Tyner McCoy Alfred, *11 December 1938 Philadelphia, †6 March 2020 New Jersey, American jazz pianist and composer. His mother sparked his interest in music. From the age of thirteen, he took regular piano lessons and went on to study music theory at the Granoff School of Music in Philadelphia. At high school, he led a jazz band and performed with the trumpeter L. Morgan. At the age of sixteen, he encountered the music of B. Powell, which influenced his playing style. In the second half of the 1950s, he played in a band with C. Massey, J. Garrison, and A. “Tootie” Heath (in 1957, this group performed for a week with J. Coltrane). In 1959, he became a member of the Benny Golson-Art Farmer Jazztet (Meet the Jazztet, 1960). He gained international recognition in Coltrane’s quartet (1960–65), with which he toured extensively and recorded several historic albums (including My Favorite Things, 1960; Impressions, 1961; A Love Supreme, 1964; Ascension, 1965). During this period, he also recorded under his own name for the Impulse label (including Inception, 1962; Reaching Fourth, 1962; Nights of Ballads and Blues, 1963; Today and Tomorrow, 1963–64). In 1965, he left Coltrane’s band. Then, in 1966–67, he collaborated with A. Blackey’s Jazz Messengers (touring Japan and the United States), and in 1967–70, he recorded for Blue Note (including The Real McCoy, 1967 with J. Henderson, E. Jones, and R. Carter). In 1972, he joined the Milestone label – the album Sahara (1972) was nominated for the Grammy Award. In 1978, he toured with the Milestone Jazz Stars (S. Rollins, R. Carter, A. Foster), and in the early 1980s he led groups featuring G. Bartz, J. Blake, A. Sharpe, J. Lee, and L. Hayes. In 1984, he formed a big band in Philadelphia, with which he recorded (Uptown Down town, 1989) and toured (the United States, Europe). In 1990, he gave a solo concert at the Jazz Jamboree (Live in Warsaw, 1991). In the first half of the 1990s, he played with F. Hubbard and F. Morgan, G. Adams, J. Scofield, S. Grappelli (One on One, 1990), B. Hutcherson (Manhattan Moods, 1994), F. Henderson, B. Harper, S. Fortune. Since 1995, he has led the Afro-Cuban All Stars with S. Turre, D. Sanchez, and a group of percussionists from Cuba and Puerto Rico. In 1998, he played in a quartet with J. Redman, C. McBride, and B. Blade. The album McCoy Tyner Plays John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard, recorded in 1997, was released in 2001. In 2007, he released the album Quartet (featuring J. Lovano, among others), and the following year, he issued Guitars in 2008 (featuring guitarists M. Ribot, J. Scofield, and B. Frisell). He performed in Poland for the last time in 2009.
Tyner was one of the most creative pianists in the history of modern jazz and, alongside Ch. Corea, H. Hancock and K. Jarrett, he was the most recognisable artist of the 1960s and 1970s. In the early days, A. Tatum, B. Powell, and Th. Monk influenced him – his later recordings bear the echoes of earlier styles (such as stride), especially his interpretations of standards. He most fully realized his potential as a pianist and improviser in Coltrane’s band. His style at that time was a synthesis of post-bop, modal jazz, and the leader’s innovative ideas, which he was able to creatively develop and complement. Tyner’s important task in Coltrane’s quartet was to strengthen the rhythm section, which he achieved by treating the piano percussively, repeating fixed rhythmic formulas, and emphasizing the tonal centre in the form of pedal points, among other things. These measures were intended to give Coltrane almost unlimited freedom in his improvisations and to stabilize the pieces in terms of tonality. Tyner’s playing at that time was characterized by violent expression, powerful sound, and dense texture; he used modal scales, pentatonic scales, and chords based on fourths, tritones, fifths, and octaves. At climaxes, he strongly emphasized the central sound (the bass part) and developed complex arpeggio passages. His style was sometimes described as orchestral – his left hand played the role of the “rhythm section,” while his right hand carried the melody line, imitating (in articulation and phrasing) wind instruments. When Coltrane began to lean towards the ideas of free jazz, Tyner did not accept his leader’s radicalism, which was the direct cause of the artists’ split shortly after the recording of Ascension. After leaving the quartet, Tyner had to establish himself again and free himself from being labelled as “Coltrane’s pianist.” The beginning of his career as an independent artist was marked by the album The Real McCoy, while Sahara showcased his openness to African and East Asian music (he also played the koto, flute and percussion instruments). From then on, Tyner’s career developed in two directions – on the one hand, he remained a representative of the mainstream and a continuer of Coltrane’s legacy, while on the other, he successfully combined jazz with ethnic music and lighter genres (including recordings of songs by B. Bacharach), while maintaining a distance from fashionable trends (electric jazz, fusion, pop). Tyner’s music continues to inspire new generations of pianists.
