Andrew Cyrille's longtime companion Oliver Lake praises the master of African-American rhythms in his poem The Real Cyrille: "making the real magic...the real rhythms...the real sounds...expanding his African/Haitian roots...surfing the drums for masterful lyrical snippets...a master of colour...painting colouring riffing always stretchin' searchin' lookin' for that next sound colour sound!". Lake's words astutely describe the artistry of Andrew Cyrille and the music that he makes on this record. Unlike his solo albums from the '70s and '80s, he has broadened the approach on this remarkable solo statement. Cyrille asserts, "I wanted to have a variety of percussion instruments in the compositions. So I was thinking of melodies that could be played with tambourines, bells, cymbals, crotales, gongs, and mallets."