DeJohnette's continually evolving Special Edition was one of the most important ensembles of the early-1980s. Their four albums, from 1979's Special Edition to 1984's Album Album were a commentary on jazz away from the acoustic mainstream and are all included in this indispensable box-set. Although one of the music's finest drummers, DeJohnette created ensembles that relied on his compositional, organisational and arranging skills as it did upon the musicians he featured. The group's first album from 1979 included David Murray and Arthur Blythe, its second Tin Can Alley from 1980 and third Inflation Blues from 1981, have saxists Chico Freeman and John Purcell, and the looser sensibilities of both these ensembles reflect the late-1970s realignment of some areas of the avant garde in the USA with the post-bop mainstream. DeJohnette's sure handling of form and content made possible a free-flowing rapprochement of compositional design and improvisational freedom that perfectly suited Murray and Blythe, former loft-scene combatives, while Freeman, who emerged from the AACM, and Purcell, a thoroughly schooled graduate of the Manhattan School of Music reflected a more serene approach to improvisation. With 1984's Album Album we have the finest recording under DeJohnette's name and one of the key albums of the last 30 years. It is a classic and on it DeJohnette exerted tighter compositional control with deft writing for his ensemble, rejecting open-ended blowing and instead seeking a balance between the written and the improvised. Firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, he pays tribute to Ahmad Jamal, who so inspired him as a youngster in Chicago along with his drummer Vernell Fournier, on ‘Ahmad the Terrible’. A piano graduate from the American Conservatory of Music, DeJohnette's impressive piano interlude is a reminder that the rising line still remains the most effective way of building a solo. Other classics from this remarkable album include ‘Festival’, ‘New Orleans Strut’ and the impressive ‘Third World Anthem’ – all compositions that DeJohnette continues to perform live with his ensembles today. Ultimately, however, these four albums are a tribute to DeJohnette's complete musicianship, for although there are no drum solos – only brief breaks – the unifying factor in this remarkably varied collection is as much the vibrant luminosity of DeJohnette's drumming as his ability to create a wholly engaging and effective context to feature both his playing and compositional and arranging skills.