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McCoy Tyner
Fly with the Wind
[Keepnews Collection]
(Milestone/Concord)
First Appeared in The Music Box, September 2008, Volume 15, #9
Written by John Metzger
Wed September 10, 2008, 06:30 AM CDT
During the 1970s, jazz was a very strange beast. Spurred by Miles Davis’
pursuits, the advent of fusion sent the genre spiraling in one direction, while
the smooth polish that was applied to the resurrection of its mainstream wing
sent it tumbling in another. Despite these distinctively different approaches,
which pitted the technical proficiency of the former against the inoffensiveness
of the latter, they had one thing in common: the conveyance of emotion typically
was left by the wayside.
In hindsight, McCoy Tyner’s Fly with the Wind was an attempt to bring
both fusion and mainstream jazz under a single umbrella, while throwing a few
twists and turns into the sonic stew for good measure. It is an intriguing
album, one that is full of possibilities and potential, even if it doesn’t
always succeed fully in its quest. To create the effort, Tyner and producer
Orrin Keepnews assembled a 10-piece string section to perform alongside his
flute- and piano-powered jazz ensemble. The end result is a complicated meshing
of classical textures with improvisational flights that is, at times, quite
challenging to comprehend.
Throughout Fly with the Wind, the music’s foundation is provided by
bass player Ron Carter and drummer Billy Cobham. In fact, with the exception of
the pensive gracefulness of Beyond the Sun, which sounds as if it was
meant for a film score, Fly with the Wind is a nonstop assault of
punishing rhythmic grooves. There is a method to the madness of Cobham’s
skin-pounding fury, of course, and the key to unlocking it lies in the way in
which Tyner frames the violent undercurrents with his left hand, while painting
extravagant flourishes with his right.
Given their frenetic, caffeinated cadences, the arrangements on Fly with
the Wind are quite busy. It’s only when the ensemble’s output falls away
during the latter portion of Salvadore de Samba that the natural ease of
Cobham and Carter’s interplay is revealed. Tyner’s nimble melodic phrasing is an
inspiration to flautist Hubert Laws; it also serves as the link between the
theatrical ambience of the string section and the energetic pulsations of the
underlying rhythms.
Amazingly, the entirety of Fly with the Wind was captured live in the
studio, which explains why the material often sounds as if it might burst apart
at the seams at any given moment. Its weakness, however, is that its stunning,
cerebral displays make it difficult for Tyner and his band to connect with an
audience on a more primal level.  ½
Other Keepnews Collection Releases
Nat Adderley - Work Song
Coleman Hawkins - The Hawk Flies High
Joe Henderson - Power to the People
Thelonious Monk - Plays Duke Ellington
Wes Montgomery - The Incredible Jazz Guitar of Wes Montgomery
Sonny Rollins - Freedom Suite
Fly with the Wind is available from Amazon.
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Ratings
1 Star: Pitiful
2 Stars: Listenable
3 Stars: Respectable
4 Stars: Excellent
5 Stars: Can't Live Without It!!
Copyright © 2008 The Music Box
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