This reviewer has been fairly well insulated from Bob James, apart from the inevitable ‘Angela/Theme From Taxi’ and his very different 1962 debut Bold Conceptions. But I did see him in similarly contrasting roles at Jazz FM's 10th birthday concert (2000) and as the accompanist to Sarah Vaughan in 1967. That first steady gig and the more adventurous debut album both relate to the varied music on this previously unreleased programme from the period when James began working with Vaughan, accompanied by Rockwell and Clay (who appear on separate sessions here). It covers a lot of ground, from fairly conventional 1960s piano trio styles to experimental stuff including free playing with the interjection of pre-recorded electronics. But for many listeners the more impressive music may be the straight-ahead performances of standards such as ‘Serenata’ and ‘Indian Summer’, where James' fluency and adventurousness recall early Herbie Hancock. There are also tunes written by James Moody and the young Joe Zawinul and a long medium-tempo blues, some of which attempt to balance the experimental and the straight-ahead, in a way that will surprise those who only know later Bob James.