McCoy Tyner

• Born: December 11, 1938
• Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Died: March 6, 2020
• Place of death: New Jersey

Jazz musician

McCoy Tyner ranks among the best-known jazz pianists of his era, showcasing a style distinct from contemporaries such as Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, and Keith Jarrett. With a career that began in the early 1960s as member of the first John Coltrane Quartet, over the years he performed in various settings and roles, from soloist to head of his own big band.

Early Life

Alfred McCoy Tyner was born in 1938 to parents who had roots in North Carolina. He grew up in a musical environment: His mother was a pianist, and his neighbors were the jazz pianist brothers Bud Powell and Richie Powell. They, Art Tatum, and Thelonious Monk were Tyner’s first influences when he formally took up the piano at the age of thirteen. He received theory lessons from the Granoff School of Music.

In 1953, while attending West Philadelphia High School, Tyner began leading his first band and played in informal jam sessions with trumpeter Lee Morgan, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Reggie Workman. Two years later, Tyner met John Coltrane at Philadelphia’s Red Rooster Club. He converted to Islam through the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community around the same time, adopting the Muslim name Sulaimon Saud. In his native city, Tyner worked with Coltrane, Jimmy Garrison, Cal Massey, Albert “Tootie” Heath, and Benny Golson, who took him to San Francisco for a three-week stand at the Jazz Workshop with Curtis Fuller, Leroy Vinnegar, and Lennie McBrowne in 1959. Later in the same year, Tyner moved to New York and joined the Benny Golson-Art Farmer Jazztet, with whom he recorded the album Meet the Jazztet (1960).

Life’s Work

Tyner’s international career began in June of 1960 when he joined Coltrane’s legendary Classic Quartet (with Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums). Tyner recorded with the quartet the landmark albums My Favorite Things (1960), Impressions (1963), and A Love Supreme (1965). Between 1962 and 1964, Tyner also appeared as leader on six albums for Impulse! Records, accompanied by such players as Heath, Thad Jones, Art Davis, Henry Grimes, Roy Haynes, and John Gilmore. After leaving Coltrane’s quartet in December of 1965, Tyner toured Japan in 1966 and the United States with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1967, the year he formed his own trio. From 1967 to 1970, Tyner recorded seven albums as leader for Blue Note. His debut album, The Real McCoy (1967), is considered the most notable of this series. During the 1960s, Tyner also played as a sideman on more than forty albums for Blue Note.

After a few less successful years, Tyner gained great acclaim at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1972 and the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1973. He also signed a record contract with Milestone in 1972 that resulted in nineteen albums by 1981 and established Tyner as a well-regarded pianist, arranger, and composer. In 1978, he toured and recorded with the Milestone Jazzstars (Sonny Rollins, Ron Carter, and Al Foster), before forming a small group that included saxophonist Garry Bartz and violinist John Blake in the early 1980s. He later assembled the McCoy Tyner Trio with bassist Avery Sharpe (who was replaced by John Lee in 1982) and drummer Louis Hayes.

In his hometown in 1984, Tyner formed a big band that went on to perform in New York nightclubs and win a Grammy Award in 1992. Later in the 1980s, Tyner toured in all-star groups with Freddie Hubbard and Frank Morgan. Through the 1990s, he continued to lead small groups with a wide variety of musicians. Starting in 1995, Tyner led a group he called the Afro-Cuban All Stars, featuring trombonist Steve Turre, tenor saxophonist David Sanchez, and trumpeter Claudio Roditi, with bassist Sharpe and several Cuban and Puerto Rican percussionists. In 1997, he explored new territory by dedicating a tribute album to the music of Burt Bacharach. In 1998, Tyner headed a quartet that included Joshua Redman, Christian McBride, and Brian Blade.

In the 2000s, Tyner continued his prolific recording career and performance schedule. He collaborated with tap dancer Savion Glover in 2005. Two years later, he founded his own label, McCoy Tyner Music, and released its first album, McCoy Tyner Quartet, featuring saxophonist Joe Lovano, bassist McBride, and drummer Jeff “Tain” Watts.

Tyner's health declined in the 2010s. He died at the age of eighty-one on March 6, 2020, at his house in New Jersey.

Significance

With more than eighty albums to his credit, Tyner ranks among the most accomplished jazz pianists of the second half of the twentieth century, and among the most influential of all time. His vigorous two-handed technique is characterized by a percussive left hand that accentuates the low basses of the piano and a right hand that plays dense block chords in a modal style, with repeated notes, or forceful tremolos, incorporating the whole upper range of the instrument. His dramatic style distinguishes itself through a dense orchestral voicing, unexpected dynamic changes, and an urgent forward motion. Tyner was also known for frequently incorporating African and spiritual elements into his music (for example, in 1972’s Sahara and 1977’s Inner Voices).

Tyner was named a Steinway Artist in 1977 and won five Grammys throughout his career. He received the Jazz Master Award from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002, the 2003 Hero Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the BMI Recording Academy, and an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College in 2005.

Bibliography

Doerschuk, Robert L. Eighty-eight: The Giants of Jazz Piano. San Francisco: Backbeat Books, 2001.

Kahn, Ashley. The House That Trane Built: The Story of Impulse Records. New York: W. W. Norton, 2006.

Kofsky, Frank. Black Nationalism and the Revolution in Music. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1970.

Lyons, Len. The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music. New York: William Morrow, 1983.

Ratliff, Ben. "McCoy Tyner, Jazz Piano Powerhouse, Is Dead at 81." The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/arts/music/mccoy-tyner-dead.html. Accessed 18 Nov. 2020.

Rinzler, Paul. “McCoy Tyner: Style and Syntax.” In Annual Review of Jazz Studies 2. New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Books, 1983.