McCoy Tyner was twenty-one when he joined John Coltrane's quartet in 1960. He was to become the perfect pianist for the group, and one of the most influential and distinctive in jazz history. His iconic contribution to Coltrane and to jazz, although not his only one, was the concept of organizing chord voicings in fourths, as opposed to thirds which had been the norm before him. This gave his sound a modern, muscular and brash quality that supported both Coltrane's playing, which was primarily based on elaborate chord substitutions, and Elvin Jones' poly-rhythmic drumming. Like other musical pioneers, his ideas have been emulated by so many musicians that appreciating their importance by listening to the original recordings takes some effort. The best way to do this is to listen to other records in the same genre and from the same time before listening to the pioneering one. To compare a recording from 1960 to one made in 2010 is not going to work in this regard, in other words, because the later one has the advantage of being able to use everything that came before it, including perhaps even the one in question.

One of the albums that best captures Tyner's importance to the Classic Quartet is 1961's My Favorite Things. Here are the links (parts one and two) for the title track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQsvMf8X0FY&feature=related / http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt9iLDmaQwk&feature=related . You can either check out other small group jazz recordings from approximately the same era, or you can trust me: There aren't any that sound like this one. (Tomorrow, one of Tyner's recordings as a leader.)