Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean's output in the 1960s ranged from hard bop to the avant-garde, with his 1964 post-bop recordings It's Time! and Action making all the difference. Trumpeter Charles Tolliver had appeared alongside McLean on the horn front on It's Time! and returned a month later for Action, with McLean opting for Bobby Hutcherson's vibraphone in place of the piano, as well as Cecil McBee on bass and Billy Higgins on drums. The album opens with McLean's cutting title track, followed by two thoughtful Tolliver originals: "Plight" and "Wrong Handle". In a highly original version of the standard "I Hear a Rhapsody", the melody is answered by discordant interjections from the horns before the album closes with McLean's grooving minor key piece "Hootnan".