Impulse! celebrated its fiftieth year by reviving two landmark recordings. James Pearson interpreted Oliver Nelson’s Blues and the Abstract Truth (1961) before making way for McCoy Tyner.

Tyner, his trio augmented by saxophonist Chris Potter, introduced the evening’s second Impulse! recording. The pianist, uniting with vocalist José James, revisited John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1962). James, like Hartman before 1962, has established himself outside jazz with Blackmagic (2010) igniting hip-hip and electronica circles. Tyner returning after nearly forty years to songs he recorded with Coltrane and Hartman now uses them, as the former had for the latter, to announce James to jazz.

Before each song James tenderly placed sheet music upon Tyner’s piano. This gesture captured not only his debt to the pianist but also the novelty he brings to the material. A swinging rhythm, initially imposed on You Are Too Beautiful at James’s suggestion, seemed to emanate from the singer giving a new dimension to each

– Matt Ellis