Asante

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Asante is an album by jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, recorded on September 10, 1970 and released on Blue Note Records in 1974 — though it stands as the last session Tyner recorded for t he label before departing for Milestone Records, where his debut Sahara would earn Grammy nominations and be named Album of the Year in the DownBeat critics' poll. Blue Note reissued the album as part of its Tone Poet audiophile vinyl series in 2026, mastered by Kevin Gray from the original analog master tapes and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at RTI. The album represents the fullest expression of the Africanist direction Tyner had been exploring in his late-1960s Blue Note work — pieces like "African Village" and "Message from the Nile" — and features an extraordinary ensemble: bassist Buster Williams, guitarist Ted Dunbar (playing guitar in the manner of the West African kora), alto saxophonist Andrew White, drummer Billy Hart on drums and African percussion, and percussionist Mtume on congas. Vocalist Songai contributes ethereal vocal chants to two of the album's four tracks, including the extended opener "Malika" and the title track.The four songs on the album are long, spacious, and immersive, with Elusive Disc noting that the emphasis falls on "the swirling percussive rhythmic bed" rather than conventional soloing — a quality AllMusic's Scott Yanow also identified, calling the album "a bit unusual for the emphasis is on group interplay rather than individual solos." The modal jazz that Tyner had pioneered in the John Coltrane Quartet still courses through the music, most prominently on the kinetic closing track "Fulfillment," but the overall sensibility points forward toward creative directions Tyner would develop more fully at Milestone. Tyner himself plays both piano and wooden flute, underscoring just how fully the album departs from conventional jazz instrumentation. Asante — the word means "thank you" in Swahili — stands as both a summation of Tyner's Blue Note years and a clear-eyed preview of where he was headed. Show more