Culled from a 1966 gig at the famed NYC club Slugs, these five songs feature all stars McCoy Tyner/p, Joe Henderson/ts, Jack DeJohnette/dr and Henry Grimes/b tearing through a collection of originals and covers that reflects the style of the time, namely post bop modal with an angry fire. Two of the pieces, Henderson’s “In ‘N Out” and Tyner’s “Taking Off” clock in between 25-30 minutes each, and, to be completely honest, except for the quick in and out melody, there is very little between them. Both pieces are in double time, incendiary and have Henderson soloing (sometime sounding like a soprano)for the first 12 or so minutes before Tyner’s fleet of fingers. The two give a warm and lovely intro to “We’ll Be Together Again”, while a comparatively easy bopping “The Believer” is introduced and guided by DeJohnette, with Tyner getting the spotlight. A quirky and kinetic read of “Isotope” has dashes of Monk, and there is plenty of space for some thunderous drum soloing as well as Grimes getting in some solo work and duets with DeJohnette.
The album also includes a large booklet with some hip Francis Wolff photos, as well as some interviews with the likes of DeJohnette, Jason Moran, Joe Lovano and others. The music feels like a heat seeking missile , ready to explode upon impact. No wonder the next direction in jazz was to plug in and take in some accessible rock sounds, as this music is pin pointed for the only very few cognicenti.