*Edition of 300 copies. High thickness cardboard with opaque laminated cover. Comes with a printed insert.* John Tchicai was extraordinarily prolific during the late 1960s and early 1970s, and this second archival release from Formalibera captures two essential, previously undocumented chapters of his story. Side one takes us to Danish Radio House, Copenhagen, October 1969, where Tchicai leads a remarkable hybrid quintet fresh from a European tour: Danish collaborators Hugh Steinmetz and Pierre Dørge alongside Instant Composers Pool co-founders Misha Mengelberg and Han Bennink. Two distinct creative worlds in direct conversation - the ICP's ironic subversion and willingness to disrupt set against the joyous, internationally-minded modernity of the Danish scene. The four tracks that follow - 'Babaji Smiles', 'No Enthusiasm', 'Is Is Is A Question', and 'Broken T' - are as distinct and remarkable as that meeting suggests: lurching tempos, moments of pure abstraction, nine minutes of focused ensemble fire, and a closing solo saxophone statement by Tchicai of pure lyrical force.

Side two crosses to Kyoto, 1983, where Tchicai and German bassist Peter Kowald - a giant of European free jazz and a veteran of Peter Brötzmann's early bands and Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra - found themselves in Japan at the same time and seized the moment. Twenty-five minutes of duo improvisation, spacious yet relentless, saxophone and flute against bowed and plucked bass, two musicians so deeply attuned to each other they seem to anticipate every move before it happens. Engrossing, mind-blowing, and tragically their only recorded encounter.

Issued by Formalibera as a beautiful limited vinyl edition with archival photographs and new liner notes by Ed Hazell, this companion to the Wigmore Hall recording is every bit as essential.