The special thanks that Johnny Griffin tenders Dexter Gordon in the credits to this 1978 album acknowledge that the elder saxophonist had blazed a return trail for expatriate modernists who had been preserving their skills in Europe over the previous two decades. Griffin, like Gordon, had grown more commanding during his years away from the U.S.; and his reentry, marked by this glorious quartet date produced by old Riverside associate Orrin Keepnews, found him as passionate and virtuosic as ever, with a deeper ability to generate ideas and feeling. Twenty years past his first Riverside triumphs when Return of the Griffin was cut, the Little Giant of the tenor saxophone (who has made regular visits to America a habit) remains a master nearly two decades later--as do the members of his first-class rhythm section.

with Ronnie Mathews, Ray Drummond, Keith Copeland