Issued on in 1970, is really a left-field offering for the jazz harpist. But being a jazz harpist was -- and remains -- an outside thing in the tradition. Her previous offerings on were pure, hard bop jazz with serious session players soloing all over them. She made recordings for and before landing at in 1968 with which began her partnership with arranger . became content as an iconoclast and was seemingly moving forward toward the deep well of spiritual jazz in the aftermath of 's death and the recordings of . On this set for , she again teams with who wears the hats of producer, arranger, and conductor of a string section and the record goes in a somewhat different direction. Whereas hit on a direction for and cemented her relationship with , realizes that partnership in total. With a band that included a host of percussion instruments -- played vibes and kalimba, and played a second kalimba, was enlisted as guitarist, played alto saxophone, and played flute, oboe, bass flute, and piccolo. There is also a bass player and a drummer but they are not credited. For her part, played her harp, but she also brought the Japanese koto into the mix as well as her voice. is no ordinary jazz vocal album. It is exotic, mysterious, laid-back, and full of gentle grooves and soul. The opening cut, with its glissando harp and koto, is in an Eastern mode, and immediately lays out 's vocal as this beautiful throaty, clear instrument hovering around the low end of the mix. Midway through it kicks into soul-jazz groove without losing the Eastern mode and goes, however gently, into an insistent funky soul-jazz groove. There is no kitsch value in this music, it's serious, poetic, and utterly ingenious musically. It sounds like nothing else out there. And it only gets better from here. The poem that commences gives way to a percussion and koto workout that comes right from the modal blues. The oboe playing is reminiscent of 's but with more driving, hypnotic rhythm. begins with kalimbas playing counterpoint rhythms and singing in Japanese scale signature, but soon hand percussion, strings, and a flute enter to make the thing groove and glide, ethereal, light, beautiful. is a pure soul-jazz ballad with harp fills, a funky bassline, and shimmering flutes above a trap kit. The piano solo -- played by , we can assume -- on is a killer move bringing back the hard bop and giving way to a smoking vibes solo by . It's as if each track, from enter from the world of exotica, from someplace so far outside jazz and western popular musics, and by virtue of 's vocal and harp, are brought back inside, echoing the blues and jazz -- check out the koto solo on this cut, by way of the symbiotic communication between and the musicians. You can literally hear that trusts to deliver. transforms from near show tunes in her contralto into swinging, shuffling jazz numbers. The lithe beauty on display in her voice and the in-the-pocket backup of the rhythm section is flawless and infectious. The set ends on its greatest cut, Introduced by what seems like an Eastern Buddhist chant, it quickly slips into harp, koto, guitars, drums, and bass bump. adds strings for drama playing repeating two-note vamps before and his vibes take the thing into outer space. The slippery guitar groove and alto solo that cut right into the flesh of the blues turn it into a solid late-night groover with plenty, plenty soul. The fuzz guitar solo playing counterpoint with the kalimba rhythms is mindblowing, sending the record off to some different place in the listener's head. And this is a head record. Time and space are suspended and new dimensions open up for anyone willing to take this killer little set on and let it spill its magic into the mind canal through the ears. Depending on how much of a jazz purist you are will give you a side to debate the place of this set in 's catalogue. For those who remain open, this may be her greatest moment on record. ~ Thom Jurek