This is the ‘Monday Night’ band that appeared regularly at The Sweet Basil. I saw it several times there, and when the band came to Europe. For me there was always a disconnect between enjoying the band live and their recordings, such as Gil Evans and The Monday Night Band Live at Sweet Basil (King). As the ensembles became looser and looser, roughly from Priestess (Antilles), recorded in 1977, onwards, what sounded raw, experimental and exciting in live performance translated into rough, imprecise, and sometimes chaotic when bottled for a recording. The act of performance is key here, the aural and the visual a potent combination that enhances our appreciation of the music; strip away the visual and the music stands naked, judgement becomes more discriminating, which is why Evans’ band of the 1980s – its personnel was remarkably stable – seems to promise more than it delivers on record. Those familiar with this period of Evans music will welcome intense versions of Jimi Hendrix’s ‘Up From The Skies’, ‘Stone Free’, ‘Little Wing’ and ‘Voodoo Chile’ – following Evans’ 1974 Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix he regularly featured Hendrix compositions – plus ‘Subway’ by synth player Pete Levin, ‘Sometimes’ by Delmar Brown that are not so successful as is ‘There Comes a Time’ and ‘Birdland’ in medley form.