BST 84338

McCoy Tyner - Expansions

Released - June 1970

Recording and Session Information

Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, August 23, 1968
Woody Shaw, trumpet; Gary Bartz, alto sax, wooden flute; Wayne Shorter, tenor sax, clarinet; McCoy Tyner, piano; Ron Carter, cello; Herbie Lewis, bass; Freddie Waits, drums.

3090 tk.1 Song Of Happiness
3091 tk.7 Vision
3092 tk.12 Peresina
3093 tk.21 Smitty's Place
3094 tk.27 I Thought I'd Let You Know

Track Listing

Side One
Title	Author	Recording Date
Vision	McCoy Tyner	August 23 1968
Song of Happiness	McCoy Tyner	August 23 1968
Side Two
Smitty's Place	McCoy Tyner	August 23 1968
Peresina	McCoy Tyner	August 23 1968
I Thought I'd Let You Know	Cal Massey	August 23 1968

Liner Notes

What are some of the more profound and expansive qualities a discriminating layman generally searches for in a musician he favors? Could it be the artist’s mastery of his instrument or would the observer gravitate more towards how the artist develops his concepts as to make them original and stimulating?

McCoy Tyner is the kind of musician who gives the listener ample opportunity to avoid making the aforementioned choice. His musicianship and constant creation of stimulating concepts are so closely aligned that they have a tendency to envelop each other. This usually produces an effect of such emotion in his audiences that they view Tyner’s works as an entity, rather than attempt to break them down into their component parts.

A native of Philadelphia, Tyner began paying his dues at the age of thirteen. His early activities centered around the nightclubs and concert halls of his hometown: gigging with many of the local musicians. Tyner’s first major break came in 1959 when he joined a group called the Jazztet, formed by saxophonist Benny Golson and trumpeter Art Farmer. The six months he spent with the group enabled the young pianist to garner enough experience and musical where-with-all to join the legendary John Coltrane Quartet. The next six years of McCoy Tyner’s life were spent with “Trane” and his group touring all of the United States and Europe.

Currently, Tyner is composing and performing with his own group which has expanded in current years from a trio. quartet and quintet into a tentet. Among his future plans is to one day perform with the standard eighteen piece full orchestra.

McCoy Tyner’s numerous and dedicated followers are able to recognize his solos and compositions primarily because of the artist’s exceptionally unique style of playing and arranging. He is one of the very few musicians around today who can go through an entire set playing nothing but his own original tunes. This writer has witnessed such performances at Slugs and the Village Vanguard in New York, the Aqua Lounge in Philly, Wesleyan University in Connecticut among other places around the country. In addition to presenting his music for its entertainment value. Tyner has always expressed his desire to emphasize the cultural values and evolution of the music he has developed.

On Side A, VISION is an up-tempo composition based on an E flat minor scale. The focal point of this selection is the colorful piano interludes which include the basic rhythm section and unstructured cello support from Ron Carter. Subsequent solos by Wayne Shorter, Gary Bartz, Woody Shaw and Freddy Waits give eloquent testimony to each musician’s vast capabilities.

SONG OF HAPPINESS represents a composite interpretation of ideas and concepts gathered during McCoy’s voyage to the Far East in October 1967. The rhythmic pattern is basically a five tone Japanese scale with Gary and Wayne enhancing the Oriental flavor as they appear on wood flute and clarinet. According to McCoy. Overtones of serenity, peace and contemplation prevailed and the Japanese culture had a positive and lasting effect.”

On B Side, SMITTY’S PLACE is an up-tempo original that creates the euphoric sensation of perpetual motion. Playing duets simultaneously are McCoy and Wayne, Woody and Gary, Herbie and Ron and back again to McCoy, this time with Freddie. The second cut is PERESINA, a velvety three-quarter tempo original that reminds one of a Brazilian love song. McCoy plays introduction followed by a Wayne Shorter tenor solo and intermittent support from the entire ensemble. The album closes with a beautiful and melodic ballad by Calvin Massey called I THOUGHT I’D LET YOU KNOW. Again McCoy and Ron perform penetrating and relaxed solos on piano and cello to help round out a unique and totally rewarding musical experience.

THORNTON SMITH

75th Anniversary Reissue Liner Notes 

McCoy Tyner, who'd been on countless Blue Note sessions since 1960 beginning with Freddie Hubbard's debut "Open Sesame," signed with Blue Note as a leader in 1967 and began the relationship with the classic "The Real McCoy". By the next year, he would be touring with his own trio (Herbie Lewis and Freddie Waits) and when finances allowed, he would expand the group to a quintet with Woody Shaw and Gary Bartz.

Tyner had left John Coltrane's group at the beginning of 1966, but was having a tough time establishing himself as a bandleader. His association with Blue Note helped and with his fourth album for the label "Expansions", Tyner hit upon the sound that would inform all of his music as a bandleader. It was a blend of the rhythmic and melodic thrust of the classic Coltrane quartet with harmonic elements that were pure Tyner.

McCoy expanded his normal trio/quintet setting to include Wayne Shorter, who makes a rare recorded appearance on clarinet on "Song Of Happiness" and Ron Carter who is heard solely on cello. "Peresina" best defines the music that McCoy would compose and perform over the next few decades. It is a composition that he would return to a number of times in his career.

Michael Cuscuna