Having first seen McCoy Tyner perform some decades ago and being within feet of him, my first observation was his mighty left hand and the way he drove the ensemble with energising jolts of percussive and sometimes thunderous vamps.

Celebrating Impulse’s 50th year with fresh blood in the form of Gerald Cannon, Eric Gravatt, Chris Potter and Jose James, McCoy succeeds in making sure those seminal compositions shone.

His incorporation of electrifying staccato lines with his right hand leaves no uncertainty as to the melody or direction of the composition. It is therefore easy to understand how those records he played on for Impulse have stood the test of time.

With age he seemed a little slow on his feet as he walks to the piano stool but once seated he drove the ensemble just as he did in the 1960’s leading me to think who needs feet! So and long may McCoy be seated at the piano.

– Roger Thomas