McCoy Tyner.....80 today (11 December 2018)

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

From a long & interesting review and analysis of Tyner's output artistry on the current "Do the Math" blog...

"One of the odder bits of jazz trivia: McCoy Tyner, Jimmy Garrison, and Elvin Jones went out to Rudy Van Gelder’s New Jersey studio on December 8, 1964 to record four conservative takes of Ellington with two percussionists. The next morning Tyner recorded with Milt Jackson in New York. Then, in the evening of December 9, Tyner, Garrison, and Jones went back out to Van Gelder’s and recorded A Love Supreme with John Coltrane."

BN.

[Beef Oven!]

For some reason, I thought he was older.

[Serial_Apologist]

For some reason, I thought he was older.

He would have been 22 when he joined Coltrane - pretty young, mind.

[Beef Oven!]

He would have been 22 when he joined Coltrane - pretty young, mind.

Yes, that has something to do with it.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

"MT.....After I graduated from high school, I worked days and played around home for a time. There were a lot of very good musicians in Philadelphia then and more clubs than there are now. I played with a lot of out-of-town musicians who were brought in as singles, and I worked in Calvin Massey’s band around Philadelphia. Calvin had a nice band. He’s a trumpet player, and he writes. Charlie Parker recorded his Fiesta.

I was about 17 when I first worked with John Coltrane. He had left Miles Davis for a period, and he was a close friend of Calvin Massey, who introduced me to him. I was working with Calvin at the Red Rooster, and John was going in there for a week. He asked us if we wanted to work with him.

After that, he would contact me whenever he came to Philly with Miles. I think he liked my playing, but we would also have long discussions on music, during which he would sometimes sit down at the piano and play. He had a lot of ideas, and we were compatible. We saw eye to eye on so many things even at that time, and I could hear the direction he was going. I didn’t know what it would be like, or how involved it would be, but I could hear something in his playing that was beautiful, and we enjoyed working together.

Benny Golson came to Philadelphia when I was about 20, and I played a concert with him. He asked me to go to San Francisco with him, where we would pick up a bassist and a drummer..."

[Serial_Apologist]

Marian McPartland invited Tyner onto one of those programmes she ran for years, and he demonstrated modal improvisation to her. Marian "played" it like she was a novice; clearly the demonstration was for the benefit of listeners, as became clear when she finished by playing one of her own pieces, which was, harmonically, more sophisticated than his own conception. With a bit more diplomacy she might have performed in the stride style, of which she was equally capable - but I don't imagine many of the audience of that particular programme would have cottoned on.

[BLUESNIK'S REVOX]

Marian McPartland invited Tyner onto one of those programmes she ran for years, and he demonstrated modal improvisation to her. Marian "played" it like she was a novice; clearly the demonstration was for the benefit of listeners, as became clear when she finished by playing one of her own pieces, which was, harmonically, more sophisticated than his own conception. With a bit more diplomacy she might have performed in the stride style, of which she was equally capable - but I don't imagine many of the audience of that particular programme would have cottoned on.

Not taking anything away from Marian, who was indeed wonderful, and I'm sure it's not your point, but Tyner' "conception" was/is anything but unsophisticated. The long "Do the Maths" piece breaks down his influences & harmonic approach from a pianistic standpoint and analyses his development almost album by album, a huge talent. I saw him in the mid 80s with a ferocious Louis Hayes on drums and it was a phenomenal experience. One of the best concerts I've attended. His health and power now has understandably diminished, but he was a game changer. Lest we forget.

[Serial_Apologist]

Not taking anything away from Marian, who was indeed wonderful, and I'm sure it's not your point, but Tyner' "conception" was/is anything but unsophisticated. The long "Do the Maths" piece breaks down his influences & harmonic approach from a pianistic standpoint and analyses his development almost album by album, a huge talent. I saw him in the mid 80s with a ferocious Louis Hayes on drums and it was a phenomenal experience. One of the best concerts I've attended. His health and power now has understandably diminished, but he was a game changer. Lest we forget.

Absolutely, Bluesie! I hold up Tyner's solo on "Ascension" as extraordinary in its power and advanced level of thinking, coming at the point on the recording it does with all the preceding build-up and the implicit demand to measure up to the intensity of the situation, no small matter for any pianist to match up to.

[Joseph K]

Absolutely, Bluesie! I hold up Tyner's solo on "Ascension" as extraordinary in its power and advanced level of thinking, coming at the point on the recording it does with all the preceding build-up and the implicit demand to measure up to the intensity of the situation, no small matter for any pianist to match up to.

My favourite playing of Tyner is his solo on the live A Love Supreme.

[Ian Thumwood]

The DTM essay is interesting insofar that it reveals that two of McCoy Tyner's favourite composers were Debussy and Stravinsky. Both come as a surprise to me although Debussy is usually a powerful influence on most jazz pianist's harmonic language from Bill Evans onwards. I recall someone like Kenny Garrett commenting that Tyner's approach to the instrument was almost uniquely coming from a Black tradition and there is an element of truth in this. How many piano plays swing as hard as McCoy? He is like a juggernaut once he gets going! I went with my Dad and a friend to hear him perform with a trio in Poole and whilst he did not like Coltrane, my Dad thought that this gig was terrific because of the amount of energy and swing Tyner played with. I agree somewhat with SA that harmony has moved on since the 1960s but the music Tyner produces is delivered with the kind of swing previously attained by the likes of Goodman and Hampton. I don't think that this should be forgotten.


The question always in the back if my mind when I hear him play, especially on ballads, is that there is sometimes a very florid element in his playing I have always thought about what kind of Classical music he plays at home and imagine him being a massive fan of Romantic composers like Chopin. The harmonic language may sometimes be different but I have always had the impression than he had an affinity for this era of classical music.


I would also add that I think that some of his best work is actually outside the Coltrane quartet. His solo on "La mesha" on Joe Henderson's "Page One" is my favourite of his but I was fortunate to hear him the first time in a quartet with Bobby Hutcherson which was as equally as inspired as the coupling with Coltrane.