McCoy Tyner – Expansions

Got this on sale recently and what a delight. Gorgeous sound. Surprises me that the album has a bit of a tepid reception among some. It’s more killer Tyner to my ears, and “Vision” is truly incredible.

Among tone poets it’s really undervalued. Great sound and a lot of great music. Ron Carter’s cello is a bit superfluous at times, to my ears.

This is sure a record where I cloud use some help with to understand what the artist wants to say/express. Sometimes it's really sounds chaotic to me. I'll guess this is a record for people who already understand jazz. I'm still learning though. What is to learn from "Expansions" for a jazz beginner?

What a record and what a pressing! I understand there were no session photos available but the only way this release could have been improved is with a gatefold, it stands out in a bad way in my shelf as the only Tone Poet I currently own that's non-gatefold. But that is a minor complaint in the grand scheme of things, get this record before it goes away!

Excellent pressing sound wise. The record self was not off centre, but not cut in a circle either, which could heve been better. Enjoyable music with plenty of variation and acceptable -but not top notch- sound quality

Wide soundstage, easy to place instruments aurally. Agree with a previous reviewer that the piano sound is not full and vibrant, which is unfortunate. Actually, there is a washed-out feel to the recorded sounds throughout. It's a reasonably quiet pressing, which it really needs to be since so much of the music is quiet and makes use of silences. However, my copy gets quite noisy during the quiet ending of "Song of Happiness", which rather spoils the effect Tyner was going for there. Low-level surface noise can again be heard during the extremely quiet and tender opening of the last track "I Thought I'd Let You Know", and, again, this really interferes with the intended effect of the music. I hear occasional ticks and clicks throughout the rest of the record also. Musically, I enjoy this. I especially enjoy Ron Carter on the cello. I wish the recorded sound were more vivid and bright and I wish the piano sounded a lot better. It would also be nice if the vinyl were quieter in a few key spots where surface noise gets in the way of enjoyment. Overall, it's a good record, but not as special as it could have been. And I miss the gatefold.

Definitely the most undervalued Tone Poet. They can't seem to give them away, but musically it's nowhere near the weakest. In fact it's quite good. Even if not musically #1, soundwise it's definitely one of the best TPs. It sounds incredible! I do wish RVG could have done a bit more with the piano, given who led the session, but the horns sound awesome.

A little noisy but not terrible. Very dynamic pressing and a great album!

Outstanding pressing. A sonic delight with excellent dynamics. Channel separation is perfect and vinyl is quiet. As for the content, we are undoubtedly facing one of Tyner's best works. Highly recommended.

An intense and beautifully crafted and arranged jazz-record. An all-star cast, featuring Tyner alongsides Shorter and Shaw amongst others.

This Tone Poet edition is sublime. I love the sturdy cardboard sleeve and the sound is excellent.

I am happy to have this one in my collection as a companion to Shorter's The All Seeing I.