BN-LA-460-H2

McCoy Tyner - Cosmos

Released - 1975

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, November 22, 1968
McCoy Tyner, piano; Herbie Lewis, bass; Freddie Waits, drums.

3068 tk.14 Planet X

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, April 4, 1969
Harold Vick, soprano sax #1-3; Al Gibbons, reeds, flute #1-3; Julian Barber, Emanuel Green, violin #1-3; Gene Orloff, viola #1-3; Kermit Moore, cello, director #1-3; McCoy Tyner, piano; Herbie Lewis, bass; Freddie Waits, drums.

tk.4 Shaken But Not Forsaken
tk.10 Cosmos
tk.15 Song For My Lady
tk.19 Vibration Blues

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, July 21, 1970
Hubert Laws, flute, alto flute; Andrew White, oboe; Gary Bartz, alto, soprano sax; McCoy Tyner, piano; Herbie Lewis, bass; Freddie Waits, drums, timpani, chimes.

tk.5 Forbidden Land
tk.7 Hope
tk.11 Asian Lullaby

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Song For My Lady	McCoy Tyner	April 4 1969
Cosmos	McCoy Tyner	April 4 1969
Side Two
Shaken, But Not Forsaken	McCoy Tyner	April 4 1969
Vibration Blues	McCoy Tyner	April 4 1969
Side Three
Forbidden Land	McCoy Tyner	July 21 1970
Planet X	McCoy Tyner	November 22 1968
Side Four
Asian Lullaby	McCoy Tyner	July 21 1970
Hope	McCoy Tyner	July 21 1970

Liner Notes

MCCOY TYNER

McCoy Tyner is an imaginative, exciting virtuoso who is contributing much to the evolution and development of jazz piano. An innovator in the current abstract/modal style, McCoy can play with dazzling speed and power and then temper his fiery brilliance with his own brand of lyricism.

In the well established tradition of jazz pianists who lead their own ensembles, he is a prolific composer and because he has his own ideas of the best way to present his musical offerings he has become an experienced arranger.

McCoy Tyner's evolution from a quite introspective, swinging post-bop player to an aggressive, highly energized spontaneous player took quite a while but the stages of his development have been well documented on records.

His formative years showed him sorting out those aspects of the jazz vocabulary which he could technically handle, harmonic and melodic devices drawn from be-bop but put into a rhythmic frame work which was more flexible and a light but firm touch which enabled him to swing forcefully without losing the lyrical sound which pleased him.

As he began to work more consistently with louder, more aggressive drummers, his use of chromatically altered chords and tonal clusters became more apparent. It was necessary at several different periods during his long association with John Coltrane to reassess his musical priorities and to develop techniques of accompaniment which would not only be audible but which would not in any way restrict the fertile imagination of the soloist. There was plenty of room for creative, free improvisation and each member of the quartet was an equal partner in the development of the ensemble sound. It was not a saxophone with rhythm accompaniment, it was collective improvisation that required virtuosity, strength and imagination.

When Trane explored new melodic resources such as modes and other types of scales, McCoy began to explore new harmonic resources such as chords built in fourths and chords with altered intervals which were not considered as restrictive to the soloist as traditionally voiced chords. The drone-like pedal point patterns which he favored at this time gave rise to a new sense of sonority and McCoy Tyner began to seriously define his musical vocabulary.

Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison were players who insisted on maintaining high energy for long periods during a performance so McCoy developed a personal approach to rhythmic playing which was much more robust than his earlier, more subtle efforts.

When at last he formed his own groups, his musical concepts were well defined. He could return to some of his early influences like Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk and re-examine those aspects of his playing and put them into the proper perspective and though he wished to retain the spontaneity which characterized so much of his work he could now concentrate on other aspects as well: beauty, African roots, form, structure in a more traditional sense and above all, his music as a reflection of life around him as well as a medium of personal expression.

McCoy Tyner is a deeply religious man and in his music one finds peacefulness, love of God, concern for unity and discipline, clarity of ideas and a sincere, natural approach to sharing, rarely found in music today. In his view, his music accurately reflects who he is and what he stands for, so in addition to the aforementioned qualities, one also finds power, anger, frustration and all of the other emotional qualities that a sensitive, passionate man must express to maintain his emotional balance as he tells his story musically.

Many great jazz artists have been pictured as emotionally unstable and intellectually immature, so in self defense jazz musicians point with pride to those musicians, like McCoy, who have the respect of their peers both as fellow human beings as well as fellow musicians.

I have taken special pride in watching the development of McCoy Tyner because in his early days I could hear echoes of my piano style in his work (especially his ballads) and whenever we have discussed music I have found his ideas intriguing. He is the kind of jazz artist whose music should be printed and studied by music students as the music of Bach is printed and studied.

Jazz is America's classical music and all Americans should have a better understanding of what it is. This could be accomplished in a relatively short time if more people wanted it to happen.

Jazz parallels western European classical music in many ways. J.S. Bach, one of the greatest European classical musicians was not only a prolific composer, he was one of the great improvisors of his time. He extemporized preludes, inventions, variations, interludes, cadenzas and was an innovative artist who contributed much to the evolution of the musical style he favored.

McCoy Tyner, one of the greatest American classical (Jazz) musicians is not only a prolific composer, he is one of the great improvisors of his time. He extemporizes preludes, inventions, variations, interludes, cadenzas and is an innovative artist who is contributing much to the evolution of the musical style he favors.

Though separated by time and geography each man in his own way added immeasurably to the musical vocabulary of his time, Bach with his polyphonic creations and Tyner with his abstract/modal explorations.

Honesty, creativity and individuality are qualities not often found today in one person. They are found both in McCoy Tyner and in his music. Listen-------

BILLY TAYLOR