Possibly one of the rarest items in the catalogue of revered indie label Flying Dutchman, but surely one of the best. As the title clearly states Self- Determination Music is very much a cry for artistic and personal independence by two artists, saxophonist-clarinetist John Carter and trumpeter Bobby Bradford who both negotiated the interesting border between mainstream and avant-garde at the end of the 1960s. And both kept significant company in the shape of Ornette Coleman, who was a schoolmate of Carter’s in Fort Worth, Texas and one of Bradford’s bandleaders in the early 1950s in Los Angeles.

This recording embodies a kind of shared sensibility of the three players, namely a commitment to music that has a profound sense of African-American folklore, which leads to a powerful modernity if not futurism. The songs are so enticingly bluesy but dynamic and malleable so as to avoid the formula, certainly 12-bar life cycle, largely associated with the music.

Fleeting, playful, pithy themes from the horn players, as well as scything, swaggering bass by the masterful Henry Franklin and Tom Williamson, and skipping rhythms by drummer Buzz Freeman cohere into music that has a joie de vivre as well as intelligence and attention to detail. It speaks of artists intent on being true to themselves all the while recognising the solid cultural foundation on which they stand. A timeless tall tree.