Drummer William Hooker has been operating on the fringes of New York's free-jazz scene since the 1970s, steering a singular course that's brought him into collaboration with artists as diverse and creative as David S. Ware, Thurston Moore and DJ Olive, while denying him much in the way of wider acclaim. Lately though, he's been championed by the excellent Lithuanian label, NoBusiness, and this live set serves as both a convincing summation of his approach, and a neat entry point for newcomers. There's a seething intensity of purpose about Hooker's propulsive pulse-time that makes his music seem like very serious business indeed while, at the same time, remaining unfettered enough to roam far from standard notions of free-jazz. After a tumultuous opening barrage, this date settles into an epic vista of rattling percussion, avant-blues slide guitar and Mexicano trumpet, topped off with Hooker's elliptical spoken poetry. If Eddie Gale had made Spaghetti Western soundtracks they might have sounded like this.