Tenor man Tyrone Washington plays some fiery stuff on this excellent album which was recorded in 1967 and released 1968. The lineup is superb with Woody Shaw, Janes Spaulding, Kenny Barron, Reggie Workman and Joe Chambers joining the leader in creating a memorable post-bop outing.
I haven’t listened much to Tyrone Washington before acquiring this title. He plays on Stanley Cowell’s ”Brilliant Circles” on Polydor which I have, but other than that I can’t remember if I have another album with him present. Anyway, fantastic player and I will explore his stuff further.
He was an outstanding composer, which is apparent here as he wrote all the tunes. The whole album is lovely, but some favorites are ”Positive Path”, a high octane smoker, ”Ethos”, a beautiful bossa nova with some bite and some great flute playing by Spaulding, and also the more mellow number “Yearning For Love”.
I must mention Joe Chambers. He is one of my favorite drummers for sure. With his beautiful ride work that is always crystal clear and defined and his killer overall approach to his kit. Beautiful musician.
This particular copy is a rare mono audition version which sounds absolutely amazing. Such punch and detail, good lord. When it comes to Van Gelder I find mono is the way to go. All the way to the very end of the formats life cycle, which this LP represents. It’s probably one of my best sounding records.
Get acquainted with this one if you’re unfamiliar.