After a decade playing in Thelonious Monk's band, tenor-man Charles Rouse was clearly primed to stretch out into open ground. For this 1974 date, he assembled a crack squad of younger players for a session that's accessible and out-there in equal measure. ‘Bitchin’' and ‘In A Funky Way’ are both laid back soul-jazz with drummer David Lee leaning heavy on the ones and threes; ‘Hopscotch’ centres on Lee and Stanley Clark's astonishingly tight rhythmic lock-down; and the title track is a multi-part exploration of intense, polyrhythmic funk, full of algebraic time signatures, Clark's deeply driving vamps, and hip guitar and violin solos. But the final track, ‘In His Presence Searching’ is the oddest of all, starting with what sounds like a creeping harpsichord TV ghost story theme, before segueing into more headlong avant-funk. Briefly available as Japanese and German import CDs in the 1990s, a proper reissue is well overdue. Vinyl sold in June 2012 for $140 at ebay.com