A re-issue of what is undoubtedly the most uncharacteristic recording in Bley's discography. Barrage is a 1964 date comprised of Carla Bley tunes performed by an "all star" line-up, featuring Marshall Allen on alto sax, Dewey Johnson on trumpet (both playing with Sun Ra at the time) and erstwhile ESP rhythm-section Eddie Gomez and Milford Graves. I'd not previously thought of Bley as a free-jazzer, but he holds his own in this company. And while not an essential listen, it is quite interesting nonetheless.

The tunes all have short heads, or themes and then strings of solos w/rhythm, a common approach. My favorite is the second tune "Ictus". It starts with a vaguely Ornette-ish theme, played in rag-tag fashion followed in short order by a quick trumpet solo. Bley jabs and prods and the drums and bass pop along with him. They all leave lots of space. Allen is next up with slightly more adventurous alto flight before Bley does a fleet-fingered turn. A short drum and bass exchange sets us up for a return to the head, all in less than six minutes. "And Now The Queen" is slower in feel, almost child-like in melody, with more open space during the solos. "Around Again" has a sort of quick call-and-response theme that gives way to a nice Bley solo. "Barrage" features tape editing from composer Carla, supposedly to thicken up the sound a bit, which it does, but pay attention or you'll miss it. You could say that about the whole album actually, as it clocks in at under 30 minutes.

While some criticize the sound on some older ESP records, this release sounds fine: Graves is much clearer on this session than on many other early recordings, and the instruments are all separated nicely. One quibble is with the lack of information on these new re-issues - my older ZYX-Music copy came with a thick booklet and notes detailing each musician's history, an interview with label-head Bernard Stollman, and a complete ESP catalogue.