01.Vision 12:15
02.Song Of Happiness 11:55
03.Smitty's Place 5:20
04.Peresina 10:20
05.I Thought I'd Let You Know 6:25
Bass - Herbie Lewis
Cello - Ron Carter
Drums - Freddie Waits
Piano - McCoy Tyner
Producer - Duke Pearson
Recorded By - Rudy Van Gelder
Saxophone [Alto], Flute [Wooden] - Gary Bartz
Saxophone [Tenor], Clarinet - Wayne Shorter
Trumpet - Woody Shaw.
Recorded on 23rd August 1968
ReplyDeleteExpansions was recorded by McCoy Tyner for Blue Note (BST 84338) on 23 August 1968. It was his first outing as a bandleader/composer, and the beginning of the end of his relationship with the Blue Note label.
The fact that this stunning recording remains absent from the Blue Note catalog is incomprehensible, as it is one of the finest sessions in the “Van Gelder” library. The only way to get this recording now is to shell out $44 for a special limited edition Mosaic label 3-CD boxset of the final Tyner Blue Note sessions – and that release is currently back ordered well into 2010!
Right out of the gate you know this is going to be a memorable session. Waits’ is wound up like a swiss watch and his drumming sets a pace to be reckoned with. Lewis and Tyner have no trouble keeping up. Carter slips in a few drone strokes on the cello while Shaw leads the way on the trumpet.
After a few warm-up bars, the whole gang come together and take the groove out for an off-kilter circus swing, a la Sun Ra Arkestra. Tyner takes the lead and begins furiously hammering out a message to the gods: Send us a sign, send us a sign! Fearing anger in the heavens, Waits and Lewis begin pleading for mercy in morse code just as an angel responds in Carter’s cello: You are clear for a cosmic landing!
Shorter sends thanks, Shaw joins in praise, and before long the whole gang are dancing through the cosmic courtyard in bliss. Waits – whose stamina has been relentless thus far – signals to the gang that it’s time to come home, and after one last circus romp, the curtain comes down after twelve intense minutes.
Expansions
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