You've got a big, big problem if you get caught up in what people say. If you're gonna live for what people say, you might as well lay down and forget it. Because it doesn't work that way.

Jamal's well known song "Poinciana" was first released on this album. Jamal also studied with pianist James Miller and began playing piano professionally at the age of fourteen at which point he was recognized as a "coming great" by the pianist Art Tatum. A jazz fan interviewed by Downbeat magazine about Jamal in 2010 described his development as "more aggressive and improvisational these days.

According to American music critic Stanley Crouch Jamal is second in importance in the development of jazz after 1945 only to Charlie Parker. For five decades he has been one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz.