Miles' second "great quintet" sans Miles lacks cohesion, focus, purpose, at least on this outing. The "compositions" seem to be titles manufactured after the fact as a way of providing dividers to the free-form meanderings that took place while the tape was running. There are a few sparks created by Rivers and Shorter on the first couple of tracks, but the rest of the album is curiously unengaging. Peacock's unfaltering walking bass lines provide coherence and civility, but this would hardly seem to be the occasion for exercising politeness. And for a Van Gelder-engineered session, Williams' cymbals are surprisingly subdued in the total mix.

If you're a musician, hearing a session like this makes you wish you were taking part in it. I'm more impressed by recordings that "scare" me back into the practice room.