Memphis-born tenor saxophonist Frank Lowe first appeared on Alice Coltrane’s World Galaxy; this album, his debut as a leader, was also the first studio session for bassist William Parker, who has gone on to be basically the load-bearing pillar holding up the New York free jazz scene in the 1980s, ’90s, and 2000s. The band also includes Art Ensemble Of Chicago saxophonist Joseph Jarman, violinist Raymond Cheng (originally credited as “The Wizard”), and drummer Rashid Sinan. The music, recorded live, is unfettered and highly potent. Jarman’s saxophone solos (he plays alto and soprano; Lowe sticks to tenor) are like sustained screams, while the leader’s responses start out cleaner and more melodic, but eventually become quite intense. Parker strums the strings with thunderous force, and bows like he’s trying to saw the neck from the body. Cheng’s violin playing is wild and noisy, maintaining the high-velocity, high-energy feel of the performance as a whole. Rashid Sinan, meanwhile, is the engine that drives it all. He never settles into a rattling, polyrhythmic free jazz patter; instead, he attacks the kit with machine-gun snare, crashing cymbals, and kick drum work worthy of a hard rock player.

Black Beings was originally one of the final jazz releases on ESP-Disk before the label folded; a few years ago, it was reissued on CD with additional material added. The opening track grew from 25 minutes to 33, and the third piece swelled to 22 minutes from 16. There’s also a second disc of material from the same night, The Loweski, that was released separately in 2012 and is worth hearing for fans of the original album.