Trumpeter Charles Tolliver was, with Stanley Cowell, the co-founder of the pioneering artist-owned Strata-East label, home of many crucial 1970s jazz recordings from the likes of Pharoah Sanders, Clifford Jordan, Gil Scott-Heron and, of course, Tolliver himself.

Many of his recordings for the label – including this one, re-released on vinyl by Pure Pleasure – are landmarks in 1970s jazz, straddling the line between hard bop and the avant-garde and possessed of a singular artistic vision. Released in 1975, Impact (not be confused with Tolliver's 1972 quartet album of the same name, released on Enja) carried on with the energetic large band format that Tolliver had experimented with on 1971's influential Music Inc. album, but with the addition of a string section.

The trumpeter composed, arranged, conducted and produced the entire project, a testament to both his energy and his huge talents, and the sheer quality of the musicians involved means a splendid time is guaranteed for all.

I've read complaints in some quarters that the addition of strings dilutes the impact of Tolliver's extraordinary compositions but I can't agree. This is thrilling music, from the opening title track through to the closer ‘Mournin’ Variations’ and the strings add a cinematic tension and a wider palette for Tolliver to paint his sound pictures with. His arrangements are consistently hard-edged and build momentum and tension, while the soloists – including George Coleman, Stanley Cowell and Harold Vick, are given sufficient room to weave in and out of the multiple textures. It's gritty, strident, uncompromisingly ‘1970s urban’ yet also ‘spiritual’ both very much of its time and transcending it.

It's not made clear if this is an all-analogue remastering, and I have my doubts as there's a glassiness to the percussion and a slight blare on the horns which indicates the record may have been cut from a digital source; nonetheless mastering engineer Ray Staff has dug out the layers of detail in this complex recording and retains all the excitement end energy of what is one of the very best large ensemble recordings of the 1970s.