There are only a few gentlemen that remain on this earth that counted John Coltrane as not only a musical companion, but boss. Pharoah Sanders is one of them. And as important as Sanders was and is to jazz, in comparison to McCoy Tyner, in the context of Coltrane's ensembles, the pianist is easily found to be more of an indispensible figure.

As a long time collaborator and one of the most consistent parts of Coltrane's various groups, Tyner was charged with creating a backing that was somehow meant to compliment the bleating shards of glass that flew from the bell of Coltrane's sax. And in doing so, the pianist acquired some chops that not too many others are privy to

Attaining the level of musical enlightenment, Tyner may have found it something of a curse. After all, subsequent to playing with Coltrane, what is there to be done? Exiting the group during the mid '60s, Coltrane had a few more years left in which he would ravage the concepts propping up the saxophone. But where he continued experimenting, Tyner drew back a bit. It's not to be figured that the late '60s and '70s output from Tyner was tame, but in comparison to what his former boss would get into during that last years of his life, the pianist's work could be considered relatively sedate.

Probably the most well thought of outing from Tyner is his live set Enlightenment, on which the pianist works out his aggressive and all too percussive playing. In the studio, though, just a year earlier, Tyner put to tape that live set's companion piece. Sahara, which shares Alphonse Mouzon on drums with that other date, might be thought of as a bit more tame. But considering the fact that the set was recorded live, there are still moments - even without a crowd - that find the group in as aggressive territory as any electric ensemble might have occupied previously.

The disc, though, isn't all fireworks and on "A Prayer for My Family," Tyner's solo seems as introspective as anything else that he recorded. It's mostly chorded, but the rolling notes interspersed within those dense moments of sound seem as expressive as any sax outburst from Coltrane.

Sahara, in contrast to the work Tyner did in group settings where he was not the lead, features him on a few different instruments. "Valley of Life" finds the pianist plying the koto - a Japanese instrument. The effect of his performance is to create some ghostly, eastern setting in which the rest of his band can then stretch out and bring to light as many different variations on a simple theme as possible. It's obviously not the most explosive offering here, but with all of the aggression, not just here, but in recordings from the Coltrane catalog, the song displays another side of Tyner.

The inclusion of instruments from other culture's probably still points to the vast influence that Coltrane exerted of Tyner even five years after his death. But while that relationship probably never left the mind of the pianist, it enlivens what could have been an otherwise average date.