New York Reunion

[B. Goren.]

New York Reunion is probably one of the best albums I've recently listened to. The combination of Tyner, Foster, Carter and Henderson makes a super group. Henderson sounds great on this session and reminds me the great Henderson of the 60s. According to the AMG Tyner & Henderson have not recorded together for more than 20 years (since The Real McCoy???) until they finally met up for this recording.

In general, I like almost everything Tyner recorded, except of the tribute he recorded for Burt Bacharach. I like his solo playing (Echoes of a Friends is one of my favorite solo piano), I like his playing in a trio format (Sahara & Trident for example) and also when he leads a larger ensemble (Sama Layuca). Needless to mention his contribution to Coltrane's quartet and even to the Jazztet before he joined Coltrane. He is a very talented composer and his music and playing inspired many younger musicians. If you listen to Mulgrew Miller for example, Tyner's influences can be easily identified.

BTW: Only recently I discovered that Tyner is a Moslem since the age of 18 (he changed his name to Sulaimon Saud).

I'm not familiar with everything he recorded for Telarc, but Illumination is also a good one with Gary Bartz and Terence Blachard.

[Chrome]

Another thumb's up on Reunion ... four serious players who don't care much about resting on their laurels.

[marcoliv]

  B. Goren. said:

In general, I like almost everything Tyner recorded, except of the tribute he recorded for Burt Bacharach.

well ditto!

[jazzbo]

Hmmmm. . . I've always been severely bored with this one. . . bought it when it was released and the sound doesn't engage me and the players hardly do as well!

Must just be me.

[connoisseur series500]

  jazzbo said:

Must just be me.

Must be...

I also like this session.

[Rooster_Ties]

GREAT session. I think it was one of the very first 50 CD's I ever bought (maybe even one of the first 25), and I remember (at the time) thinking it was the greatest thing since sliced bread!!

But over the years, though, I've found that I've spun it a bit less than average, compared to other similar things. It's certainly not the performance, which is outstanding...

There's just something about the sound, or the "production", I should say. The sound is "great" (notice the quotes). TOO great, in fact. There is an "overproduced" quality about this session, which (to my ears) results in a somewhat antiseptic sounding performance. It's certainly a GREAT performance, but there isn't as much life in it (in the "sound") as I would like.

Don't know exactly where to point to details about this, though. Is it Ron Carter's bass being some sort of direct-hookup, or overly close-miked??? Yeah, that's certainly part of it -- though I realize that's become Carter's thing for some time now, I guess since sometime in the 70's.

But also, to my ears, everything seems like every musician was in an isolation chamber, and every instrument was close-miked within an inch of its life. And there's no sense of space to the recording, as if they each were performing in little practice rooms with sound-dampening foam-rubber on the walls. (Or at least that's my memory of it - I haven’t listened to it in well over a year. I'll have to give it a spin sometime soon.)

Don't get me wrong - the performance is top notch. But the sound just kills it for me. (OK, "just kills it for me" is probably hyperbolic. But it does detract from the experience, enough that I don't pull it off the shelf as often as I should.)

Anybody else feel the same way about this recording???

[jazzbo]

That's how I hear the sound as well, and it definitely, definitely contributes to my lack of interest in this session. Also I don't think the performance is that great, partly because I don't really think everyone was really "in the same room, on the same page."

[Rooster_Ties]

  jazzbo said:

Also I don't think the performance is that great, partly because I don't really think everyone was really "in the same room, on the same page."

Maybe I should amend my former statement to say that there are many great performances going on there, as opposed to one great ("united") performance.

Individually speaking, Joe's outstanding, as is McCoy. And actually, individually, they probably all four are outstanding. But there's a degree of cleanness to the performance that's somewhat unsettling.

It's not unlike a painter that paints idyllic scenes where everything in the picture is arranged perfectly, in a way that you know would never occur in real life. Those paintings might be beautiful in an abstract sense, but it's like you can't relate to them - because they're so pristine, and perfect.

Does that describe it better???

Edited October 7, 2004 by Rooster_Ties

[jazzbo]

Yes.

[JSngry]

I was disappointed with this one on first listen, and the years haven't changed that percetion. Not a bad session musically, but the recording quality is enough to make an amoeba claustrophobic, and I do think that everybody's done better playing elsewhere. Again, though, it's not bad. It just not...

Well...

As Lloyd Bentsen might have put it, I've known THE REAL MCCOY for almost 30 years. I've lived with it, slept with it, partied with it, done pretty much everything you can do with it, and YOU, Mr. NEW YORK REUNION sir, are no THE REAL MCCOY!

I'm not dumping my copy, but I'm not listening to it except to see if this will be the time that it clicks for me.