Rexorcist I've been on and off of studying the works of McCoy Tyner, largerly because a lot of jazz fans didn't seem to talk about him when I first checked him out. This is all despite the fact that I gave The Real McCoy a 100 at the time. I might change that on a revisit, but since I'm on a spiritual jazz kick, I have a good reason to check out more of his works. In this time I've also gotten through Sama Layuca and Extensions, and now I'm on what might be his most outright spiritual and beautiful-sounding album I've heard so far: Asante.

The opener Malika in a way represents what I love about spiritual jazz. Not only does it treat the piano like a harp in a choir, but it's good at mingling jazz with that sound. On top of that, we get some simple, quiet tribal atmospheres, losing us in a desert where we can dream up any myth we want. The title track is more focused on a cool vibe with the spiritual segments working more as a heavy backdrop for the cooler jazz atmosphere, but when our lady singer kicks in, she carries the power of the choir with her, as if she's greeting you into Heaven, not because you're dead but because you're a guest. This song only lasts an unfortunate six minutes but the effect is still strong, almost like Tyner's own variant of Pharoah Sanders' Colors, except it's a close to a side and not a whole album.

Side B kicks off with Goin' Home, which has a couple African instruments providing percussion but carries a jazzy sound giving the song a welcome identity of its own that never breaks the calm of the album's vibes. Now this song focuses on repetition a bit more than side A, and a couple times this gets drawn out for about 20 seconds before things get changed up. But when they change, we get something kinda wild. But I would still call it the worst tack on the album. The final track, Fulfillment, also focuses more on the jazz influence rather than the spiritual, but connects with the first half well with a heavy use of piano riffs which are constantly unpredictable and catchy. It really brings the vibes of the previous 3 tracks together.

This is another surprisingly hefty and healthy jazz album by one of the lesser-talked about but still relevant artists for jazz fans. Albums like Asante prove that Tyner was just as capable as many of the greats and I'm glad he decided to go spiritual during the 70's. Easily an album I'll come back to.

Mssr_Renard Great live-album of McCoy with two trio-pieces (Song of the New World and Moment's Notice) and three solo-pieces (Passion Dance, Search for Peace and The Promise). Two compositions are from Coltrane and three from Tyner himself.

The trio-pieces are loud, maybe because of Tony Williams, but because there are no horns or other instruments, it's not disturbing. I think it's the most powerful trio I can think of. The heavy piano-playing and the heavy drumming seem to engage in battle while Carter (on bass) is the glue holding it together.

One of the lesser known live-albums, but surely a fine addition to any jazz-collection. One of the finer late-seventies post-bop albums in a musical landscape ruled by fusion and funk/disco.

siLLy puPPy As the jazz-fusion frenzy was taking place in the early 70s McCOY TYNER was adapting just a bit differently than his contemporaries. While many were going full-on jazz-rock-fusion, TYNER opted for a different approach. SAHARA takes on a whole new world of hard bop that gets lumped into the world of post bop. It seems TYNER was aiming for a new kind of fusion where he took the hard bop that came before and incorporated many Middle Eastern and African influences into the mix to create something really innovative and fresh. The title of the album and the album cover offer a glimpse into the reality of this album for the SAHARA desert is bleak and unforgiving as is the landscape depicted on the cover where an African-American is sitting in the midst of a seemingly devastated urban landscape and yet despite it all comes up with the inspiration to create one of the most revered jazz albums of all time. Not too shabby at all.

First of all let me say that this album eschews one of the things that turns me off most about jazz albums, namely the mandatory ballad. This is not, of course, strictly a jazz problem but one of music in general where the artist decides to throw on a ridiculously out of character slow number to appeal to an audience that doesn't really dig the whole scene of where they're coming from. Although the track “A Prayer For My Family” is supposed to be that slower number of sort, it is done with outstanding class and respect to the fact that this is a whole album that should flow from beginning to end and not take a breather to appeal to the “lesser appreciatives” out there. The sensibilities of continuity are flawless on this album and although there are major differences in tracks, there never is an incident of “OMG! WTF is that doing on here!.”

One of the unique aspects of this album emerges on track number 3: “Valley Of Life,” which sees TYNER going Japanese with this interesting inclusion of koto, flute and percussion playing in addition to his usual piano acrobatics. The true highlight of this amazing album is the finale title track which takes us on a true journey of jazz magnanimity. It is a 23 minute plus energetic delivery of awesome jazzitude that starts off with a very trippy intro that sounds like an elephant wailing through the mist with some Japanese instruments accompanying and some African drums providing some percussion but eventually showcases TYNER's virtuosic piano abilities in a hard bop energetic frenzy that ends up delivering the absolute best of jazz band sensibilities guaranteed to leave you with a smile on your face in disbelief. All the instrumentations on this lengthy track are outstanding and it doesn't outstay its welcome for one tiny bit.

SAHARA has been deemed one of the best jazz album of all time for good reason. It doesn't leave a moment where you can be bored or ignore its absolute brilliance. This is one of those rare jazz albums where you can be blown away from the first playing but glean excellence from every subsequent listen. For me personally I have to rank SAHARA as one of my all time favorite albums PERIIOD and this is coming from a puPPy who likes a whole lot of different types of music.

MASTERPIECE!!!!!

Sean Trane This is a double vinyl live album recorded over two nights in Frisco’s Keystone Korner jazz club in late August 74. The line-up is Tyner’s then group that had recorded Enlightenment the year before, with the addition of Brazilian percussionist Guilherme Franco. So with contrabassist Booth and drummer Fletcher, we’re finding the young Tyner recruit of Azar Lawrence on tenor sax for his second album. This was a bit of a return to Tyner’s early Trane days, since he’d generally avoided using a tenor, in order not to provoke critics and reminiscence of his Trane days.

No need to worry though, because most of the music stretching over the two discs (now on a single CD) don’t really aim at Tyner’s 60’s sonics, but definitely is the logical continuation of his Sahara/Extensions/Song For My Lady soundscapes. Indeed, despite a very different line-up, the 17-mins+ title track could be an outtake or leftover from Sahara, just like the closing almost 16-mins Love Samba (where Franco’s percussions are allowing Tyner to explore Brazilian music). Oh yes, the young tenor saxman Azar was indeed trying a bit too hard to sound like Coltrane, which mildly irritated McCoy in the long run, but I personally don’t see a problem with this, because it’s not pervasive or invasive. The only track from the four sets of these two Korner days that sticks out a bit is Sentimental Mood, and it’s a Tyneresque solo tribute to Ellington. The rest of the album is of the Sahara ilk, but without the same studio perfection

As you can expect from almost any live album (and even more double live albums), you’ll find some lengths that appear when playing it in your living room, instead of witnessing it “en vivo”, but rest assured that you won’t find yourself looking at the clock at anytime, even if swallowing the two discs’ contents in one sitting might be a little arduous.

Sean Trane One of the rare 60’s jazz hero that knew no hardship or “baisse de régime” during the 70’s is Tyner, who kept on exploring new avenues with incredible success (if only artistic), and this late-77 release (on the now-usual Milestones label)is no exception. As one might guess from the album title, this one is a vocal affair, which is rather unusual for the man and his crowd around him. Don’t get me wrong, this is no crooner album, as the voices of the innerside are a 7-member choir, including 6 women. Recorded in Hendrix’ Electric Lady studio in Sept, the sessions sees Ron Carter on electric bass, Earl Klugh on acoustic guitar, and the drum stool is shared by Eric Gravatt and JDJ.

Opening on For Tomorrow, where Tyner is alone with Carter’s electric bass facing an awesome wordless and aerial (dare I say celestal) choir and you’d have to have a solid bad faith not to be enthused by the early turning of the album. The following Uptown is the only instrumental number, but the choirs are replaced by an extended horn section (four trumpets, four trombones, and four saxes), Klugh’s acoustic guitar and Gravatt’s powerful drumming. Rotunda features more or less the same formula (but with Dejohnette on drums) but the horn section is replaced by the scatting choirs appearing on the opening track.

The flipside features two lengthier tracks, starting with Gravatt drumming up a storm and both the horn and choir are alternatively taking it up another gear, and we’re close to 100 MPH, especially when the two join forces. However fine the trombone and solos are, they’re not really living up to the track’s light-speed cadence, but it’s nothing worth really outlining (consider I didn’t ;o)). The closing Bahia Festival sees JDJ getting the help of Brazilian percussionist Franco, and despite a slow and calm intro with Tyner’s ever-so-charming piano, once Klugh’s guitar and Franco’s congas open the “hostilities”, there is no stopping the bans, with the horn section members relaying in short solos (trumpets mainly) and answer the celestial choir.

Another typically unique album, Inner Voices sits apart in Tyner’s discography, because of his use of the choir. Don’t be afraid at all though (but don’t expect to hear the old Trane Tyner either), unless you’re allergic to wordless/scat vocals. This is an absolutely awesome album, unique in its genre (to my knowledge anyway) under that form, and that Inner Voice of toyrs will not let you down if it tells you “shoot”.