Though he saw himself as a disciple of John Coltrane and would go on to work with Sun Ra, the first thing that might strike new visitors to flautist/saxophonist/clarinetist Byard Lancaster’s 1968 debut is just how inviting and open It’s Not Up To Us is. The breezy melodic sweetness of the title track and Mr A.A.’s jaunty, almost High Life saunter are sublime and feature motifs a milkman could whistle. Yet the genius of the record lies in how Lancaster can hold an AM-almost-pop sensibility while still exploring the outer limits. Closer “Satan” is a cosmic trip to the underworld, while “John’s Children” explicitly lays out his debt to Coltrane, exploring Eastern pentatonics over an avant-garde thrash that wouldn’t sound out of place on The Velvet Underground’s White Light/White Heat.

– Chris Catchpole