Anthony Braxton

Has any musician ever run wilder on a major label’s dime than Anthony Braxton did during his 1974–80 stint on Arista Records? The experimental reedist-composer (still going strong at age 63) may not have trashed any hotel rooms, but artistically, he got away with murder. This highly anticipated eight-CD set, which reissues nine out-of-print LPs, surveys the complete scope of Braxton’s uncompromising output, from solo saxophone works to a marathon piece for four symphony orchestras. Not every session succeeds, but as a portrait of an avant-gardist taking full advantage of a roomy budget, The Complete Arista Recordings fascinates.

Interestingly, the most electrifying material is also the most outwardly conventional. New York, Fall 1974 and Five Pieces 1975 present reed-trumpet-bass-drums quartets with explicit ties to postbop and early free jazz. But the microscopically textural approach heard on pieces like “Opus 23A” predates the recent wave of so-called lowercase improv by more than two decades. Creative Orchestra Music 1976 similarly repurposes the familiar vehicle of the big band as both an electroacoustic chamber ensemble and a zanily off-the-rails marching corps.

The hugest undertakings here, the nearly hour-long For Two Pianos and the 100-minute-plus For Four Orchestras, fare less well, coming off as frustratingly unfocused modern-classical rehashes. Both pale before the gorgeously poetic “Nickie,” a three-minute duet with pianist Muhal Richard Abrams, which demonstrates that there’s far more to Braxton’s appeal than grandly quixotic concepts.