Bassist Stanley Clarke’s name is at the top of this studio album cover only because of the alphabetical order: the quintet (with Freddie Hubbard, Lenny White and Chick Corea) was mainly known as the Griffith Park Band. Perhaps the biggest star at the time was saxophone legend Joe Henderson, so he got to play the first solo on most tracks. The band, acoustic throughout, presents a wide cavalcade of moods. The musicians move like big cats, stretching lazily and then rushing to attack. It’s no coincidence that the orchestra has more concert than studio recordings. Only a Steve Swallow composition is featured here, the others are original compositions in which both the highly inspirational interplay and the far-reaching impros are perfectly developed. It’s good to experience the giants of jazz-rock bath together in a hard bop river before crossing it. MAO soloists, on the other hand, can reflect on this album with four decades of accumulated musical knowledge.