''Focal Point'' is a 1976 album by

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet (from 1960 to 1965) and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA ...

, his tenth to be released on the

Milestone A milestone is a numbered marker placed on a route such as a road, railway line, canal or boundary. They can indicate the distance to towns, cities, and other places or landmarks; or they can give their position on the route relative to so ...

label. It was recorded during four days in August 1976 and features a septet fronted by three reed players (

Gary Bartz Gary Bartz (born September 26, 1940) is an American jazz saxophonist. He has won two Grammy Awards. Biography Bartz studied at the Juilliard School. In the early 1960s, he performed with Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner in Charles Mingus' Jazz Works ...

, Joe Ford and Ron Bridgewater) who were in part multiplied through

overdubs Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more av ...

. On one track Tyner is heard picking a

dulcimer The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments. Hammered dulcimers The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...

backed by

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

s, evoking the sound of an Indian

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in ...

. "Parody" is a duo with

Eric Gravatt Eric Kamau Grávátt (born March 6, 1947) is a jazz drummer from Philadelphia. He has played with McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Weather Report, Byard Lancaster, Dom Um Romão. He was a member of Weather Report from 1972–1974. Discography With ...

on drums. The album was digitally remastered at Fantasy Studios in 1999 and re-released on

Original Jazz Classics Original Jazz Classics (or OJC) is a record label that founded in 1983 as an imprint of Fantasy Records. Under this name original editions of jazz LPs have been reissued on CD and LP, and formerly on cassette as well. The recordings in the seri ...

Reception

Cook and Morton in their ''

Penguin Guide to Jazz ''The Penguin Guide to Jazz'' is a reference work containing an encyclopedic directory of jazz recordings on CD which were (at the time of publication) currently available in Europe or the United States. The first nine editions were compiled by ...

'' write that "''Focal Point'' looks to secure the firepower in the studio which the band generated in concert", but they suggest that the overdubbing of the horns "sometimes leads to stiffness in the ensemble sound". Nevertheless they "were a little surprised to find how well it's aged". The

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

review by

Scott Yanow Scott Yanow (born October 4, 1954) is an American jazz reviewer, historian, and author.Allmusic Biography/ref> Biography Yanow was born in New York City and grew up near Los Angeles. Since 1974, he was a regular reviewer of many jazz styles an ...

states "Because virtually all of McCoy Tyner's records are superior examples of modal-oriented jazz, this gem is merely an above-average effort".Yanow, S.

Allmusic Review AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

accessed February 24, 2009.

Track listing

# "Mes trois fils" - 7:56 # "Parody" - 6:55 # "Indo-Serenade" - 5:35 # "Mode for Dulcimer" - 8:59 # "Departure" - 5:58 # "Theme for Nana" - 5:14 :''All compositions by McCoy Tyner''

Personnel

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

(“Mode for Dulcimer” only) * Joe Ford:

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

(except “Parody”) *

: alto saxophone, soprano saxophone,

sopranino saxophone The sopranino saxophone is the second-smallest member of the saxophone family. It is tuned in the key of E, and sounds an octave higher than the alto saxophone. An F sopranino (an octave above the F alto (also called mezzo-soprano) saxophone) w ...

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

(except “Parody”) *Ron Bridgewater:

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

, soprano saxophone (except “Parody”) *

Charles Fambrough Charles Fambrough (August 25, 1950January 1, 2011) was an American jazz bassist, composer and record producer from Philadelphia. Fambrough was a member of Art Blakey, Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers during the early 1980s. Suffering from kidney fail ...

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

(except “Parody”) * Eric Kamau Gravatt:

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Guilherme Franco Guilherme Franco (born November 25, 1946 and died November 12, 2016 in São Paulo, Brazil) was a percussionist in the jazz and world fusion music genres. Franco performed on the albums of many notable jazz musicians such as McCoy Tyner, Lonnie Li ...

conga The conga, also known as tumbadora, is a tall, narrow, single-headed drum from Cuba. Congas are staved like barrels and classified into three types: quinto (lead drum, highest), tres dos or tres golpes (middle), and tumba or salidor (lowest). ...

and

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

(except “Parody”),

(“Mode for Dulcimer” only)

References

{{Authority control McCoy Tyner albums 1976 albums Milestone Records albums Albums produced by Orrin Keepnews