Description

Recorded in 1962 by Rudy Van Gelder at the Englewood Cliffs studio, Rouse and Co. departed from the normal hard-bop that as Monks main tenorman he had earned his New York rep for this date and instead took the recent bossa nova/calypso craze, started by Stan Getz, Charlie Byrd and even Sonny Rollins, to another place. With great grooves from the rhythm section, including augmentation with conga and chekere, the result is a great collection, rooted in various Afro-Caribbean styles and not American jazzmen trying to sound Brazilian. Among others, guitarist Kenny Burrells and especially drummer Willie Bobos playing makes this not just another bossa nova fad date.