This was the Indianapolis-born Spaulding's debut album as a leader although he had already gained praise as a sideman with Freddie Hubbard and on Blue Note with a number of top artists. Here he chose to perform eight very familiar Ellington compositions, just two years after Duke's death, opening with ‘Take The ‘A’ Train' and moving through such staple items as ‘Sentimental Mood’, ‘Caravan’ and ‘It Don’t Mean A Thing'. His alto leads off ‘Take The ‘A’ Train' and he's soon into his stride, the tone quite shrill even if his improvisatory proclivity is impressive, the dreaded Mtume (son of Jimmy Heath) clattering away before Nelson's solo and the over-amplified Jones gets to play. Much the same goes for ‘Caravan’, with Spaulding's flute zipping at speed round the melody, Brooks' quite awful vocal emerging from the mix, as Mtume again gets in the way. ‘Love You Madly’ is happier, with yet more brilliant, airborne flute as Brooks peddles his ersatz-Eckstine vocal. It's a relief when Walton gets an occasional break. Spaulding was evidently a considerable technician on all his instruments, exceptionally so on flute and is well worth hearing, provided you blank out the background. Incidentally, Brooks is not credited in the album personnel and Alun Morgan has Louisiana as the ‘Hoosier’ state in his note. Not so, it's Indiana.