PreViews 2008–2009 Issue 5
A National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Master and winner of five Grammy Awards, pianist and composer McCoy Tyner has helped to shape modern jazz with his blues-infused style.
Tyner’s sophisticated chords and explosively percussive left hand—he’s known for raising his left arm high to launch dramatic attacks at the keyboard—have created one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music.
The pianist was part of the seminal early 1960s quartet guided by saxophonist John Coltrane and backed by drummer Elvin Jones and bassist Jimmy Garrison. Today, Tyner fronts his own quartet, which comes to Schwab Auditorium for a concert of standards and originals at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, February 19. Tyner and his band mates—alto and soprano saxophonist Gary Bartz, bassist Gerald Cannon, and drummer Eric Kamau Gravatt—are scheduled to perform one set without intermission.
“McCoy Tyner is hardly the prototype of a musician re-creating past hits,” writes a critic for the All Music Guide. “Instead, he signals that he still has a few surprises up his sleeve.”
Despite his age—the Philadelphia native turned 71 in December—Tyner is “still playing fierce, uncompromising, and delightful music,” insists a JazzTimes reviewer.
The oldest of three children, Alfred McCoy Tyner didn’t begin piano studies until he was 13. But within a few years, music had become the foundation of his existence. Jazz pianist Bud Powell, a neighbor, was an early influence.
Tyner came to the attention of the jazz world in 1960 as the first pianist in Jazztet, a New York City-based ensemble fronted by saxophonist Benny Golson and trumpeter Art Farmer.
Tyner’s first recording with Coltrane, who he met at age 17 and with whom he shared an unusually close friendship, was the classic album My Favorite Things. He also performed on the acclaimed Coltrane albums Live at the Village Vanguard and Impressions, plus the signature suite A Love Supreme.
In 1965, after five years in Coltrane’s band, Tyner set out on his own as bandleader, composer, and soloist. He has since released almost eighty albums that have ranged in jazz genres from hard bop to Afro-Cuban to post-bop.
In addition to regular jazz gigs, Tyner has collaborated on tours with tap dancer Savion Glover and the modern dance company Ailey II. He has also appeared on TV shows including Late Show with David Letterman, Breakfast with the Arts, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien.
Tyner’s harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a majority of jazz pianists. He continues to leave his mark on generations of improvisers, yet he is a modest and spiritual man.
“Whether he’s performing solo or leading a big band or small group,” notes jazz writer Bob Young, “the orchestral atmosphere produced by his improvising is rich in warmth, intensity, and meditative, tender beauty.”
Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring Tyner, is offered in Schwab Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders.
Adult $36
University Park Student $15
18 and Younger $29
Joel Confer BMW
This tour engagement of McCoy Tyner is funded through the American Masterpieces program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius, a major initiative to acquaint Americans with the best of their cultural and artistic legacy.
Corvette America underwrites jazz presentations at the Center for the Performing Arts.