Soul Jazz's Universal Sounds imprint has been responsible for some great jazz reissues of late. This is another must-have for fans of spiritual and deep jazz. Black Survival was first released in 1974 to held raise funds to combat drought in the Sahel region of Africa (a large area covering parts of Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, Chad, Darfur, Sudan and Ethiopia). It showed Brooks and long-time companions The Artistic Truth (also responsible for the recently reissues Ethical Expressions set) in fine form, laying down a series of long, drawn-out deep jazz compositions with spiritual vocals and conscious, spoken word interludes. Now remastered, it sounds better than ever.