Spiral Live at Montreux 1978 is a live album

Live album

A live album is a recording consisting of material recorded during stage performances using remote recording techniques, commonly contrasted with a studio album...

 by Muhal Richard Abrams

Muhal Richard Abrams

Muhal Richard Abrams is an American educator, administrator, composer, arranger, clarinetist, cellist, and jazz pianist in the Free jazz medium. Abrams compresses both contemporary and traditional ideas into lean, elegant pieces.- Biography :Abrams attended DuSable High School in Chicago...

 recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival

Montreux Jazz Festival

The Montreux Jazz Festival is the best-known music festival in Switzerland and one of the most prestigious in Europe; it is held annually in early July in Montreux on the shores of Lake Geneva...

 and released on the Arista Novus label in 1978. The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 states "Abrams' occasional use of devices from earlier styles (including a bit of dissonant stride and basslines à la Lennie Tristano

Lennie Tristano

Leonard Joseph Tristano was a jazz pianist, composer and teacher of jazz improvisation. He performed in the cool jazz, bebop, post bop and avant-garde jazz genres. He remains a somewhat overlooked figure in jazz history, but his enormous originality and dazzling work as an improviser have long...

) makes this music a bit more accessible than one might expect at times, but in general, this set is for listeners who enjoy hearing new approaches to musical freedom".

Track listing

1. "B Song" - 13:50
2. "String Song" - 5:05
3. "Voice Song" - 23:33

All compositions by Muhal Richard Abrams

• Recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Switzerland on July 22, 1978