Best remembered as the powerful pianist in the great John Coltrane Quartet,
McCoy Tyner's unique piano style, strong and solid yet open-aired and flowing, has made him arguably the most influential and inspiring jazz pianist in the past half-century. He's played with countless jazz groups, culminating in his years with
Coltrane from 1960 to 1965, but has also enjoyed a successful career as a bandleader on his own, and his recorded work is remarkable for its strength, quality, and consistency. This brief ten-track compilation, part of GRP's Priceless Jazz Collection series, finds
Tyner working on different sessions with
Frank Strozier (alto saxophone),
John Gilmore (tenor saxophone),
Thad Jones (trumpet), bassists
Art Davis,
Steve Davis,
Henry Grimes, Jimmy Garrison, and
Butch Warren, and with drummers
Elvin Jones,
Lex Humphries,
Roy Haynes, and
Albert "Tootie" Heath, all recorded at the famed Van Gelder Studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey. ~ Steve Leggett