| Enlightenment | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Live album by | ||||
| Released | 1973 | |||
| Recorded | July 7, 1973 | |||
| Genre | Jazz | |||
| Length | 69:44 | |||
| Label | Milestone | |||
| Producer | Orrin Keepnews | |||
| McCoy Tyner chronology | ||||
| ||||
Enlightenment is a live album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label. It was recorded at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland on July 7, 1973 and features Tyner in performance with Azar Lawrence, Joony Booth and Alphonse Mouzon.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |  [1] |
| Penguin Guide to Jazz | () [2] |
| All Music Guide to Jazz (1st ed.) | Landmark recording [3] |
| The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide | [4] |
Scott Yanow, writing for Allmusic, notes that "this is one of the great McCoy Tyner recordings. The powerful, percussive, and highly influential pianist sounds quite inspired throughout his appearance at the 1973 Montreux Jazz Festival". [1]
Richard Cook and Brian Morton, authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz , opine that Enlightenment and the 1974 live album Atlantis are "two huge, sprawling concert recordings which will drain most listeners: Tyner's piano outpourings seem unstoppable, and Lawrence comes on as an even fierier spirit than [Sonny] Fortune, even if both are in thrall to Coltrane. The Enlightenment set, cut at Montreux, is marginally superior, if only for the pile-driving 'Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit." [2]
Steve Metaliz, writing for Down Beat , noted that:
since the death of Coltrane, it's been the pianists who've been on the cutting edge of the music's development.... Enlightenment testifies to the brilliant sound of [Tyner's] endeavors. Tyner's inside the instrument, as Coltrane was with the sax, drawing from it colors, textures, and intensities unprecedented in jazz. No wonder the sidemen tend to get lost in the shuffle a bit. Tenor saxophonist Azar Lawrence in particular sometimes seems overwhelmed by the energy emanating from the keyboard; but on the whole he acquits himself well in a role in which it was understandably difficult to retain a distinctive voice. Drummer Al Mouzon deserves special note; his crisp drumming is a good foil for Tyner's shattering polyphony. Enlightenment is a celebration of the epoch of the pianists and also of a musician who has never ceased to grow. [3]
All music is composed by McCoy Tyner.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Presenting the McCoy Tyner Quartet" (Introduced by French disc jockey Pierre Lattès) | 1:19 |
| 2. | "Enlightenment Suite, Part 1 - Genesis" | 10:02 |
| 3. | "Enlightenment Suite, Part 2: The Offering" | 4:00 |
| 4. | "Enlightenment Suite, Part 3 - Inner Glimpse" | 10:04 |
| 5. | "Presence" | 10:35 |
| 6. | "Nebula" | 9:39 |
| 7. | "Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit" | 24:04 |
Alfred McCoy Tyner was an American jazz pianist known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet and a long solo career. He was an NEA Jazz Master and a five-time Grammy winner. Not a player of electric keyboards and synthesizers, he was committed to acoustic instrumentation. Tyner, who was widely imitated, was one of the most recognizable and most influential pianists in jazz history.
Crescent is a 1964 studio album by jazz musician John Coltrane, released by Impulse! as A-66. Alongside Coltrane on tenor saxophone, the album features McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones (drums) playing original Coltrane compositions.
Alphonse Lee Mouzon was an American jazz fusion drummer and the owner of Tenacious Records, a label that primarily released Mouzon's recordings. He was a composer, arranger, producer, and actor. He gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s. His cute track called Lullaby for Little Alphonso was a big hit in the Philippines during the Jazz Fusion era when it was selected as the main background music for the "Miss Little Philippines" - a beauty/talent contest which ran for several months in a popular noon time show.
The Real McCoy is the seventh album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his first released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on April 21, 1967 following Tyner's departure from the John Coltrane Quartet and features performances by Tyner with Joe Henderson, Ron Carter and Elvin Jones. Producer Alfred Lion recalls the recording session as a "pure jazz session. There is absolutely no concession to commercialism, and there's a deep, passionate love for the music embedded in each of the selections".
Meditations is a 1966 album by John Coltrane. The album was considered the "spiritual follow-up to A Love Supreme." It features Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as soloists, both playing tenor saxophones. Much of the recording is avant-garde, featuring extensive passages in free rhythm and extended saxophone techniques such as honked and overblown notes, as well as multiphonics. This would be the last Coltrane recording with long-time partners drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner.
John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman is a studio album featuring John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman released by Impulse! Records in July or August 1963. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013.
First Meditations is an album by John Coltrane recorded on September 2, 1965 and posthumously released in 1977. It is a quartet version of a suite Coltrane would record as Meditations two months later with the additions of Pharoah Sanders as a second tenor saxophone and Rashied Ali on drums. Along with Sun Ship, recorded a week earlier, First Meditations represents the final recordings of Coltrane's classic quartet featuring bassist Jimmy Garrison, drummer Elvin Jones and pianist McCoy Tyner. The "Meditations" suite on this album consists of five movements.
Afro Blue Impressions is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane recorded live in 1963 and released on the Pablo label in 1977 as a double LP.
Bye Bye Blackbird is a 1962 album by the jazz musician John Coltrane. In 1982 he was awarded a posthumous Grammy for Best Jazz Solo Performance on the album.
The John Coltrane Quartet Plays is an album by jazz musician John Coltrane, recorded in February and May 1965, shortly after the release of A Love Supreme. The tracks recorded in February feature two bass players, and are a continuation of experiments begun by Coltrane in 1961 involving multiple basses, often with one playing arco and the other playing pizzicato.
Inner Urge is an album by jazz saxophonist Joe Henderson released in 1966, the fourth recorded as a leader for Blue Note Records. It was recorded at the Van Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey on November 30, 1964. It features Henderson playing tenor sax, along with pianist McCoy Tyner and drummer Elvin Jones. The album's bass player, Bob Cranshaw, was a regular member of Sonny Rollins' band at the time of the recording, and was also a frequent session musician for record labels including Blue Note, Prestige and Atlantic.
Sahara is a 1972 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his first to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in January 1972 and features performances by Tyner with Sonny Fortune, Calvin Hill, and Alphonse Mouzon. The music shows African and Eastern influences and features Tyner playing koto, flute, and percussion in addition to his usual piano.
Tender Moments is the eighth album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his second released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded in December 1967 and features performances by Tyner with Lee Morgan, Julian Priester, Bob Northern, Howard Johnson, James Spaulding, Bennie Maupin, Herbie Lewis, and Joe Chambers.
Extensions is an album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Blue Note label. It was recorded on February 9, 1970 and released in January 1973. It features performances by Tyner with Gary Bartz, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Elvin Jones, and has Alice Coltrane on three of the four tracks.
Song for My Lady is a 1973 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his second to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in September and November 1972 and features performances by Tyner with Sonny Fortune, Calvin Hill, Alphonse Mouzon with Charles Tolliver and Mtume joining on two tracks.
Song of the New World is a 1973 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his fourth to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded in April 1973 and features performances by Tyner with a big band including Sonny Fortune, Hubert Laws, Alphonse Mouzon and Virgil Jones and a string section on two tracks.
Sama Layuca is a studio album by American jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, released in 1974 by Milestone Records. It was recorded on March 26, 27, and 28, 1974, with sidemen John Stubblefield, Gary Bartz, Azar Lawrence, Bobby Hutcherson, Buster Williams, Billy Hart, Guilherme Franco and Mtume.
Atlantis is a live album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner released on the Milestone label. It was recorded at the Keystone Korner in San Francisco on August 31 and September 1, 1974, and features Tyner in performance with Azar Lawrence, Juini Booth, Wilby Fletcher and Guilherme Franco.
Focal Point is a 1976 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his tenth to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded during four days in August 1976 and features a septet fronted by three reed players, which were in part multiplied through overdubs. On one track Tyner is heard picking a dulcimer backed by tablas, evoking the sound of an Indian sitar. "Parody" is a duo by McCoy Tyner and Eric Gravatt on drums. The album was digitally mastered at Fantasy Studios in 1999 and re-released on Original Jazz Classics.
The Greeting is a 1978 live album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his thirteenth release on the Milestone label. It was recorded in March 1978 at the Great American Music Hall and features performances by Tyner with a sextet featuring George Adams, Joe Ford, Charles Fambrough, Woody "Sonship" Theus and Guilherme Franco and a solo performance of John Coltrane's "Naima".
| Impulse! (1962–1964) | |
|---|---|
| Blue Note (1967–1970) | |
| Milestone (1972–1981) | |
| Various (1981–1989) | |
| Various (1990–1994) | |
| Impulse! (1995–1997) | |
| Telarc (1999–2004) | |
| McCoy Tyner Music (2004–2009) | |
| Related |
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