McCoy Tyner - La Leyenda de la Hora (The Legend of the Hour) (Columbia/Koch, 1981)

This post is by Scott

McCoy Tyner (p); Paquito D'Rivera (ss, as); Chico Freeman (ts); Marcus Belgrave (tr, flhn); Hubert Laws (fl); Bobby Hutcherson (vib, mar); Avery Sharpe (b); Ignacio Berroa (d); Daniel Ponce (perc); Harold Kohon (vn); John Blake (vn); Karen Milne (vn); Elliot Rosoff (vn); Jesse Levine (va); Julien Barber (va); Kermit Moore (vc); Jonathan Abramowitz (vc); William Fischer (cond)

Recorded in 1981

When I was developing my Bobby Hutcherson web site, I discovered this outstanding McCoy Tyner release.  Like Sama Layuca (Milestone, 1974), it features Hutcherson in a prominent sideman role.

However, unlike that album, La Leyenda de la Hora, features an array of Latin Jazz stars, such as Paquito D'Rivera, Ignacio Berroa, and Daniel Ponce.  Even though the music has a Latin Jazz flavor, it still remains unmistakably McCoy's music, which sounds like no one else's.

A small string section is featured on a few cuts, and the cuts come off beauifully.  I can't think of any other jazz musician whose music works so well with string sections.  Perhaps it's because McCoy is so powerful and thrusting that the strings could never even begin to overwhelm the volcanic force of his music.

Originally issued on Columbia, Koch reissued this disc in 1998.  Even so, this album hasn't received reputation that I think it deserves.  I would place it among Tyner's very best.