A comprehensive chronicle of Sanders' first stirrings as a young musician almost 50 years ago makes for fascinating listening. The long held narrative of the life of the man from Little Rock, Arkansas, is that he is one of the great keepers of the Coltrane flame, and while there is plenty of evidence to support that view this excellent four-disc box set makes it clear that he is also something of a foster brother to the likes of Ornette Coleman. Sanders' brief membership of a group led by the latter's great sparring partner Don Cherry reveals just how in tune he was with the melodic, motif-based omni-directional business of those two pathfinders, and a session with a stellar Paul Bley quartet, that includes Paul Motian and David Izenzon, also shows Sanders holding his own in the company of players with the sharpest of conceptual reflexes. Hearing him in Sun Ra's Solar Arkestra alongside the likes of Marshall Allen, Pat Patrick, Clifford Jarvis et al, is also quite exhilarating, especially when they launch into the epic trance of ‘The Shadow World’. However, the highlight of the whole package is one of Sanders' first dates as a leader. It is a quintet of relatively obscure players – pianist Jane Getz and trumpeter Stan Foster play prominent roles – but the music is beautiful. Again it shows how early in his career Sanders was straddling the line between ‘in’ and ‘out’ vocabularies, and even though his tone is not quite as big as it would later become, he nonetheless has a sterling, imperious quality, enhanced by his trademark shrieks and overblowing. In addition to the music, there are several interviews with Sanders, Cherry, Bley and ESP boss Bernard Stollman that put the music in its historical context.