Extensions — pianist McCoy Tyner’s eleventh album as a leader, and his fifth for Blue Note — was recorded in 1970, but not released until three years later. Although he was never a “spiritual jazz” artist, he got close to that territory on this record, which contained four longish, modal compositions performed by alto saxophonist Gary Bartz, tenor and soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter, bassist Ron Carter, drummer Elvin Jones, and Alice Coltrane on harp. The opening “Message From the Nile” sets the tone, a nearly 13-minute vamp over which Shorter and Bartz trade long, questing solos. “Survival Blues” sounds almost like late-period John Coltrane, an earthquake-like piece that eventually becomes a de facto battle between Jones and Shorter until Alice Coltrane comes shimmering in at the end. The final piece, “His Blessings,” is a showcase for harp and Jones’ thundering toms, with bowed drones from Carter and almost koto-like piano from Tyner filling in the middle.