Somewhere, there's a parallel reality where, after helping to ignite the New Thing in mid-1960s New York and playing on Coltrane's towering Ascension sessions, John Tchicai remained in the Big Apple and became a leading presence in the 1970s loft scene. Instead, as we know, he returned to his native Denmark in 1966 and followed his own path, while becoming a catalysing influence on the most talented local players. The 1977 debut of his Strange Brothers quartet feels very much like it's harking back to Tchicai's roots, with an acoustic set that touches on jumping free-bop and more traditional swingers. The second half is 23-minute suite recorded live in Copenhagen's famous Café Montmartre that brings to mind Don Cherry's episodic mid-1960s sets recorded in the same location. Tchicai's exuberant alto frequently seems to channel Ornette's white plastic horn, but it's bassist Peter Danstrup who really drives the session, with thick-fingered, sonorous lines that ride high in the mix. Fast-forward 10 years, and Tchicai's reconfigured his quartet as an electric funk/fusion unit, drowning in plastic synth settings. The session suffers from its brittle, 1980s production values – and Tchicai's odd, yelping vocals come as a surprise – but underneath all that there are some challenging compositions with off-kilter, Zappa-ish constructions. Originally prepared for reissue in close partnership with Tchicai, these sessions now sadly take on extra significance since his death in October 2012. These are idiosyncratic stylings from a much-missed deep thinker.