The format of one collective improfvisation on a series of modes followed by an individual solo followed by a collective improv based on the same idea as the first followed by an individual solo and so on right until the end makes it pretty repetitive to sit through even if I still like it a lot mainly because of the sheer power of the collective improfvs coupled by killer solos by SOME of the participants (=on edition II:Trane (duh!), Sanders, Tchicai and Shepp and Tyner too I guess).

Also, it has a bad mix (well, there's only two tracks so it's not technically a mix, more of a recording) in that all the "softer" horns like trumpets and altos are in one speakers whereas the VERY intense tenors is in the other so someone fucked up there; I understand what they were going for and it's very "sixties" to record stereo like that (see also:a lot of rock and soul from the same era) and it frequencly works but this record was too dense for the approach; it sounds a bit unbalanced IMO.

Coleman's "Free ajzz" is heavily flawed too IMO and works even worse because there, there isn't even any dynamics between the collective and the solos in the first 25 minutes; rather, the *emphasis* shifts from one soloist to the other but they all drop in and since the rhythm-section is heavily tied down to specific "roles" (=one bassit playing quarter-notes, the other eight-notes, one drummer emphasising lower sounds, the other higher), it sort of just stand still, very much my problem with electric miles as well which, regardless of what Miles himself would say, sounds heavily aesthetically indebted to this record in terms of how to structure sound.

Cecil and Sun Ra were the ones who REALLY delivered the great, large-scale, "long" collective cuts in this era IMO simply due to the more "structured" and arranged pieces and I also like Albert Ayler and co.'s "New York eye and ear control" which admittedly sounds totally free but still works for me.