Music Is Invisible (Pentimento Volume Three)

The third part of Jon Hassell’s Pentimento trilogy captures the much-missed artist in a trio with Rick Cox and John von Seggern, recorded in London in 2015 for what would be his final concert. Carefully edited and mixed by Jeff Rona, it plays as far more than a standard live album.

Themes, motifs and riffs from Listening To Pictures and Seeing Through Sound drift through these unique, semi-improvised mutations, making this a fitting final chapter in the late-career renaissance of the Pentimento series. There’s also a liner note essay by Jon Hassell that inspired the title.

The cover features Leh C’est Beau, a classic painting by Mati Klarwein, known to many for his 1970s sleeves for Miles Davis and Santana. “Pentimento” describes earlier painted-over forms reappearing, a process Hassell explored musically throughout his career. Alongside Music Is Invisible, Ndeya have also assembled a triple-disc anthology of all three albums.