4 X 4 http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Music/4-X-4-McCoy-Tyner-Quartet/0025218550727

Artist: McCoy Tyner Quartet

• 2 LPs on 1 CD.
  
• Personnel: McCoy Tyner (piano); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet); Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone); John Abercrombie (electric guitar, electric mandolin); Cecil McBee (bass); Al Foster (drums); Arthur Blythe.
  
• Recorded in March & May, 1980.
  
• Personnel: McCoy Tyner (piano); John Abercrombie (mandolin); Arthur Blythe (alto saxophone); Freddie Hubbard (trumpet, flugelhorn); Bobby Hutcherson (vibraphone); Al Foster (drums).
  
• Audio Remasterer: Phil DeLancie.
  
• Audio Remixer: Rudy Van Gelder.
  
• Liner Note Author: Orrin Keepnews.
  
• Recording information: Van Gelder Studios, Hackensack, NJ (03/03/1980-05/29/1980).
  
• Photographers: David Gahr; Phil Bray; Jamie Putnam.
  
• The concept behind 4 X 4, the second to last of McCoy Tyner's many collaborations with producer Orrin Keepnews, was to bring in four different soloists and have them record a few tunes with the pianist, bassist Cecil McBee, and drummer Al Foster. Freddie Hubbard's three selections start the recording and make for exciting and coherent takes--Hubbard's flugelhorn on "Manha de Carnival" is especially beautiful, and the quartet plays with conceptual unity. John Abercrombie's selections with Tyner are interesting in their novel juxtaposition of Tyner with electric guitar (mandolin, actually--it sounds high and thin). Vibes player Bobby Hutcherson's mixture of melody, texture, and technique is always a welcome combination, and here he sounds completely at ease.
  
• The pairing of Tyner and alto saxophonist Arthur Blythe, however, is the real surprise; they sound like long-lost brothers. When they trade fours on the Tyner composition "Blues in the Minor," it sounds like jazz history in the making. McBee and Foster are ideal collaborators, matching Tyner's energy and technique, and expanding the grooves without distracting from the soloists. This is a wonderfully varied album by a completely original pianist.