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McCoy Tyner: Falling In Love With Love

By Artur Moral
January 26, 2025
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Despite sharing some common stylistic territories, contemporary jazz giants McCoy Tyner and David Murray collaborated on just three recording projects. One of them is 44th Street Suite (Red Baron, 1991), a release produced by Bob Thiele, who also orchestrated their first recorded encounter on the little-known collective album A Tribute To John Coltrane / Blues For Coltrane (Impulse!, 1988).

On this occasion, Tyner explicitly leads an enjoyable—but odd-sounding—session that moves with exultation from blues to free jazz, passing through standards subjected to unusual treatment. That's the case of "Falling In Love With Love," which merely sketches the melody before moving with irrepressible urgency to an overflowing vamp of eight chords. What is most remarkable is its length and, above all, the energetic inventiveness displayed by its two protagonists, both then fully established at the long-lasting peak of their interpretive and creative talent. Superbly supported by Ron Carter and Aaron Scott's rhythmic pulse, the spectacular interplay and solo performances of Murray (wrongly omitted in the album liner notes) and Tyner propel listeners into the musical stratosphere and leave them suspended there, amazed and shocked by the unbearable excitement of such torrential brilliance.

Contact Artur Moral on All About Jazz.
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