NEW RELEASES : Tyner Remembers His Old Partner : *** McCOY TYNER “Remembering John” <i> Enja</i> : <i> Albums are rated on a scale of one star (poor) to five (a classic). : </i>

Of the two recently recorded trio records by Tyner, this is easily the most striking. For the first time since his lengthy tenure with John Coltrane in the early 1960s, the pianist reaches back to fully embrace such classics associated with the saxophonist as “Giant Steps” and “India.”

Strangely, these tunes find Tyner, one of jazz’s most impressive performers, working with a puzzling mixture of hesitancy and enthusiasm. “Giant Steps,” one of the key entries in the Coltrane repertoire, receives a quick, cursory run-through, and “India” is atmosphere without much substance.

Tyner is at his best on the numbers that generate hard-swinging, bop-infused melody lines and pulse-pounding chordal densities--of which “Like Someone in Love,” “Pursuance” and Thelonious Monk’s “In Walked Bud” are good examples.

Bassist Avery Sharpe provides several adroit, if a bit formularized, solos, and drummer Aaron Scott lays down the kind of turbulent rhythmic textures that best suit Tyner’s rich, timbral playing. Inevitably, however, the missing element is Coltrane himself. Despite the trio’s superbly integrated performances, too often the opening choruses construct a warmly supportive framework for a tenor saxophone entry that never arrives.