by Thom JurekPerhaps the title is a little off-putting in that it draws attention to the performers being the outlaws in jazz, but maybe it's the opposite too -- attractive to those looking for something outside the traditional well of tunes and expressions. Interestingly, it's neither -- with the possible exception of Denis Charles. The set is named for the music's true outlaws, those who stood outside convention enough to survive their obscurity and criticism. Most of the tunes here were composed by Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Charles Tyler, and one each by Lazro, Levallet, and Berrocal, who, along with Charles, make up a truly international jazz ensemble. The set opens with Coleman's "3 Wishes," with the melody intact, performed with its harmony altered to make it sound like a gypsy folk song courtesy of Lazro. When the mode shifts and the solos move in, Coleman's familiar melody haunts the background, but the soloists reach for it as a starting point to pursue the Eastern European model more thoroughly. Berrocal's hard bop/free jazz transition number, "East River," is next and it's all drive; Charles is all over the kit and Levallet turns the accents into rhythmic shifting points, as both horn players solo against each other for the privilege of taking the tune further outside. Despite this, there is a terrifyingly intense swinging going on between them. The most startlingly beautiful tunes here are Tyler's "Legend of the Lawman" -- with it's Sousa-like beginning that moves across Copland and Ferde Grofe into post-Coltrane modalism inside of 16 bars -- and Lazro's short "Pat," which is a nice showcase for the rhythmic invention in the band when they shift time signatures no less than five times in just over three minutes, only to bleed into Ayler's "Angels" to close it all. Here, Berrocal and Lazro trade inferences on the line's inversion. Open, striated harmonics cross in mid-pitch and turn each other inside out as the rhythm section plays a gospel march in the background. It's sweet, moving, and ultimately unsettling. This is a thorough, able recording, one that is full of surprises and great tenderness. And if anything, it succeeds in bringing these outlaws a little closer to the fold.