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McCoy Tyner: Counterpoints

By AAJ Staff
December 7, 2004
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McCoy Tyner has basically been making the same insanely luscious and gorgeously dense modal music for nearly 40 years now. Which means that Counterpoints , which consists of five unreleased live tracks from a 1978 Tokyo concert (others were issued in 1979 on the currently unavailable Passion Dance ), is unlikely to offer anything new to anybody who's got more than a passing familiarity with the legendary pianist's work.

That said, the sound is clear, Tyner is in excellent form and the trio, with Ron Carter on bass and Tony Williams on drums, could scarcely be hardier. Packing two solo cuts ("Sama Layuca" and "Aisha") and a Tyner-Carter duet ("Prelude to a Kiss") between extended opening and closing trio tracks, the disc would serve well as a Tyner sampler for the uninitiated, while for the fanatic there's "Iki Masho (Let's Go)," the previously unreleased Tyner composition which closes the record. For the rest of us—as good as Counterpoints is—it's just one more disc to put on the shelf.

Track Listing

The Greeting; Aisha; Sama Layuca; Prelude to a Kiss; Iki Masho Lets Go.

Personnel

McCoy Tyner

piano

Ron Carter

bass

Tony Williams

drums

Album information

Title: Counterpoints | Year Released: 2004 | Record Label: Milestone

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