break with jazz convention. AllMusic calls it “very freely improvised... far from accessible but generally worth the struggle,” highlighting the album’s daring contrasts and inventive use of sound.

This deluxe edition, restored and remastered, offers listeners the most vivid experience yet of Braxton’s singular vision and the priceless chemistry between these four pivotal figures. B-X0 NO-47A stands as historic music that has truly stood the test of time-an essential document of the creative revolution that reshaped jazz forever.