How did jazz come to rely almost exclusively on a half-dozen instruments: bass, drums, sax, piano, trumpet and guitar? Billy Bang’s nimble violin work on Above & Beyond: An Evening in Grand Rapids makes you wonder if the standard instrumentation of jazz might be more accidental than inevitable.

Bang’s voice was shaped by the early avant-garde masters like Ornette Coleman, and he coaxes a chameleon-like sound from his violin, shifting instantly from lyrical melodies to aggressive buzzing. On “Dark Silhouette,” a glissando from the violin makes the song float as it swings. When Bang and saxophonist Frank Lowe play harmonies, the diverse tonalities of the two instruments create a sound bigger than two horns ever could.

This strong album was recorded live in 2003, and it belongs equally to Bang and Lowe. Fixtures of the avant-garde jazz scene, the two play with both mature intelligence and a passion that the decades haven’t dimmed. Sadly, this concert would be one of Lowe’s last. He died of lung cancer a few months later. By this tour in 2003, one of his lungs had been removed, although nothing about his playing betrays the loss.

Above & Beyond, like the best live recordings, makes you regret missing this night of music in Grand Rapids. How many in the audience knew that it would be one of Lowe’s last gigs? Thankfully someone preserved this performance for the rest of us.