For the past several decades, Brother Ah has been doing his best to heal the world with music. Two of his early-'70s albums -- "Sound Awareness" and "Move Ever Onward" -- that didn't see much light the first time around have just been rereleased as the first installments of Ah's Sound Awareness series.
Brother Ah developed a philosophy of communal music through years of travel in Africa and the decade he spent in the Sun Ra Arkestra. "My philosophy evolved from my study of the sounds in nature," he e-mails from Washington, D.C. "How nature 'composes' its music. The way the birds, insects, animals, the wind and trees listen to each other and create symphonies that we as humans should participate in."
Both albums are outstanding, although "Move Ever Onward" is at times slightly self-conscious, whereas "Sound Awareness" gushes forth in just two gigantic exhalations.