Illuminations

McCoy Tyner

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 22, 2004)
• Original Release Date: June 22, 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Telarc
• ASIN: B000294RQ2
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #125,391 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Illuminations

2. Angelina

3. New Orleans Stomp

4. Come Rain or Come Shine

5. Soulstice

6. Blessings

7. If I Should Lose You

8. Chase

9. West Philly Tone Poem

10. Alone Together

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Tyner is first among equals here in a meeting of special talents. It's the traditional quintet instrumentation of modern jazz, with trumpeter Terence Blanchard and altoist Gary Bartz in the frontline and Christian McBride and Lewis Nash in the rhythm section. Few contemporary drummers can spark the joyous conviviality that's the mark of this session, but Lewis Nash provides a rhythmic backdrop that's as secure and as sparkling as that of the late Billy Higgins. It shows in almost all of these 10 surprisingly concise performances, including Tyner's Latin-based "Angelina" (with wonderfully liquid lines from Bartz) and the soulful funk rhythms of "New Orleans Stomp." Tyner reveals some of the sheer trip-hammer brilliance of his right hand on the uptempo "Chase," a trio feature, but this is generally a relaxed session, full of collective spirit and wonderfully lyrical moments. Blanchard does some special things on the standards, including the signature half-valves that add emotional drama to "Alone Together." --Stuart Broomer

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars OK. I admit it. For me, McCoy Tyner can do no wrong . . ., June 22, 2004

By	Jan P. Dennis "Longboard jazzer" (Monument, CO USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

. . . I suppose that rules me out as an objective assessor of his music.

So be it. I can live with that. So long as I keep getting my periodic fix of his pianistic gloriousness. As happens here.

First the sound. Crystalline, pure, unalloyed. Telarc with its Direct Stream Digital scores big when it gets the right artist recording. And McCoy Tyner is the right artist. In spades. He's one of those guys whose music becomes that much more wonderful upon close scrutiny, which the direct stream digital process delivers. His right hand--face it--is to die for. Plus, he's got that cascade-note thing absolutely down.

Next, his bandmates. A bunch of younger guys (Louis Nash, drums, being THE key player here; Christian McBride, a bassist with chops and taste to die for; and Terrance Blanchard, who has recently reconfigured himself into perhaps THE monster player of his generation--sorry, Dave Douglas), the ringer being old guy Gary Bartz. The anchor here, the sine qua non, is Louis Nash. He comes across as perhaps Tyner's most simpatico drummer ever. For example, he perfectly matches his coloristic splashes with apposite, though absolutely controlled, pyrotechnics, especially made manifest on "The Chase."

Christian McBride is also a monster. Listen to his mesmeric arco (and then pizzicato) playing on "West Philly Tone Poem." And Terrance Blanchard seems totally into it, whether it be through his gorgeous reading of "Alone Together," with his controlled vibrato and smears, or his extroversion on the romping "New Orleans Stomp."

Gary Bartz is the ringer. Roughly Tyner's contemporary, he strikes the same jaunty, lightly worn rhythmic sophistication as the leader, reeling off great choruses and providing the perfect complement to Tyner's signature bubbling, dancing right-hand statements.

As for the songs, there's about an equal mix of standards and originals. The program, though essentially a hardbop/postbop/modal outing, is carefully thought out and stylishly presented, which it must be, if this somewhat shopworn music is to hold one's interest.

But to reiterate, things are consistently hot-wired by Louis Nash's marvelous drumming, landing this session in the must-hear category.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Music - Not So Good Recording, August 15, 2004

By	B&D - See all my reviews

Let me be clear: McCoy Tyner is an excellent musician, and I just love his work. This is a wonderful album musically, but the sound quality leaves something to be desired. 4/5 for the music, but 2/5 for the recording quality!

I got hooked on McCoy Tyner on his _Land of Giants_ CD - which is an amazing CD, great music and a truly spectacular recording and transfer to disc. Illuminations is even better for a music point of view - but in my stereo system at home - instead of being blown away, I was dissappointed.

The recording seems to have lost some of the brilliance of the drums (they sounded flat as if something was wrong with the drums or the miking of the drums) and the overall presence of the music was much less than it could have been (it sounded as if someone had tossed a veil over my speakers!) - it was billed as being a "direct from DSD transfer" but boy did that not seem to help at all! It got a little bit better on the following tracks, but the drums never seemed to get fixed which ruined the whole album for me. The average recording level seemed really low as well - making me crank up the volume to get the same level of loudness from most other albums making me think that someone had not adjusted the level and done their job in crafting the music. As you could see, I had spent a lot of my time wondering what went wrong rather than getting lost in the music as I had done upon pressing "play" in his Land of Giants disc. I consider something gone horribly wrong with the technical mastering/creation of this disc!

Since my home stereo is a bit revealing, I though I would give it a second chance and I listened to it in my car - and it sounded a bit better though the drums sounded really flat either way. For my money, I hoped that the sound engineers had done a better job in mastering, but CD recording quality is very uneven even today, even in Jazz titles. [Note that the sound is better than the Real Player samples on Amazon, though not a huge amount better!]

If you want stuff from this artist - check out Land of Giants which is a great performance and recording - I am not sure what went wrong in the transfer to disc, but I would not have bought this album in hindsight.

In summary: Great Artist, Great Music, Medoicre Sound Quality.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Public radio thank you for promoting jazz!!!, July 28, 2004

By	CJane "cjaneruin" (Michigan) - See all my reviews

This is an excellent recording and I owe public radio gratitude for bringing this great music to the PUBLIC! McCoy Tyner is the real McCoy; everything that was there with Coltrane not only remains but has flourished..From the Latin style on "Angelina" which attracted me to this CD to the N'awlin's groove that captured my heart and feet on "New Orleans' Stomp"! Don't waste your time waiting for great music; this music is Now, this music is here and it will be here when the so-called "next big thing" comes along!