Although Inception and Reaching Fourth – both from 1962 – are usually cited as the first and second albums Tyner recorded under his own name, he actually participated in a session for Atlantic on 24 October, 1960, produced by Bob Thiele and Nesuhi Ertegun which represents the first time he recorded under his own name. That session produced two titles, ‘Lazy Bird’ and ‘In Your Own Sweet Way’ that appeared on a long forgotten compilation album for Atlantic, and are included in this release as bonus tracks. Much has been written about these first two trio albums for the Impulse! label, ranging from ‘the John Coltrane Quartet minus John Coltrane’ to ‘these sessions add little to what he was doing with the saxophonist.’ But back in 2003, Tyner told this writer, “I consciously did not want to do things I did in the quartet with John Coltrane, I wanted to do something different. I didn't want the records to sound the same. Bob Thiele encouraged me to try and do something else so I did Inception with my own material.” In fact, four of his six Impulse! albums were with a trio, and he liberally sprinkled pop standards among his playlists, intended to distance himself from the repertoire he played with Coltrane. Generally speaking, Tyner's Impulse! work reveals his formative influences in the form of Bud Powell and Thelonious Monk (in that order), and a lighter, less intense approach to improvisation that on Inception reveals how the use of modes had become a part of his compositional style. Perhaps it was the presence of Art Davis and Elvin Jones, both members of the then current Coltrane quartet, which created a ‘Coltrane’ feel, despite the pianist's stated intention to reveal other aspects of his musical personality. Reaching Fourth is generally considered perhaps the best of his Impulse! work during this period, and here the excellent support he receives from bassist Henry Grimes and drummer Roy Haynes steers the group away from the Coltrane ethos. The album title is a play on interval of a fourth, something that had not been used to any great extent in jazz until Tyner. “Not to that great extent,” Tyner reflected in 2003, “I introduced my concept of it, it was around before, I think Bill Evans used fourths, but he had a different style to me, but I think the way I used it was very open, harmonically ambiguous.”