The fascinating relationship between composition, improvisation and orchestration is vividly played out here. Although known first and foremost as co-leader of Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Roscoe Mitchell also has a vast body of work as a solo artist, and he presents versions of previously-written pieces that show how work can alter character to thrilling effect when instrumentation and context change. The epic opener ‘Distant Radio Transmission’ was originally improvised by Mitchell, pianist Craig Taborn and drummer Kikanju Baku in 2013, but here it is significantly scaled up to a 35-piece orchestra featuring Mitchell on sopranino saxophone. The result is a rapidly shifting canvas, full of dramatic emphasis and understated nuance that retains spontaneity amid the fine intricacy of the scores, partly due to the curt, incisive solos of vocalist Thomas Buckner and James Fei’s scratch ‘n’ squelch electronics. Thereafter ‘Nonaah Trio’ and ‘Cutouts For Woodwind Quintet’ highlight the icy, at times quite confrontational beauty of Mitchell’s writing for small ensembles with uncommon instruments such as oboe, bassoon and French horn, while ‘8.8.88’ is a disklavier performance of a song written on that date for Japanese pianist Joseph Kubara. The unique, occasionally trebly sound of the instrument and the odd metered passages create a dance that has a dizzy energy. with all the pleasingly whimsical, subversive sleights of hand that have defined so much of Mitchell’s career to date.