Anthony Braxton’s 1982 solo alto saxophone concert in Pisa is an incendiary showcase. Braxton’s keen musical mind, daring improvisations, and impressive facility are abundantly displayed. A medley of “Composition 26g + 99g” is breathtaking in its caterwauling intensity, while “Composition 106c” combines angular skronk licks with rhythmic verve at turns jaunty and soulful. Microtones, exotic scale patterns, and a buffo vibrato make “Composition 77e” a charmingly Eastern-tinged excursion.

I’ve always enjoyed Braxton’s playing of standards, and he graces this date with several sterling ones, including a bluesy rendition of Thelonious Monk’s “‘Round ‘Bout Midnight.” In a quirkily effective version of the Dietz/Schwartz tune “Alone Together,” the saxophonist begins in a lyrical vein, but his playing gradually builds in intensity, with increasingly fast arpeggiations culminating in a stratospheric climax. Braxton’s altissimo register is also on display, appropriately enough, on Dizzy Gillespie’s “You Go to My Head.” The concert ends with a vibrant, at times breakneck-paced, extended tour of John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps.” Braxton has so many fine solo releases to his credit that it’s hard to pick favorites, but this outing has much to recommend it. - Christian Carey (2007, The Daily Copper)