Bassist Tyler Mitchell has carved out an impressive career with the likes of Art Taylor, George Coleman and Shirley Horn, but most of all with Sun Ra, to whom this album is dedicated. He brings in famed alumnus Marshall Allen on alto sax and EVI along with Chris Hemingway/ts, Nicoletta Manzini/as, Giveton Gelin/tp, Farid Barron/p, Wayne Smith/dr and Ron McBee-Elson Nacimento/pec for a gig at Smalls Jazz Club back in August, 2021.
Mitchell is in bluesy form with Hemingway on “Bouncing At Smalls” and is funky with Allen during a soulful “Eddie Harris”. The saxes charge like the Light Brigade on the rapid running “Dancing Shadows” with some wild space effects supplied by Allen on “La Doce Vita” and “New Dawn”. The band sounds like its having a gas of a time on stage, particularly on the snappy read of “Skippy” and the wild ride of “Velvet”. Hold on tight!