Description
McCoy Tyner – Today And Tomorrow – 180 Gram Vinyl Record
McCoy Tyner’s Today and Tomorrow, released in 1964 on Impulse! Records, is a compelling snapshot of a pianist in transition — a bridge between the lyrical elegance of his early post-bop work and the more expansive, modal explorations that would define his later career. Best known as the powerhouse pianist in the classic John Coltrane Quartet, Tyner used this solo effort to showcase both his versatility as a composer and his unique, deeply rooted approach to harmony, rhythm, and improvisation.
The album is structured in a way that reflects its title: it presents a juxtaposition of two different recording sessions — one from 1963 (the “Yesterday” or “Today” side), and another from 1964 (the more forward-looking “Tomorrow” side). This split gives the album a dual character. On one hand, we hear Tyner working within the hard bop and post-bop traditions, playing with musicians like Thad Jones (trumpet), Frank Strozier (alto sax), and Elvin Jones (drums). On the other, he begins to step into more spacious, modal territory with leaner trio settings and freer harmonic frameworks.
The album opens with “Contemporary Focus,” a hard-swinging original that immediately displays Tyner’s distinctive left-hand power and cascading right-hand runs. His chord voicings are thick and dramatic, full of quartal harmonies and open intervals that would later become signatures of modern jazz piano. On the title track, “Today and Tomorrow,” Tyner creates a gently flowing atmosphere with subtle shifts in tonality — meditative and impressionistic, hinting at his future work with larger ensembles and more abstract forms.
A highlight of the album is his trio rendition of “A Night in Tunisia,” where Tyner reimagines Dizzy Gillespie’s bebop standard with fiery inventiveness, reshaping the familiar melody with rhythmic intensity and harmonic color. His take on “T’N A Blues,” composed by Thad Jones, swings hard and lets the horns stretch out in classic post-bop style, while the ballad “You’d Be So Nice to Come Home To” shows Tyner’s sensitivity and grace as an interpreter of standards.
Throughout the record, Tyner’s playing is assertive yet spacious. He balances percussive attack with lush harmonic layering, and even when comping behind soloists, his voicings and rhythmic choices reveal a musician thinking orchestrally. You can already hear the roots of what would blossom later in albums like The Real McCoy (1967) and Expansions (1968), where he fully embraced the modal and spiritual jazz idioms.
Though sometimes overlooked in comparison to his more iconic 1970s output, Today and Tomorrow is a vital document of Tyner’s artistic journey. It captures the moment where he began to step out from Coltrane’s shadow and assert his voice as a bandleader and visionary. For fans of modern jazz piano, it’s a rewarding listen — rich in historical context, full of inspired performances, and brimming with the musical vocabulary Tyner would use to reshape the sound of jazz piano in the decades to come.
Today and Tomorrow is not just a clever title — it’s a prophecy. It’s an album rooted in jazz tradition, but already pointing toward a more expansive, spiritual, and rhythmically daring future that Tyner would help define.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Contemporary Focus
Night In Tunisia
T ‘N A Blues
Autumn Leaves
Three Flowers
When Sunny Gets Blue
