This is a prime example of an informal studio jam session in the critical period when John Coltrane was perfecting his "sheets of sound" approach. The emerging tenor star is the focal point in a quintet filled with serendipitous connections. Kenny Burrell, Tommy Flanagan, and Paul Chambers were at the forefront of an emerging generation of young Detroit modernists; Burrell, Coltrane, and Flanagan had proved their compatibility a year earlier on The Cats (OJC-079); and Jimmy Cobb was poised to become a regular partner of Coltrane and Chambers in the Miles Davis sextet. The tenor/guitar duet "Why Was I Born?" is a unique gem in an album filled with assured and eloquent blowing.

with Tommy Flanagan, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb