A shout from the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant and from the Rings of Saturn, Ghetto Music is a stunning entry in late ‘60s Black music. Trumpeter Eddie Gale took cues from former employers Sun Ra and Cecil Taylor, the gospel sway of Edwin Hawkins Singers and the attitude of the Last Poets, creating one of the hippest amalgams of the era. Righteous and cosmic in equal measure, Ghetto Music had its origins as a dramatic presentation, replete with stage props and hand-sewn costumes. The unison group vocals feel less like songs than yelps from a Greek chorus, the band riffing on 6/8 vamps with flamenco guitar for accents, all powered by a thrilling two bass-two drum batterie. While the 21st century has slowly come around to Gale’s powerful (though ignored) debut, his influence now felt across new jazz players and the music appearing in films, Ghetto Music still feels revolutionary.