Largely unheralded in his lifetime, alto saxophonist Lyons made essential contributions to the music of Eddie Gale and above all Cecil Taylor, but the other key collaborator was Andrew Cyrille. The music Lyons made with the drummer – the two duet sets Burnt Offering and Something In Return as well as the trio set Nuba (with vocalist Jeanne Lee) – are among the highlights of this 5-CD box. The strong empathy between Lyons and Cyrille, the sense of exchange and adventure, above all rhythmically, give a real edge to those sessions yet Lyons' work with a quintet is notable for both its energy and textural canvas. The presence of bassoon player Karen Borca confected an additional quacking low end that was never overpowering while the bass and drums of William Parker and the rather obscure figure of Paul Murphy also had a pleasingly elastic groove. Yet the composing, which fell somewhere between mainstream and avant-garde sensibilities in a way that was not dissimilar to Max Roach's memorable early 1970s bands, was also very good. Valuable anthology of the work of a player who should be more than an inconsequential footnote in jazz history.