McCoy Tyner
Piano Solo on
Mahjong

About

McCoy Tyner's piano solo is the first of two improvisations on this Latin-flavored composition. Taking two choruses of the 28-bar AABA form in F at 166 BPM, Tyner brings his percussive comping style and modal explorations to the Latin groove, his playing perfectly suited to the rhythmic energy that Elvin Jones interprets with characteristic polyrhythmic complexity. His solo establishes the improvisational character of the performance before Shorter enters with his own statement.

McCoy Tyner was 25 to 26 years old at the time.