Many sections had the sounds of new music (the vast wheels creaking and unspooling in the sky ... and especially that sense of open space); but with its implied beat, Duncan's creative vocalizations, and the modal sections, this open music clearly comes out of the free jazz improvising tradition.

I remember one section that began with whispered words exchanged amongst all the musicians; then changed into angular rhythmic phrases from the vibes and bowed strings; and then cut directly to bass clarinetist Rindone, out in the open, squalling in all registers.

... An hour-and-a-half or so later, the concert basically ended with vocalist Christine Duncan camping away delightfully, like an out-of-kilter soul singer, stuck in the middle of an avant garde orchestra, belting away.

"I've never heard anything quite like that", a fellow audience member said.

The AIMToronto Orchestra is populated with many of Toronto's most sensitive and dedicated free jazz players and they really laid down some serious compositions and some serious playing that afternoon.