"I'm not proving myself here," Hill explained in the original liner notes. "I want to give something. I want to reach out from myself to make people happy who listen to this. That's what grass roots are in music. Getting down to the basics, getting down as deep as you can into feeling." With a quintet eminently suitable for that task-Lee Morgan on trumpet, Booker Ervin on tenor saxophone, Ron Carter on bass, and Freddie Waits on drums-Hill presented a set of five original compositions imbued with a deep sense of feeling, groove, and lyricism including the feel-good title track, the festive "Mira," and the propulsive "Soul Special."
Side A
1: Grass Roots
2: Venture Inward
3: Mira
Side B
1: Soul Special
2: Bayou Red