If you have to own one record, this should unquestionably be that one, a textbook definition of spiritual jazz perfection, equal parts healing and challenging. I came to this album naively looking for a Photek sample and stuck around for the transcendental cosmic vibes, frolicking jazz-funk, stirring free jazz freakouts and thorny bass solo madness (s Love). This was supposedly s first time touching an electric piano, and that sense of awestruck realization beams through in the sublime Rhodes playing on Astral Traveling, the albums opening track (which Smith also composed). Thembi has been in serious need of a reissue for a while now (30 years since the last pressing), and this one was well worth the wait, with clean replica gatefold artwork and gorgeous sound. After having to endure , catalog drudges from the major labels year after year (weve increasingly had to rely on labels like , , et al for decent sounding reissues of no-brainer jazz essentials like this), its nice to see them come correct. Recommended.
- 180g black vinyl pressing
- edition pressed at Third Man Pressing in Detroit
- housed in repro tip-on gatefold jacket w/ liner notes
- featuring (t. sax, s. sax, flute), (p), (b), (d) more
- original release year: 1971
- music label: Impulse! 2024
