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Rating: When a musician is left alone with his instrument, one can appreciate his art in its purest and most original form; nothing like a piano solo reveals the most intimate side of the artist's sensitivity.
McCoy Tyner is known to many for his historic collaboration with John Coltrane, where he demonstrated his technical ability to everyone, as well as being a great improviser and an inimitable accompanist. Coltrane was deeply influenced by his powerful, passionate way of playing. Tyner is considered one of the greatest innovators of his instrument, alongside Monk and Bud Powell. Some of his most beautiful solos have entered our minds to stay forever.
As clarified by Tyner himself, this 1972 album is conceived as a dedication, a final farewell to John Coltrane: "This is a dedication to a man, a friend, a teacher - John Coltrane". The listener can take advantage of the opportunity to delve into the musical soul of one of the greatest musicians who ever lived. This journey promises to be exciting and delightful just by reading the list of performed tracks.
Everything begins with a few whispered, very sharp notes. It's not the beginning of the first track, but of the entire album, which appears as a single musical block, the artist's intention seems to make this recording resemble a live concert.
Certainly, the emotion experienced in savoring the way the musician caresses, presses, hits the piano leaves, just by closing one's eyes, the feeling of being in the audience, perhaps in the front row, with the pianist only a few steps away. It also seems possible to see him sweating, extremely focused, with his eyes fixed on the keyboard.
The most beautiful and sacred of ballads: Naima. Tyner plays it with passion, at some point, it really seems he is caressing the keyboard: a caress that starts gently, then ends in an exciting crescendo, finally reaching those sharp notes with which the piece began, those notes that compose the wonderful theme.
The emotions follow one another in succession, the listener is not granted even a moment of distraction; if he wants to enjoy the benefits offered by this sweet music, he must contemplate every single note. This album, besides listening, requires participation, the sensation of embarking on a long, unending journey is hidden in each track.
Tyner's way of playing is unique; he enjoys the most absolute rhythmic freedom, capable of unleashing enormous power from his left hand, matched with the incredible speed of his right hand. His style possesses something from every musical culture: the East, Africa, and even Europe are explored, examined, narrated by Tyner.
All this is enclosed in the interpretation of Coltrane's standards - Naima, Promise, My Favorite Things - and in the pianist's compositions, The Discovery and Folks.
In The Discovery the opening consists of a grand gong stroke, which reappears to allow the artist to change the structure - and, albeit briefly, the instrument - of the piece, a long, passionate thank you to the Creator.
Indeed, it is the spiritual element that, as it characterized the last part of Coltrane's career, defines this work.
The final farewell: Folks, a beautiful ballad; harmony, melody, and rhythm coexist in perfect balance.
When the record ends, the extraordinary journey that was undertaken concludes as well, and one realizes being sweaty, tired, as if having walked, having followed McCoy, and having bid farewell for the last time to the man, the friend, the master John Coltrane.
Tracklist
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