The first fruits of Land’s long, luxuriant collaboration with Bobby Hutcherson, from 1968. Jazz Crusaders Buster Williams and Joe Sample are here; and Jimmy Smith’s drummer Donald ‘Duck’ Bailey (with whom Land had recently worked on Roy Ayers’ Virgo Vibes).
Land’s older albums — Harold In The Land Of Jazz, for example, and The Fox — have been HJ touchstones since our very early days. But this is something else. The saxophonist’s dark, schooled lyricism remains unmistakable, but by now hard bop machismo is ceding to the thorough-going influence of the gentler side of John Coltrane — his intentness, key signatures, modal swing.
The eight recordings here are compact and focussed; lit up with a consecratory loveliness. The titular opener and the ballad Imagine share a stricken, abiding, sublime serenity; hailing from the same hallowed ground as Trane knockouts like Tunji, Dear Lord, and After The Rain. Music as the healing force of the universe.

This is a genuine lost classic; handsomely reissued in the ‘Verve By Request’ series, with excellent sound. Hotly recommended.

His wonderful, classic debut as leader, with Frank Butler, Carl Perkins and co.