Dark Day

This 2001 two-CD set contains a pair of live performances from 1979. Dark Day, recorded at Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art on May 15, was released that year; Live in Verona, from an Italian festival four days later, was previously unheard. The band is the same across both discs: Billy Brimfield on trumpet, Steven Palmore on bass, and a 23-year-old Hamid Drake on drums. Anderson likes to stretch out; the shortest piece here, “The Prayer,” runs nearly 11 minutes, and the longest, “Three on Two,” sails past the half-hour mark. Palmore and Drake seem like they could keep the rhythm locked in forever.