Nights of Ballads & Blues

Nights of Ballads & Blues is the third album by the jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, released on the Impulse! label in 1963. It features performances by Tyner with Steve Davis and Lex Humphries.

Nights of Ballads & Blues
Studio album by
McCoy Tyner
ReleasedEarly July 1963[1]
RecordedMarch 4, 1963
StudioVan Gelder Studio, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
GenreJazz
Length38:48
LabelImpulse!
A-39
ProducerBob Thiele
McCoy Tyner chronology
Reaching Fourth
(1962)		 Nights of Ballads & Blues
(1963)		 Today and Tomorrow
(1963)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Down Beat[2]
Allmusic [3]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[4]

Reception

The jazz critic Harvey Pekar said in his August 29, 1963, review for Down Beat magazine, "Tyner's playing has many virtues, but one in particular is his tastefulness. There is nothing trivial about his music; he is, to quote an often used phrase, a 'musician's musician.'"[2] The Allmusic review by Stephen Cook states that the album "qualifies as one of the pianist's most enjoyable early discs".[3]

Reviewing the album in 2017, Marc Myers of JazzWax said: "For some strange reason, in late 1962 and the first half of 1963, Tyner was asked by producer Bob Thiele to record more straightforward jazz albums as a leader... Tyner's playing is exciting and exceptional on all of the tracks... On the album, he exhibits a reserved elegance and tenderness that reveals the other side of his personality—a lover of melody and standards. In this regard, there are traces of Oscar Peterson in his playing. Perhaps Thiele was using Tyner to take a bite out of Peterson's vast and successful early-'60s share of the jazz market."[5]

Track listing
  1. "Satin Doll" (Ellington, Mercer, Strayhorn) - 5:40
  2. "We'll Be Together Again" (Fischer, Laine) - 3:40
  3. "'Round Midnight" (Monk) - 6:23
  4. "For Heaven's Sake" (Elise Bretton, Edwards, Donald Meyer) - 3:48
  5. "Star Eyes" (De Paul, Raye) - 5:03
  6. "Blue Monk" (Monk) - 5:22
  7. "Groove Waltz" (Tyner) - 5:31
  8. "Days of Wine and Roses" (Mancini, Mercer) - 3:21

Personnel
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References
  1. Inc, Nielsen Business Media (July 20, 1963). "Billboard". Nielsen Business Media, Inc. – via Google Books.
  2. Down Beat: August 29, 1963, Vol. 30, No.24
  3. Cook, S. Allmusic review. Accessed February 19, 2009.
  4. Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 194. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  5. "McCoy Tyner: Ballads & Blues - JazzWax". www.jazzwax.com. July 18, 2017. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
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