The album Inner Voices never gets a lot of respect for some reason. Critics are tough on Tyner for having voices on the album. Or they are upset over some some other component of the album and the orchestra Tyner assembled and Orrin Keepknews produced at Saul Zaentz’s Fantasy Studios in Berkeley in 1978.

Not long before I had an office in the building. I was starting to listen to more live jazz and even produce it at a club called Larry Blakes in Berkeley. I was still working for the big international corporation so the jazz journeys were over the weekends mostly but sometimes during weeknights when warranted. I was starting to write a Jazz Newsletter on 11×14 legal paper using my electric typewriter and pasting on the headline logo and having it printed at Krishna Kopy for 1 cent a sheet.

The above album was my first introduction to the music of McCoy Tyner and ultimately John Coltrane as I worked my way back. A stunning, brilliant album. I consider it the greatest of all of Tyner’s works. At the end of his period of youth and before his mature period. A wild, growing period for McCoy who strikes out in new directions in this brilliant album. It needs to be ranked up there with the greatest jazz albums of all time.

“For Tomorrow” from the Inner Voices Album