Customer Reviews

Real Mccoy

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This was the first of 6 albums McCoy Tyner recorded for Blue Note records in the late 60s and early 70s. His earlier records for Impulse (Inception, A Night of Ballads and Blues, etc.) were generally more conservative recordings in the piano trio format. But on Real McCoy he went for the explosive, wide open modal sound of the 60s Coltrane quartet.

Tyner had played with Elvin Jones for over five years in Coltrane's group and by this point they were joined at the musical hip; as usual, Jones is a polyrhythmic monster on "Passion Dance" and "Four by Five". Joe Henderson had played in front of Tyner and Jones several times, including the classic quartet date Inner Urge (also on Blue Note); this is among his best playing of the 60s, along with Larry Young's Unity. His mixture of mainstream playing and wild avant-gardisms is on perfect display. Ron Carter provides a strong, flexible anchor. McCoy's playing would get denser and heavier over the next few years, but his powerful sound (dark, left hand chords and fast, unpredictable right hand lines) is well featured here.

All five original compositions are classics. Coltrane didn't record many of Tyner's pieces, so the pianist's style as a writer give this album a distinctly different flavor from the Coltrane group despite the Tyner-Jones pairing. "Passion Dance" and "Four by Five" are intense modal workouts, "Contemplation" and "Search for Peace" are haunting ballads, and "Blues on the Corner" sounds just like the title.

The Real McCoy isn't as intense as some of his early 70s recordings for Milestone records (Sahara, Enlightenment) but it sets the tone for them. With the possible exception of Extensions with Wayne Shorter and Gary Bartz, it is the best of his Blue Note albums. If you like the more intense, wild moments of the '63-'64 Coltrane quartet, the Real McCoy is essential.

Having been a big fan of Tyner's amazing piano work with Coltrane in the 60s, I bought "The Real McCoy" with high hopes. I was not disappointed, and since then, this record has seen many hours in my CD players. Tyner proves here that his genius is not limited to playing sideman. The tunes here are beautifully composed, fully developed, and expertly performed. Tyner's left hand is scary; it demands your attention. The other players are in top form as well. It's great listening to Ron Carter and Elvin Jones together after hearing so many hours of Ron Carter playing with Tony Williams and Elvin Jones playing with Jimmy Garrison. I can't see any fan of jazz, casual or otherwise, being disappointed by this masterpiece.

Here's a great album by McCoy Tyner. And it's another great album recorded with this rhythm section of McCoy, Elvin Jones, and Ron Carter. There are too many great ones to list... Extensions, Trident,

Joe Henderson roughs out the mix with his gruff, but pleasant tenor sax. And it's an all around nice deal. I really like this music, sometimes more than some of the work that McCoy and Elvin did with Trane (hope I don't get shot for saying that though!) There's just some great music here. Five songs, lots of action, some nice fireworks, and good restraint. Everyone plays pretty passionate. Elvin is Elvin and always will be. I like McCoy here, but don't like much of his recent work. But he's still got that thing that I like. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that you will or will not. Joe Henderson always makes a nice foil for these guys, just like Wayne Shorter does on his albums. And Ron Carter is just cool to listen to.

I'd say, get this album. Especially if you've sampled a lot of Coltrane with these guys and maybe some Wayne Shorter or Bobby Hutcherson where these guys play together. It's nice to hear Elvin and McCoy with someone Else besides Trane. And it's just a damn good cd. Good sound. Good playing. Get it!

It's just... cool. Intense and creative, yet mature. Challenging yet approachable. The band is amazingly coherent. McCoy Tyner's approach to the piano is a revelation. Elvin Jones speaks in his unique voice while staying within the bounds of hard bop. Joe Henderson's sax is a perfect foil for Tyner's comping and compositions, and Ron Carter holds it all together.

You'd be hard pressed to find any four people making a more coherent and original musical statement in ANY genre.

This was one of McCoy Tyner's first albums as a leader and it is an absolute classic. The band is fantastic with Ron Carter, Elvin Jones and Joe Henderson. McCoy's writing is very inventive with lots of interesting twists and turns. He is not an avant-gardist by any means but this is certainly not conventional hard-bop. Tyner plays superbly throughout and really shows off his unique left hand technique. Henderson also plays quite superbly throughout. It is very interesting to hear these guys play without Coltrane. Get this album.

This cd is a showcase for the younger McCoy Tyner's compositional and improvisational styles. It captures this master musician at a crossroads between the harder core modal music that he had been recording with John Coltrane a few years earlier and points the way to his own signature style that would emerge in later recordings. The quartet assembled here is perfectly matched and these 4 fine musicians created something of lasting value. Elvin Jones' drumming is dynamic and innovative, Ron Carter's bass playing is awesome and Joe Henderson's tenor provides the perfect counterweight to Tyner's piano. Henderson uses a combination of the lyrical with subtle and artful touches of dissonance that makes his sound unique and distinguished among jazz players. I think he may be the most underrated of the great sax players of his generation.
McCoy Tyner's compositional talents are stunning and the man has put out an amazing amount of great music over the years. He continues to this day to be one of the top innovators out there. The Real McCoy is an essential recording for anyone who wants to understand an important part of his evolution as an artist.

This is great hard-bop. McCoy is fully in charge and does a wonderful job leading this enjoyable, classic, set. "Passion Dance" is a great opener, the quartet expertly playing with and off of one another. "Contemplation" is a beautiful slow tune. Tyner's opening piano run in the upper register complements the sparse bass and drum work PERFECTLY. Joe Henderson sounds great on sax. the rhythm section on this recording is as good as it gets. Carter and Jones provide a solid foundation upon which Tyner and Henderson stand and branch out from.

"Search For Peace" may be the standout track on the disc; a melancholy, searching, longing piece with a lovely melody line handled with the utmost care by all, but especially Henderson. "Blues on the Corner" evokes the mental image of guys hanging out on the street trash-talking and haggling passers-by. It has a 'smart-aleck wit' about it.

ESSENTIAL.

McCoy Tyner is one of the most influential pianists after 1960 because of his highly innovative style. However, like most geniuses, he did not always play in this way. He has lots of recordings to his credit where he plays in a traditional way. During his time with John Coltrane, he intentionally developed his own personal style. Bill Evans did the same thing around the time he worked with Miles Davis. This album is the best showcase of Tyner's unique style improvisational style and Tyner's unique compositional style. It also features some of the best musicians in modern jazz. Joe Henderson is on the tenor saxophone, Jimmy Garrison is on the bass, and Elvin Jones is on the drums.
"Passion Dance" kicks off the album, and it shows McCoy's talent for writing a modal song. It has one theme that is repeated many times, and then it goes to a second theme. The musicians improvise over an F7 for as long as they wish. However, one of the characteristics of McCoy's style is that he reharmonizes a lot, taking the same pattern through many different keys. His style is about as fierce as piano players get, pounding the lower keys on the piano and hammering out chords with his left hand, and his right hand runs through pentatonic scales. Joe Henderson's playing on this track is equally as fierce and loud. You hear more ferocity on the driving "Four By Five" later in the album.
This record is not just aggressive, though. "Contemplation" (the second tune) is one of my favorite McCoy songs. The melody is yearning and haunting, but delicate and beautiful at the same time. McCoy's use of repetition is prevalent here, too. The other ballad on this song is "Search for Peace", but it is not as good as "Contemplation".
The final track is "Blues on the Corner". Although it is a blues, it reeks of McCoy's style. It does not sound like a traditional blues, but its new sound shows how versatile the blues form is. This is a blues that both sounds like McCoy and retains the feel a blues must have to come off right. It is a great way to finish this album because it shows while McCoy's music is new and innovative, he hasn't forgotten the blues, which has always been a big part of every era in jazz.
This album is appropriately titled the Real McCoy because it is a wonderful showcase of McCoy's style (both as a composer and as a piano player). This is McCoy at his freshest and most innovative. If you want to know why McCoy Tyner is one of the biggest geniuses of modern jazz, you should pick up this album.

I first got amazed by mc coy tyner on John Coltrane's My Favorite Things, where he goes ballistic for some time in the middle of the piece as he does often. This cd is excellent, the first song, passion dance, is my favorite, perhaps the one I listen to the most. I just saw mccoy last night in cambridge, he played a solo that almost put me in tears. His finger speed and precision and melody and ability to get off o different tangents, soft, hard, fast, slow, is unsurpassed. I think he is the best pianist I've ever heard.

Actually a couple of the slower tunes would be fine around smooth jazz fans and wives/girlfriends. The rest are excellently written songs with an edge, all featuring memorable melodies, excellent solos, and fantastic comping and rhythms.

McCoy Tyner composed all of the songs, and just as on another of his stellar Blue Note albums, Time for Tyner, the songs are so memorable that you will find yourself immediately immersed in them, even on the first listen as if you'd heard them many times before. I can guarantee you'll find yourself humming the melodies the rest of the day after each listen. But as I mentioned, the faster songs are hard-edged and may be too much for the casual fan. Joe Henderson is in top form, ripping away at the tenor Sax and Elvin Jones and Ron Carter play an intense drumkit and bass. Jones does great work, with the spontaneous fills you would expect from a master that add perfect flair to each song without going so far as to steal the show, except of course during his solos. And Tyner is fantastic on the piano. I can't quite think of anyone who can play with such a combination of beauty and rapid technical skill. He has a style all his own, and if you are unfamiliar with him consider yourself lucky in that you can purchase this album and will be privileged to hear him for the first time surrounded by such excellent company.

If you are familiar with Coltrane's classic quintet, then you know what to expect from the quality of the piano playing and drumming. If not, Tyner and Jones were the backbone of Coltrane's career after he left Miles Davis' band. I daresay they are never better than what you will hear on this album. Joe Henderson fits in amazingly well with the group. In fact, (gasp!) I probably listen to this disc more than any of the Coltrane records featuring much of the same band. Henderson has a way of working through a solo that keeps me listening attentively more than just about any other tenor sax player. No doubt we all have our favorite sax players, and for me Joe is the one whose playing speaks to me the most.

Since I've mentioned that this album is hard edged, I'll try a bit better to quantify that. It's not in the realm of the harder tunes on Coltrane's Sun Ship or the Miles Davis electric stuff from the late '60s and early '70s, but it's probably somewhat comparable to Art Blakey's Free for All. Just a step further than many casual fans are comfortable going, but not so far that most couldn't stretch to appreciate.

If you purchase this album and find it enjoyable, I also recommend the following -

Joe Henderson - Our Thing

Andrew Hill - Black Fire

McCoy Tyner - Time for Tyner

Bobby Hutcherson - Dialogue