With his second and last album under the
Creed Taylor aegis, the complexities of
Quincy Jones' catholic, evolving tastes start to reveal themselves. We hear signs of his gradual gravitation toward pop right off the bat with the churchy R&B cover of
Paul Simon's mega-hit "Bridge Over Troubled Water," dominated by
Valerie Simpson's florid soul vocal and a gospel choir. His roots fixation surfaces in the spell-like African groove of the title track, a dramatic tone poem that ebbs and flows masterfully over its 13-minute length. From this point on, it's all jazz; the roaring big band comes back with a vengeance in "Walkin'," where
Milt Jackson,
Herbie Hancock,
Hubert Laws, and other jazzers take fine solo turns, and things really get rocking on
Nat Adderley's "Hummin'."
Major Holley is a riot with his grumble-scat routine on bass. The whole record sounds like they must have had a ball recording it. ~ Richard S. Ginell