Formed in Paris in 1969, during a period when the city played host to many US avant-jazz expatriates, CCC now looks like a super-group of AACM alumni. But, at the time, none of its members was especially well known, and audiences didn't respond well to its prescient mix of free jazz and European chamber improv. Across the long main track, ‘Muhal’, moods and shades flow in and out of consciousness: muted horn shards dangling from springy bass; sonorous violin and primitive harmonica parps cutting through like insistent voices; odd, orchestral percussion tinkles and cymbal splashes playing with the sense of perspective; all finally building to a squally crescendo with harrowed trumpet calls. After playing for around a year, the group disbanded but not before recording this debut and its follow-up on the same day in May 1970. Briefly available on Japanese import CD in the 1990s, now, once more, sadly out of print.

Vinyl sold in March 2011 for $40 at ebay.com