Mccoy

There are no weak McCoy Tyner albums and this relative obscurity is better than average. The great pianist is heard with an all-star nonet that includes Hubert Laws on flute, vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, altoist Paquito d'Rivera, Chico Freeman on tenor, and trumpeter Marcus Belgrave, plus a seven-piece string section. The music (five Tyner originals) is highly rhythmic and generally quite stimulating. A strong effort.

The debut recording from McCoy Tyner's big band features the pianist's all-star 15-piece unit romping through five of his originals (including "Blues for Basie") plus Steve Turre's "Lotus Flower." With such fine soloists as tenors Junior Cook and Ricky Ford, trumpeter Kamau Adilifu, trombonist Turre, and the leader, the ensemble (which includes John Clark's French horn and the tuba of Howard Johnson) had quickly gained its own sound and the results are quite memorable and frequently exciting. Recommended.

Violinist Stephane Grappelli, although a veteran of the swing era, has always kept an open mind toward newer styles even while he has retained his own sound and veteran repertoire. This duet set with pianist McCoy Tyner might seem unlikely at first glance but it works quite well. The duo sticks to standards (including two that are associated with John Coltrane) and find plenty of common ground. The mutual respect they have for each other is obvious and they both sound a bit inspired.

One of the better McCoy Tyner records on Milestone, this live set from San Francisco features the masterful pianist playing solo on "Naima" and leading a strong sextet (with George Adams on tenor, flute, and soprano; Joe Ford on alto and flute; bassist Charles Fambrough; drummer Woody "Sonship" Theus; and percussionist Guilherme Franco) on four of his originals. There are remakes (quite different from the originals) of "Fly with the Wind" and "The Greeting" and two newer pieces, including the atmospheric "Hand in Hand." An excellent example of McCoy Tyner's playing in the 1970s.

In 1978 a tour was set up that would feature three of the top jazz stars of Milestone Records (tenor saxophonist Sonny Rollins, pianist McCoy Tyner, and bassist Ron Carter) in a quartet with drummer Al Foster. The resulting recording has many strong moments, including Rollins' unaccompanied solo on "Continuum," his duet with Tyner on "In a Sentimental Mood," Tyner's showcases on "A Little Pianissimo" and "Alone Together" (the latter a duet with Carter), and the bassist's lengthy reworking of "Willow Weep for Me." The quartet pieces generally work well too, with these compatible but very individual stylists blending together much better than one might expect.

McCoy Tyner's fourth studio album has a split personality, with three tracks featuring an intriguing sextet of all-stars, and the rest with his trusty trio, done eight months apart. Perhaps the tracks with bassist Jimmy Garrison and drummer Albert Heath were leftovers from a prior incomplete or aborted full session, but anything Tyner played in this period was precious. The larger ensemble recordings present trumpeter Thad Jones as ostensible co-leader, composer of one selection, and lead soloist. Tenor saxophonist John Gilmore and alto saxophonist Frank Strozier join forces with Thad Jones to make what some might deem an unlikely front-line triad, but effective enough considering their established individualism…

This set gave pianist McCoy Tyner his first opportunity to write music for a larger group that included brass, flutes, and - on two of the five songs - a string section. The powerful pianist is in fine form and the main soloist throughout (although there are spots for trumpeter Virgil Jones and the flute of Sonny Fortune). Most memorable is the title cut and a reworking of "Afro Blue."

Those familiar with the dense, percussive style that pianist McCoy Tyner has cultivated since the 1970s onwards may be surprised by what they hear on Inception. Like Reaching Fourth and Nights of Ballads and Blues, this album gives listeners the chance to hear what a very young Tyner sounded like outside the confines of the classic John Coltrane quartet of the early '60s; it reveals a lyrical approach to jazz piano that seems a far cry from Tyner's mature style. The choice of material is fairly evenly split between modal pieces like "Inception" and more harmonically involved tunes like "Speak Low," and the pianist's treatment of both demonstrates the extent to which his early work was rooted in bebop…