The RAF is not noted for its contribution to the jazz avant-garde, but it was an Air Force regional band in Uxbridge, west London, that first brought Rutherford together with Trevor Watts and John Stevens – and, as a result, helped kickstart European free improvisation. But that was just the beginning. Aside from the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Rutherford played with any number of leading names, among them Peter Brötzmann, Don Cherry, Keith Tippett and Alexander von Schlippenbach, as well as his own Iskra 1903 (and, later, Iskra 1912). Along the way, he expanded the sonic possibilities of the trombone: he made sounds, in other words, never previously heard from the instrument, thanks to an extraordinary combination of technical ability – his command of multiphonics, for instance – and teasing, unpredictable sense of humour. This release, one of the earliest recordings to feature Paul Rogers, and with Nigel Morris of Isotope on drums, dates from the early 1980s, and finds Rutherford as uncompromising, startling and enjoyable as ever.