As the subtitle makes clear this is a celebration of a grand milestone for the Art Ensemble of Chicago. The 50th anniversary of one of the seminal groups to have emerged from post-war America is a timely reminder of its epic journey of daring experimentation and collaboration. On this 2CD release (one studio set and one live) revered founder, multi-reedist and composer Roscoe Mitchell and his trusty co-leader, drummer-percussionist Famoudou Don Moye, are joined by a brilliant cast of guests that provides the adequate resources to build an intricate, kaleidoscopic orchestral work that is a logical, coherent outgrowth of the original small group with its vast array of instruments. There is a distinctively plaintive, sometimes mournful beauty in many of the scores in which grainy, often low register strings are woven into folds of brass that have a kind of heraldic, if not mystic, character. Then again the AEC motto, ‘Great black music: ancient to future’, has never been better applied than here, where the grand coalition of generations, disciplines and cultures is thrilling. In real terms, that means bursts of thought-provoking, contemporary spoken word and additional tonal density through the rumble and gurgle of percussion ignited by Senegalese djembe drummer Dudu Kouaté, who brings a fiercely sustained drive to the rhythm section. While a grand scale of ideas has become one of AEC's signes particuliers the group also excels on folk-like laments, such as the popular ‘Odwalla’, the reprise of which is as affecting as ever. Drawing on material old and new, the group makes a strong, uplifting statement for artistic conviction as well as social and political justice, as made explicitly clear by Moor Mother's impassioned, rabble-rousing call for resistance and victory on the title-track. The music, as well as the struggle, continues.