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1. Muchisimo (B. Montgomery) (6:56) 2. Expressions in Blue (B. Montgomery) (6:59) 3. Darrah (B. Montgomery) (5:23) 4. All the Things You Are (J. Kern - O. Hammerstein II) (3:35) 5. Ties (B. Montgomery - M. Shaw) (5:45) 6. Stablemates (B. Golson) (4:54) 7. Rose Marie (B. Ighner) (4:31) 8. Soft Earth (B. Montgomery) (5:54) Claudio Roditi (trumpet 1, 2) David Fathead Newman (tenor saxophone 1, 2; flute 8), Eddie Harris (tenor saxophone 5, 6) Ted Dunbar (guitar 8) Buddy Montgomery (piano; vibraphone 3, 6; synthesize percussion 5) Ron Carter (bass 1, 2, 8), John Heard (bass 3-7) Marvin Smitty Smith (drums 1, 2, 8), Billy Higgins (drums 3-7) Warren Smith (percussion 1, 2) Steve Kroon (conga 1, 2, 8) Marlena Shaw (vocal 4, 5) Tracks 1, 2, 8 recorded at the Van Gelder Studios, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., November 4, 1986. Tracks 3-7 recorded at Mad Hatter Studios, Los Angeles, 24. 11. 1986. Additional recording and remix at Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA, December 1986. Landmark LCD-1512-2; Landmark 1512; Landmark Records LLP-1512 This is one of those records that plays both easily and well, where if you have it going int he car, ou find it pleasant enough, but when it comes time to decide whether to put something else in or to let it replay maybe just one more time...just one more time can end up being days on end. And oh yeah, the title cut should have been as big a hit as, say. "Compated To What" or something like that. Marlena Shaw is truly magnificent (a quality which is my no means a given with her output), Eddie Harris plays one of those solos that sounds like every other one of those solosof his that sound like that, only damn, how does he make it sound so GOOD, and Billy higgins (s;ong with some uncredited cowbellist), get into that handclapping wigglewaggleassshake groove that can not be faked, and oh my lord, this should have been a hit, this should have been a BIG hit. And obtw, John Her, pocket. And then right after that, Eddie Harris on "Stablemates". quirky as fuck, and just as soulful as the cut before. This guy could play both/all ways and have it come out sounding the same until you pay attention and then...he was a rare breed, that Eddie Harris, and I still don't know that he's fully appreciated, although maybe that's his fault as much as it is ours. The rest of the record id really, really good, borderline outstanding, programming is superb, as are the originals. And if you wonder about how Trane approached "All the Things You Are" harmonically in 1962(?), maybe it bore some resemblance to what Montgomery does to it here. Or maybe not. I see that this is going for a kind of "collectory" price on Amazon, and if it's become a cratedigger's curio, yeah, I get that, totally. No real YouTube representation either. Other than this cratedigger piece. Ted Dunbar! And not one of those prefab pattern grooves, cats are playing it in real time, adjusting as they feel it, more of that, please! If this would have been on the jazz radio of the time here, I would have remembered it. Not just that piece, but any of them. This is a good record!