In the pantheon of classic free jazz, Noah Howard’s The Black Ark looms large. Recorded at Bell Sound Studios in New York City in 1969—just prior to the alto saxophonist’s relocation to Europe—the album was eventually released in 1972.

The Black Ark exhibits not only the power and imagination of Howard’s playing, but also his breadth as a composer and bandleader. Listeners expecting unrelenting blasts of “energy music” might be surprised to find a cohesion atypical of free jazz; amidst the wild, impassioned solos, Howard weaves in Latin rhythms and fat-bottomed grooves.