Fantastic stuff, and a record that was virtually the blueprint for spiritual soul jazz in the 70s! Although Max Roach first rose to fame during the bop years, by the time of this set he'd really stretched out a lot – moving past initial righteous projects in the Civil Rights era, to even more progressive work with a group like this! The players are all youthful geniuses who would go onto shape the sound of 70s jazz tremendously – working here at a point that already shows their brilliance – Gary Bartz on alto, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, and even Andy Bey, who sings vocals on the title track. The overall style is very similar to Bartz's early albums on Milestone, or to some of the Music Inc records on Strata East, which feature Cowell and Tolliver. It's no surprise that Cowell contributed 3 tracks to the set – "Effi", "Equipoise", and "Abstrutions" – and the group also performs a great version of Bartz's "Libra"! LP, Vinyl record album

Fantastic stuff, and a record that was virtually the blueprint for spiritual soul jazz in the 70s! Although Max Roach first rose to fame during the bop years, by the time of this set he'd really stretched out a lot – moving past initial righteous projects in the Civil Rights era, to even more progressive work with a group like this! The players are all youthful geniuses who would go onto shape the sound of 70s jazz tremendously – working here at a point that already shows their brilliance – Gary Bartz on alto, Charles Tolliver on trumpet, Stanley Cowell on piano, and even Andy Bey, who sings vocals on the title track. The overall style is very similar to Bartz's early albums on Milestone, or to some of the Music Inc records on Strata East, which feature Cowell and Tolliver. It's no surprise that Cowell contributed 3 tracks to the set – "Effi", "Equipoise", and "Abstrutions" – and the group also performs a great version of Bartz's "Libra"! LP, Vinyl record album

An incredibly righteous record from the legendary Andy Bey – an artist who's risen back to fame in recent years as a relatively straight jazz singer – but who was in some very heady territory here in the early 70s! Bey first rose to fame as part of the vocal trio, Andy & The Bey Sisters – and while that group's 60s recordings were already wonderful, Andy soon stepping out into tremendous territory of his own – working with Max Roach, Horace Silver, and Gary Bartz – and adding some unique spiritual and socially conscious vocals to some of their best jazz records at the end of the 60s! This set's one of Andy's few solo moments from the time – and really follows up the groove strongly – with lots of help from the mighty William Fischer, who wrote some of the tracks, and plays keyboards – although Bey is clearly the main compositional force here. The album includes a remake of "Celestial Blues", which Bey recorded famously with Gary Bartz – and which is in a leaner, even funkier take here – and other titles include "Being Uptight", "Tune Up", "Hibiscus", "Experience", and "The Power Of My Mind". LP, Vinyl record album

An incredibly righteous record from the legendary Andy Bey – an artist who's risen back to fame in recent years as a relatively straight jazz singer – but who was in some very heady territory here in the early 70s! Bey first rose to fame as part of the vocal trio, Andy & The Bey Sisters – and while that group's 60s recordings were already wonderful, Andy soon stepping out into tremendous territory of his own – working with Max Roach, Horace Silver, and Gary Bartz – and adding some unique spiritual and socially conscious vocals to some of their best jazz records at the end of the 60s! This set's one of Andy's few solo moments from the time – and really follows up the groove strongly – with lots of help from the mighty William Fischer, who wrote some of the tracks, and plays keyboards – although Bey is clearly the main compositional force here. The album includes a remake of "Celestial Blues", which Bey recorded famously with Gary Bartz – and which is in a leaner, even funkier take here – and other titles include "Being Uptight", "Tune Up", "Hibiscus", "Experience", and "The Power Of My Mind". CD