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cMcCoy Tyner septet With a style at once massive and ornate, McCoy Tyner easily commands a place among the ten most influential pianists of postbop jazz. Both Tyner and Impulse Records came of age through their association with John Coltrane: Tyner played in Coltrane’s classic quartet, and the label released Coltrane’s pioneering records of the early 60s (an era chronicled in one of this year’s best jazz books, Ashley Kahn’s The House That Trane Built). Few artists from those days remain active, so to celebrate Impulse artists like Pharoah Sanders and Charles Mingus–as well as capitalize on the publicity the book has received–Tyner has beefed up his terrific trio with simpatico younger musicians. Only venturesome alto saxist Donald Harrison has led an album for the revivified Impulse label, but splashy trumpeter Wallace Roney could, and unfettered trombonist Steve Turre should. Stylistically, tenor man Eric Alexander seems like the odd man out: he takes his cues from the pre-Trane mainstream that Impulse originally shunned. But all the musicians manage to tunnel their way through Tyner’s thick harmonies without biting off more than they can chew. a 8 PM, Orchestra Hall, Symphony Center, 220 S. Michigan, 312-294-3000 or 800-223-7114, $19-$79. –Neil Tesser
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cPETER WALKER, JACK ROSE Though he stopped recording for nearly four decades, PETER WALKER picks up exactly where he left off with four new pieces on this year’s A Raga for Peter Walker (Tompkins Square). Following the release of his 1968 record, Second Poem to Karmela or Gypsies Are Important, Walker decided to raise a family and work straight jobs, but during the preceding decade he’d played in Greenwich Village’s folk scene, studied Indian classical music with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, and provided accompaniment for Timothy Leary’s group acid experiments. He borrowed liberally from all those traditions on the two albums he recorded for Vanguard (1966’s Rainy Day Raga was the first) but forged his own sound, playing gorgeous, meditative lines that wove together flamenco, blues, and American folk over raga structures. The new album is something of an homage–it includes pieces by artists who claim him as an inspiration, like Jack Rose, Thurston Moore, and Greg Davis–but the most gripping tracks are Walker’s own. He studied flamenco music in Spain during his recording hiatus, and he has a full album of flamenco-inspired originals in the can; here’s hoping it won’t be another 30-plus years before his next burst of activity. –Peter Margasak
cCATTLE DECAPITATION, LAIR OF THE MINOTAUR Proudly claiming to be “endorsed” by Clif Bar (“Ever wondered how Cattle D stays so gore night after night after night?”) and selling a new Spinal Tap homage T-shirt (inspired by “recent drummer shenanigans”–now enthroned is Kevin Talley of Dying Fetus and Chimaira fame), San Diego’s Cattle Decapitation occasionally flash a lighter sense of humor than their relentlessly brutal antihuman/provegetarian lyrics might suggest. And even the viscera and scatology don’t always come across as particularly dark: the cover of 2004’s Humanure took them to such ridiculous heights it was funny in a hysterical sort of way. But the new Karma Bloody Karma (Metal Blade) backs it down just a tad and so feels meaner and realer, and a song like “The Corpse Derrick” becomes genuinely nightmarish. With cameos by Joey Karam of the Locust and noise artist John Wiese, the record churns and growls at you as if to say that sensation of being run through a wood chipper slowly is all in your puny little head.
chenry grimes trio with fred anderson See Friday. a 9 PM, Velvet Lounge, 67 E. Cermak, 312-791-9050, $15.
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