Pat Martino
's fourth of five
Prestige
albums contains plenty of intriguing music. The innovative guitarist is joined by
Bobby Rose
on second guitar,
Gregory Herbert
on alto and flute (making his recording debut), bassist
Richard Davis
, drummer
Charlie Persip
,
Reggie Ferguson
on tabla, and
Balakrishna
on tamboura. Together they perform
Martino
's four-part suite, whose sections are named after aspects of the Koran. The use of Indian instruments, drones, and unusual time signatures (including 7/4, 9/4, and 10/8) gives the performances the flavor of early
fusion
, and some of the effects sound a bit dated. However, the results were not overtly commercial, and the leader gets in several noteworthy
improvisations
. ~ Scott Yanow