Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra

Since the ’60s, trumpeter Bill Dixon has proved himself to be one of the most dedicated vanguardists in jazz, honing an instantly recognizable language on his instrument while composing at a furious rate. But it’s still a challenge to track down the octogenarian’s mostly import-only CDs. So this collaboration with Chicago’s Exploding Star Orchestra wins immediate kudos simply for being his first widely available American release in decades. It’s a particular pity, then, that the disc’s arrangements often fail to jell around Dixon’s incisive contributions.

Portions of “Entrances/One” hint at the dark grandeur of the trumpeter’s 1967 classic, Intents and Purposes, but overall, the piece is a soupy performance that even Dixon’s virtuoso textural smears can’t seem to bring into focus. “Constellations for Innerlight Projections (For Bill Dixon),” by ESO leader Rob Mazurek, fares better, mainly because it affords its namesake the space to really connect with his highly skilled collaborators—flutist Nicole Mitchell, guitarist Jeff Parker and pianist Jim Baker deserve special mention for the way they subtly buffet and enhance the brassman’s sparse squiggles and superlow moans. “Entrances/Two” balances a tepid, overlong vamp with haunting atmospherics, encapsulating the disc’s mixed-bag status. In short, it’s nice to see Dixon back on the racks, but curious listeners would do better to burn the way-out-of-print Intents from a jazzhead pal.

—Hank Shteamer