Recorded in concert in France four years before his death, this disc finds Ware on stellar form, leading a band that ranks with the classic quartet heard in previous periods. Much as Ware was a bona fide saxophone colossus he made music that also had quite magical riffs, and it’s impossible to ignore the insanely catchy themes that are used as springboards for many of the tunes. Some have a jumpy, slightly Monkish quality, some are intriguing half-time African grooves, some are more abstract, but they underline the coherence with which Ware, for all his stature as a titan of free improvisation, was anchored in a wide range of schools and retained a populist quality similar to one of his great role models, Sonny Rollins. Guitarist Joe Morris may be Jim Hall to Ware’s Sonny, though he is inclined to generate much greater kinetic energy through busier, harder hitting lines which use a striking scrape and pinch to good effect. The saxophone-piano quartet remains a prized formation in improvised music, yet this band, where strings replace keyboard, is a fine twist on that paradigm, and ranks as one of the most notable ensembles of Ware’s later years.