Despite being issued under the imprint of the Manhattan jazz club, Smoke, where Bernstein is regularly heard, this is a studio session, recorded eight months after this quartet had played a week at another Manhattan club, The Village Vanguard. It's a band of old colleagues, with the exception of the younger pianist, and the mutual understanding between them is clear from the offset, all four sounding like they are in that comfort zone where they can be themselves, whether stretching out or accommodating the forays of others. There are five Bernstein tunes, ranging from the loose-limbed opening title track and the chirpy, Hefti-ish ‘Cupcake’ to the semi-samba ballad ‘Resplendor’ and the dreamy ‘Lullaby For B’. The Cuban favourite ‘Tres Palabras’ and Woody Shaw's evergreen ‘Sweet Love Of Mine’ are among the non-originals. While Bernstein understandably takes the lion's share of the solo space and delivers the goods every time, there are some especially tasty excursions from Clayton – including a peach of a solo on ‘Blue Gardenia’ where he works in a brief Ellington quote. A fine example of jazz which doesn’t have anything to prove – it is just happy to be.