Best known for his work with Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Mike Clark displays his comfort food sounds here with a team of Eddie Henderson/tp, Henry ‘The Skipper’ Franklin/b, Sherik/ts, Wayne Horvitz/p-key and Bill Summers/per on an album that gives memories more of Charles Mingus more than Hancock.
Clark and Franklin swing and sway, with the horns loose and left on center on the well grooved”First Motion and the cleverly harmonized “MC’s Thing”. Horvitz taps into his inner Don Pullen on these tunes, as well as on the snappy “Distant Between Leaves” while when on the Rhodes he delves into a sleek soul fascination as on the funky “BBQ o Auseon” an d One For Mganga”. The team lets loose on the askance “Love Mingus” with Clark crisper than Chow Mein noodles on the bopping “Apparition”. A Mingus among us.