AACM leader Muhal Richard Abrams’ third album, 1975’s Things To Come From Those Now Gone, is a lush and brilliant set of pieces for varying instrumentation, featuring performances by saxophonists Edwin Daugherty, Ari Brown, and Wallace McMillan (who doubles on flute); vibraphonist Emanuel Cranshaw; bassists Reggie Willis and Rufus Reid; drummers Steve McCall and Wilbur Campbell; and on “How Are You?”, vocalist Ella Jackson. It opens with a beautiful piano-flute duo; the title track is a razor-sharp composition blending bebop with avant-garde horn splatter; “Ballad For Old Souls” is a shimmering cloud of piano and vibes; “1 and 4 Plus 2 and 7” is modern chamber music, with Abrams on stinging electric piano, battling McCall’s abstract, almost orchestral percussion. This is one of the most adventurous and brilliant albums of the 1970s, almost criminally overlooked.

– Phil Freeman