condition (record/cover): NM / EX- (minimal edges wear)

Gatefold sleeve.

Creed Taylor's CTI in the early seventies had a formula and Hubert Laws was one of its main beneficiaries: classical material, immaculate Rudy Van Gelder engineering, a rhythm section drawn from the best players in New York, and Laws' flute placed right at the front. Firebird takes Stravinsky and reworks it over a jazz rhythm section, which should be excruciating and instead works because Laws was a conservatory-trained flautist of genuinely serious ability who took the source material seriously. The groove underneath is deep enough that hip-hop producers have been mining this catalogue for thirty years.

Japanese CTI pressing, gatefold. Seventies crossover done by someone who could actually play both sides of the crossing.