Focal Point (album)

Focal Point
Studio album by
Released1976
RecordedAugust 4–7, 1976
StudioFantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA
GenreJazz, post-bop, modal jazz
LabelMilestone M 9072
ProducerOrrin Keepnews
McCoy Tyner chronology
Fly with the Wind
(1976)
Focal Point
(1976)
Supertrios
(1977)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
All About Jazz(Positive)[2]
The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide[3]
Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings[4]

Focal Point is a 1976 album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, his tenth to be released on the Milestone label. It was recorded during four days in August 1976 and features a septet fronted by three reed players (Gary Bartz, Joe Ford and Ron Bridgewater) who were in part multiplied through overdubs. On one track Tyner is heard picking a dulcimer backed by tablas, evoking the sound of an Indian sitar. "Parody" is a duo with Eric Gravatt on drums. The album was digitally remastered at Fantasy Studios in 1999 and re-released on Original Jazz Classics.

  1. ^ Allmusic Review
  2. ^ All About Jazz review
  3. ^ Swenson, J., ed. (1985). The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. USA: Random House/Rolling Stone. p. 194. ISBN 0-394-72643-X.
  4. ^ Cook, Richard and Morton, Brian (2006), The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings, 8th edition, London: Penguin Books, p. 1311, ISBN 0-141-02327-9