When these 1969 live recordings were made, the composer and trombonist Michael Gibbs had left his birthplace in what was then Southern Rhodesia, studied at Berklee, and settled in London – where the word was out that here was a newcomer with the sensibility and skill to fuse anything from Gil Evans, Olivier Messiaen and Charles Ives to Monk and country rock. This three-disc set is compiled from Gibbs’ own archive, featuring a 1969 Belfast live show by a Gibbs octet (spliced to his vibes-star Berklee peer Gary Burton's quartet and with rising young soloists including John Surman, Kenny Wheeler and the late Mike Osborne), and a Lancaster University gig from the same year with a full-sized British big band. Sound balance is patchy on the Belfast show (the focus is on Burton's flying vibes-lines, guitarlike tone and immaculate swing, while elements like Alan Skidmore's robust tenor solo on the vivacious ‘Tanglewood ’63’ sound miles away), but the BBC-recorded Lancaster gig is much better, and showcases the composer's wonderful early pieces like ‘Sweet Rain’, ‘Family Joy, Oh Boy!’ and the haunting ‘And On The Third Day’, as well as some fine soloing, notably from Surman, Osborne and eclectic pianist Mike Pyne. Despite the odd audio vagaries and a few tentative moments in the players’ handling of Gibbs’ quixotically challenging and unusual angles on jazz and much else, Festival 69 recovers some invaluable missing pieces in the story of a truly great contemporary composer.