This upload is a transcription I made of McCoy Tyner’s remarkable piano solo from the jazz standard “My Favorite Things.” Interestingly, this isn’t from his iconic 1961 recording with John Coltrane (the version most people associate with the song), but rather from guitarist Grant Green’s album Matador, recorded in 1964 and released much later, in 1979.

When Grant Green recorded this track, it was clearly intended to capitalize on the enormous popularity of Coltrane’s original—still considered one of jazz’s most iconic recordings. To help capture that magic, Green brought along two key players from Coltrane’s classic quartet: pianist McCoy Tyner, of course, and drummer Elvin Jones.

What I love about this version is how McCoy, freed from Coltrane’s towering presence, really steps into the spotlight. By this point, Tyner had performed this tune countless times live and was fully embracing the quartal harmonic language he’d begun exploring with Coltrane. Green’s famously minimalist approach to improvisation left plenty of room for McCoy to stretch out, delivering one of the most virtuosic and beautifully nuanced solos I’ve ever heard from him. Certain phrases he plays here still astonish me every time I hear them—it’s truly my favorite McCoy Tyner solo, period.

As usual, I started this project impulsively (likely while procrastinating on something more urgent), inspired by Logic’s recent updates. Their new stem-splitting tools and AI-powered tempo mapping features turned out to be incredibly powerful for transcription purposes. Historically, I’ve tackled transcriptions of complex solos (like Zappa’s, for instance) using MIDI rather than traditional pen-and-paper methods. With Logic, I quickly isolated the piano track and created an accurate tempo map, making the transcription workflow significantly more efficient and precise.

Transcribing piano solos is notoriously tricky—you can have up to ten notes sounding simultaneously, demanding intense focus and careful listening. This transcription turned out to be an excellent ear-training exercise, challenging me to decode Tyner’s rich harmonic textures and precise voicings note by note. After quickly setting up the session, I became completely obsessed and poured countless hours into this project over about a week and a half until I’d nailed every detail.

Once I finished the MIDI transcription, I entered it into Dorico (another convenient excuse to deepen my skills with that notation software) and created a score-following video. I recorded a screen capture of Dorico’s visual playback, then carefully synced it to the original track in Final Cut. Although Dorico’s playback didn’t directly follow Logic’s precise tempo map, Elvin Jones’ incredible consistency behind the drums made it relatively easy to line everything up visually. Still, I had to finesse the timing occasionally, trimming sections or subtly adjusting playback speed to maintain perfect synchronization.

Overall, it turned out beautifully.