The musicians on this recording sure seem to have enjoyed themselves. Although some of the originals by drummer
Bruce Ditmas have themes, the improvising is generally very free, a bit self-indulgent and episodic. It is good to hear
Sam Rivers (doubling on tenor and soprano) in this type of setting again but in general the results are fairly dull due to lack of variety. The dense ensembles and wild playing of guitarist
John Abercrombie and keyboardist
Paul Bley are quite colorful (bassist
Dominic Richards completes the quintet) but the opening "Island Seven" is overly noisy and the lack of strong material gives a certain sameness to many of the performances, making this CD recommended only to those listeners with a strong taste for free-form jamming.