JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING
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I avoided Echoes Of A Friend for a long time because it’s a collection of McCoy Tyner piano solos, and because the friend Tyner is referring to in the title is Coltrane. Not that I have anything against Coltrane, but Tyner has referenced him so much elsewhere that devoting an entire release to the man seems like overkill. Echoes Of A Friend contains yet another rendition of Naima, which Tyner covered any number of times during his career. There are even other recorded solo piano takes of Naima elsewhere. Finally, I’ve found that Tyner’s solo piano stuff on his other Milestone releases tend to be the weakest tracks on those releases. When you put all that together, you can understand my reluctance to check out Echoes Of A Friend.
Boy, am I glad I finally did! Tyner obviously had a lot he wanted to get off his chest on this release. He’s positively inspired.
Tyner starts off with the dreaded cover of Naima. Mind you, Naima is a gorgeous tune, but I’ve heard it covered dozens of times. The warmth and power Tyner brings to this version of Naima is shocking. He brings out aspects of this tune I would have never suspected. He goes from a gentle spring rain to a hurricane. Tyner incorporates everything he has learned: the glittering trills, the powerful left hand modal pounding, the skittering right hand, and much more. It’s an amazing performance.
I have actually never heard John Coltrane’s composition Promise, so I have no basis of comparison, but Tyner plays it at a medium burn, with an insistent groove in the left hand. During the solo, he subdivides the rhythm in the left hand, spilling over the bar while his right hand twinkles at the upper end of the keyboard. Great stuff.
Another surprise is My Favorite Things, the Rodgers and Hammerstein tune which was closely associated with Coltrane. I thought I had heard that tune more than enough for one lifetime. Wrong again. Tyner turns the tune inside out, giving it an urgency and power even Coltrane couldn’t muster. Amazing.
As great as Echoes Of A Friend has been up to now, it doesn’t prepare you for Tyner’s The Discovery, a 17 minute tour de force of awesome energy. The tune truly lives up to it’s name. Tyner is on fire.
It’s hard to imagine how you could possibly top The Discovery for sheer intensity. Tyner doesn’t try. Instead, Echoes Of A Friend ends with Tyner’s Folks, a tribute to Calvin Massey, through whom Tyner met Coltrane. Alone of the selections on Echoes Of A Friend, Folks meanders the way some of Tyner’s solo work on his other Milestone releases tend to. Then again, Tyner isn’t aiming for maniacal focus. He’s ruminating on a friend. It’s a good way to wind down from the unrelenting intensity of the rest of Echoes Of A Friend.
I’m surprised to say this, but if you’re any kind of fan of McCoy Tyner’s Milestone period, you really should own Echoes Of A Friend.
One of the greatest solo piano records of all time! From one of the greatest pianist of all time!