McCoy Tyner - Echoes of a Friend (1972 Japanese JVC Vinyl LP)

Vinyl: EX
Sleeve: EX
Obi: None

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McCoy Tyner - Echoes of a Friend | Vinyl LP - 1972 Japanese JVC ( SMJ-6009, Victor Musical Industries, Inc.)

Coltrane and Tyner had known each other since 1955, when Tyner was seventeen. Coltrane told him then that if he ever formed a band of his own, Tyner would be the pianist. Five years later that happened, and Tyner played in the Quartet through its most celebrated recordings until 1965. By the time Tyner recorded this album, Coltrane had been dead for five years.

The setting is simple. Solo piano, a studio in Tokyo, one afternoon. Tyner plays two of his own compositions first. "Folks" is the album's most rhythmically driving piece, Tyner building the dense left-hand voicings that define his style. "The Discovery" moves slower, closer to meditation than statement. "My Favorite Things" — the Rodgers and Hammerstein song that Coltrane had transformed into his most recognisable recording — is played in a completely different mode from Coltrane's soprano saxophone version; Tyner strips away the modal vamp and plays it as something more interior.

Side B holds the two Coltrane compositions. "Naima" was written for Coltrane's first wife; Tyner plays it here at a slow, sustained pace, the melody fully present without embellishment. "The Promise" closes the record. Both are performances of pieces Tyner had played hundreds of times as the Quartet's pianist, now played without Coltrane present, without any ensemble at all.

The album was recorded in Tokyo and originally released on the JVC label.