Rivers’ Emanation was one of the reissues of 2019. Thankfully the label behind it, NoBusiness, is back in business with another session that highlights the enormous breadth of the multi-instrumentalist’s talent as composer, improviser and bandleader.

Above all Rivers had the vision to construct truly unique sound worlds. Here the rich palette provided by an all-star quintet is grist to his imaginative mill, as the super-heavy double low end of bass-tuba-two-drummers is like a rotating bulwark to support the leader’s distinctive flights of fancy. That mobile mass of sound is skillfully pushed and pulled in numerous rhythmic directions, with Rivers’ trademark withering hard swing easing up into a mid-tempo taut funk being among the most memorable forays. But as with Dolphy and Mingus, Rivers conceived of his pieces as suites in which the numerous passages are anything but telegraphically mapped, thus enabling leader and sidemen to bring a sense of wily possibility to the performance.

Everything is so wired, so electric, so on the edge. Rivers’ improvisations are storming, especially on soprano, but the sustained dynamism and cohesion of his ensemble make this an early frontrunner in the best ‘new old’ music derby of 2020.