‘A more selfless album is hard to imagine,’ according to Down Beat in 1975. ‘The sound is supreme, and all the players strive to achieve a thorough blending.’ Recorded in New York in 1974, the disc’s personnel is drawn from the circle around Herbie Hancock in the period, but the music has a character all its own.
‘A classic of 1970s spiritual jazz, and as much as any recording on Strata East or Black Jazz, Maupin’s ECM offering is a wonder of arrangement and composition with gorgeous ensemble play, long yet sparse passages, space, and genuine strangeness. Maupin plays all of his reeds and flute in addition to glockenspiel here; Summers’ percussion effects include a water-filled garbage can. The two drummers swirling around in different channels don’t ever play the same thing, but counter and complement one another. And Hancock plays some of the most truly Spartan and lyrically modal piano in his career here… This album sounds as timeless and adventurous in the present as the day it was released’ (AllMusic).
‘Luminessence Series.’