John Coltrane's first attempt to emulate the musical forms of some of his
followers, incorporating an expanded group (11 players, with Archie Shepp,
Freddie Hubbard, and others added to the quartet) and passages of collective
improvisation, à la Albert Ayler's Bells, et al. It was part of a new phase in his career, one which distanced Trane's music from the relatively accessible (and popular) A Love Supreme, and signaled the end of his classic quartet.