Originally released in 1970 on ESP Records, "Nothing Is" is a collection of live recordings from a 1966 tour of New York state colleges by Sun Ra's Arkestra, at that point an 11-piece band. "Exotic Forest" features a slithering, suitably Egyptian-sounding oboe lead by Marshall Allen, a brilliant saxophonist who has led the Arkestra since Ra's death in 1993. The pleasure of the track, though, is in the increasingly complex percussion and drums that engulf Allen's oboe from below, eventually taking over entirely.
-- T.B.
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