The Real Deal

After giving plenty of assessments on some of my favorite John Coltrane albums, I felt that it'd be high time to shift the attention to one of his bandmates in the Classic Quartet, pianist McCoy Tyner.

Tyner spent several years making history with Coltrane, among others (Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter). Yet he somehow found time to make a name for himself as a leader in his own right. While under the auspices of his boss' longtime label, Impulse!, he released several albums but most of them were in a trio format mode (since Impulse! placed so much emphasis on the piano trio thing to begin with). If that weren't enough, his output up to that point didn't present a complete picture of the man himself, much less which direction his music was going to take. When he left Trane's group at the end of 1965, he played briefly with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, unsurprisingly some folks were curious to see which path Tyner would take now that he was striking out on his own.

His first album for Blue Note, The Real McCoy, provided the answer without hesitation & stands out as the crown jewel of his discography, even now. Not only is this a break from the norm (& all the things associated with his Impulse! releases), this is the first album which he recorded with a quartet configuration. And all five of the compositions were written by none other than Tyner himself, revealing a full-fledged personality at work. Yes, it even features his former bandmate, Elvin Jones on drums, Ron Carter (of Miles Davis fame) on bass, & Henderson on tenor saxophone...leading to five-star performances which (as the album title offers without further explanation) are the real deal.

Two of the leading tenor sax players for the Blue Note label (the aforementioned Shorter & Henderson) explored the tenor & rhythm combo with Tyner & Jones in tow (in the case of Shorter, Juju & Night Dreamer; with Henderson, In 'N' Out & Inner Urge). And each of these above albums offered a great deal of flexibility & consistency which Tyner & Jones as a team accomplished in spades. Carter's more fluent style on bass, Henderson's ability to ALWAYS KNOW how to get a composition started up, Tyner's amazing work on the ivories, Jones' drumming...all of these factors equal one of Blue Note's best albums of all time. And yet they also equal Tyner's brightest shining hour as a bandleader as well.

Tracks like "Passion Dance," "Contemplation" & "Four By Five" reveal how galvanizing Tyner & his teammates were in the field of improvisation. "Search For Peace" is a tranquil ballad which his old mentor & boss would have nothing but good lines for; then the high-spirited "Blues On The Corner" closes things off with style.

If there was one McCoy Tyner album I wanted to take along with me on a road trip or a desert island, The Real McCoy would be the one. And of course, Tyner with this session proved he was the real deal...then again, he always was; it just took a little more time to find his own voice as a musician but TRM was worth that wait. For four decades, TRM has remained the real deal for sure, a jazz album which is not only filled with all-star performances but also all-star musicianship from veterans who know how to make things swing (Tyner included!!). A must-have for any jazz/music collection.