McCoy Tyner & Bobby Hutcherson - Manhattan Moods (Blue Note, 1993)

McCoy Tyner, piano
Bobby Hutcherson, vibes & marimba

Recorded December 3 & 4, 1993

Sound on Sound, NYC
Engineer: David Baker

If your reference point for piano-vibes duets is Chick Corea and Gary Burton, you're familiar with their dazzling displays of virtuosity as they seem to interlock as one. Corea and Burton have perfected a tight sound through decades of playing together. I have collected much of their output and admire the chemistry between them.

I also admire McCoy Tyner and Bobby Hutcherson, who team up on Manhattan Moods for their own vibes-piano duet. Tyner and Hutcherson also enjoyed decades of playing together, but mostly in larger groups instead of duets. Their duets here don't sound at all like Corea and Burton. Rather, Manhattan Moods is a soulful stroll through familiar and new material. It portrays a laid-back form of virtuosity that evokes nostalgic memories of the musicians' lives and their contributions to jazz. 

That's not to say that it's dull. Hutcherson's "Isn't This My Sound Around Me?" is a rousing workout on marimba, and Tyner's "Travelin' Blues" engages the pair in a lively down-home blues. Close attention reveals precious details as they craft new insights from familiar material such as "Monk's Dream," which is played as a marimba-piano duet, and "For Heaven's Sake," which closes the album. 

Many of the musicians I'm writing about in this blog are no longer alive. Tyner and Hutcherson are two that I miss the most. They were both born in 1941. Hutcherson died in 2016 and Tyner in 2020.