Carter Jefferson spent the 1960s in the road bands of the Temptations, the Supremes and Little Richard, went to NYU in 1971, passed through Mongo Santamaría and Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, and from 1977 to 1980 was the tenor in Woody Shaw's first working quintet. Shaw produced this record, his only one as a leader. Jefferson died in Kraków in December 1993.

The Rise Of Atlantis was cut at C.I. Recording in New York on two dates, 23 and 27 December 1978, with two different bands around the rhythm section of Clint Houston and Victor Lewis. The first three tracks have Terumasa Hino on trumpet and flugelhorn, Harry Whitaker on piano and Steve Thornton on congas, with a vocal from Lani Groves on the opener, Why. The second three have Shunzo Ono on trumpet and John Hicks on piano, and include a Blues for Wood for the producer.

Soul Brother, reviewing a recent vinyl reissue, describes late-1970s jazz fusion of a high order, with a soprano and flugelhorn duet between Jefferson and Hino on Why and a conga solo from Thornton (Lonnie Liston Smith's regular percussionist) halfway through. Released by Timeless in 1979 with notes by Michael Cuscuna.

Japanese CD edition from Solid's Timeless series.