While you can quickly hear his influences—he wears his Coltrane and Sonny Rollins merit badges on his sleeve—Brooks also has an utterly distinctive sax tone and improvisatory style. The roaring rhythms of Caribbean palaver energize every measure. The new compilation focuses chiefly upon instrumental tracks backed by his "Light of Saba" band, a thunderous brass and percussion outfit occasionally supplemented by anonymous-sounding vocalists.

There's a touch of traditional calypso ("Sly Mongoose"). There's a wry, wicked cover of Bessie Smith's blues, "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do." But mainly there are sharply focused instrumental jams that dramatically shuffle from jazz to reggae to weird dub outings to funk—then back to jazz. Think of Sun Ra at his most Afro-co(s)mic, infused with ritual Rastafarian nyabinghi beats. A reggae groove so deeply sophisticated it swings to the beat of a different drummer.