Quartet
Quartet marks a new phase in McCoy Tyner s illustrious career. The album, recorded live on New Year s Eve 2006 with tenor titan Joe Lovano, bassist Christian McBride, and drummer Jeff Tain Watts, is both a retrospective and a projective piece. While it features some of the compositions that have shaped Tyner s career, the album is a launch for Tyner s new label, McCoy Tyner Music, and will be the first among a series of three recordings that will be released within the next year.
Just over two years ago, Tyner was taken on as the first client of Blue Note Management, a division of the Blue Note Jazz Club. The success of this partnership lead to this release, which will be on the McCoy Tyner Music (MTM) label, created for him as an imprint of the Blue Note s in-house record label, Half Note Records. Upon listening, it is immediately apparent that Quartet features a working band and not just a gathering of four all-star musicians. Additionally, the record shows that Tyner, who now carries the torch as the only surviving member of the John Coltrane Quartet, is still at the top of his game as a composer, performer, and bandleader.