goes out of its way again to unearth yet another significant chapter in jazz history, and once again, it's one that relatively few fans have ever heard. This performance of ' was captured during 's Kool Jazz Festival at Avery Fisher Hall. It was broadcast on NPR's Jazz Alive program, but this double disc contains the entire performance, with more than 40 minutes of additional music. As his time with wound down, threw himself into . A studio album was issued a year earlier, and versions of this outfit had played in Florida, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. assembled a who's who for this date. The core band featured , , and (on steel drums). That said, the 16-piece horn section included (on tuba), to name a few. What's more, the grandest harmonicat of all, , was a featured soloist. 's charts are exquisite, full of energy, sophistication, and humor. Check the tuba intro and burning break in the 13-minute workout on 's "Donna Lee," amid the fiery interplay of the steel drums, 's electric bass clarinet, and the drums and bass. This space-age bebop is contrasted beautifully as joins in for ' elegant "Three Views of a Secret," the hard-swinging Latin and Caribbean rhythms in "Liberty City" (with gorgeous contrapuntal improvising by the whole band), and a sparsely adorned, romantic read of 's "Sophisticated Lady." Disc one closes with a bumping Caribbean take on the harmonicist's standard "Bluesette." The second disc opens with an absolutely cooking read of 's "I Shot the Sheriff," before a series of lengthy tunes bookended by heavy percussion workouts. "Okonkole y Tompa" spends ten of its 15 minutes as an solo before 's bass and 's French horn join him, adding intimacy and tenderness. The glorious medley of "Reza/Giant Steps" -- a true set highlight -- displays ' canny arrangements, even as his lead guitar-like playing gets to shine. "Mr. Fonebone" brings back with a joyous carnival-esque intro that leads into knotty post-bop. The extreme length of the "Bass and Drum Improvisation" will make hardcore fans of and salivate, but for most, once or twice through will suffice. The finale is a evergreen: "Fannie Mae" is a hard-swinging blues shuffle that features his vocals and bass playing in call and response with as the band wails. Sure, is for the fanatics, but it's much more: this fantastically recorded document is a treasure trove of modern progressive jazz. The brilliant music found on it serves to underscore that was more than a brilliant, singular bassist (though that would have been enough); he was a great composer, arranger, and charismatic bandleader -- a true jazz renaissance man. ~ Thom Jurek