The Greeting - McCoy Tyner

Mar

22

The Greeting - McCoy Tyner

≡ Category: 1970s, Essential, Post Bop, Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

JAZZBO NOTES ESSENTIAL RECORDING

Rating:

Apparently in 1978, there were still quite a few knowledgeable jazz fans in San Francisco, because the crowd at the American Music Hall who were there for McCoy Tyner’s concert went nuts for his band, applauding at the start of tunes they recognized and loved. McCoy and his band responded with the best live set of all of McCoy’s bands of the 70s, which is quite a statement.

The power of Tyner’s septet, consisting of George Adams (tenor/flute), Joe Ford (alto/flute), Sonship (drums), Charles Fambrough (bass), and Guilherme Franco (percussion) is overwhelming on this release. Sonship in particular (who the hell is this kid — I’ve never heard of him before or since) just burns. His cymbal-heavy style is ideally suited to the leader’s conception. Ditto for Fambrough’s percussive, hella-swinging bass. The rhythm section swings like a mother&*$%^#!

Tyner plays blisteringly fast, dense solos, skittering over the mid to high ranges of the keyboard with his right hand even as he’s pounding away at thick chord clusters with his left. But everybody contributes — there are no slackers. George Adams in particular lets loose with some passionate modal solos on tenor with the occasional altissimo shrieking thrown in, which suits the music to a T.

Simply a perfect recording, one of the few out there.