To be honest, I purchased this on a whim. I knew that Zitro had played drums on a Sonny Simmons (who is underrated) album, recorded a few months prior to this 1967 set. That and the low price, and my curiosity convinced me to check this out. There's no notes to speak of, but the remastered sound is very clean and open. This album hovers between 3-3 1/2 "stars".The band features, besides James Zitro-drums, Allan Praskin-alto sax, Bert Wilson-tenor sax, Warren Gale-trumpet, Michael Cohen-piano, and Bruce Cale-bass. The album consists of three tracks, two of them very long (22 and 15 minutes each), and one shorter track by Cohen.This music is structured-unstructured jazz. By that I mean the entire band (especially the horns) seemingly roam at will. But underneath all the tightly furious playing, there seems to be a direction pushing the music forward. Zitro's composition, "Freeken", has an intelligence behind the playing. The band wasn't just let loose to play and see (hear) what happens. His writing/arranging has a denseness, a forward moving feeling and sound to it. Even the bass occasionally slips into a walking pattern underneath Zitro's busy (but not cluttered) drum and cymbal work. This piece is a good example of free jazz (or whatever you want to label it), using the horns in both solo and duet modes. After a lengthy blowing session, everything comes back to a summation, which slides right into the next piece, "Happy Pretty", by Wilson.This up tempo tune begins with the horns sounding fairly traditional, with the rhythm section pumping everything along, and the horns then stepping up for some solo work. The vigorous feel of this tune is reminiscent of Mingus (especially), or perhaps Ornette Coleman. The energy in this piece, and the solo work, make this track a highlight of the album."Sweet", written by Cohen, begins with a quiet, almost tentative piano, with the horns echoing that feeling. After the invigorating "Happy Pretty", this is a bit of a respite, with the intensity and build up of sound-only to have it subside just as the tune ends. I would've liked to have heard this composition extended a bit longer to give it more identity.This is another release from ESP-DISK that lets the artist decide what to play-with total freedom. Would this have been released on a larger label? Probably not. But it's albums (and artists) like this that prove jazz was alive and changing during the era of free jazz. Compared to today's tight play lists and label budgets, this music (and the whole original free jazz/"New Thing") was (is) a real breath of fresh air. Yes there are people today keeping free jazz alive, but there's nothing like hearing something from that actual period of jazz. And for that reason alone this album is worth hearing.