Very groovy work from Chico – still very Latin at the core, but with lots of light 60s touches on top, ala the work of Gary McFarland, or some of the other groove-conscious arrangers for Verve and Impulse! Players on the set include Art Farmer, Clark Terry, JJ Johnson, Seldon Powell, and Pat Rebillot – and there's a nice choppy approach to the tracks that keeps the whole thing fresh! Titles include "Live Oak", "Patcham", "Panache", "Green Moss", and "The Lady From Nine Flags". Very groovy cover, too – with images of ladies from around the world, illustrating the Nine Flags concept! LP, Vinyl record album

The team of Clark Terry & Bob Brookmeyer shouldn't work so well together – but on 60s classics like this they really gel together nicely – and although Terry's always been an optimist, and Brookmeyer's had a history as a modernist, the pair cut some great records together! This set's one of the best of a short run the Terry/Brookmeyer group cut for Mainstream in the mid 60s – a quintet session with Hank Jones on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass, and Dave Bailey on drums – all players creative enough to match the playful spirit of the leaders, muting their rhythms one minute, and grooving them up the next! The mix of Terry's flugelhorn and Brookmeyer's trombone is especially great – a breathy approach to the horn parts that still swings hard, but with a fluid grace that's more pulsating than punctuating. Titles include a great version of Gary McFarland's "Milo's Other Samba", Jimmy Heath's "Gingerbread Boy", and the titles "Haig & Haig", "My Gal", "Naptown", and "Morning Mist". CD