Jazz Articles about McCoy Tyner

McCoy Tyner: 13th House

by Derek Taylor
March 20, 2003

As with any art form, ambitious undertakings in jazz can be a tight rope enterprise. Marshalling substantial resources and broad rosters sometimes yields brilliance, other times it amounts to ill- advised self-indulgence. A survey of McCoy Tyner’s early post-Coltrane oeuvre shows the pianist often reaching for an expansive orchestral sound as well as incorporating a wide range of ‘world’ music elements into his music. His producers at Milestone were sympathetic to his ambitions, fronting both the bankroll and a widely ...

McCoy Tyner: The Greeting

by AAJ Staff
September 7, 2002

This is a rather welcome addition to McCoy Tyner's reissue catalog on compact disc. For those acquainted with Tyner's 1970s Milestone output after all, this live date featuring his sextet from the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco (1978) is definitely one of the more worthwhile Milestone Tyners.

In contrast to several of McCoy's Milestone records which share a certain level of sameness ("Together", “Focal Point", etc.) and seemed on some level to merely be “marathons to top other ...

Freddie Hubbard: Open Sesame

by Craig Jolley
March 1, 2002

Open Sesame (1960) was Freddie Hubbard’s first record as a leader. If it was his only record it would be legendary, but within two years he had recorded four better ones. What raised the other records above Open Sesame was the drummers: Philly Joe Jones, Elvin Jones, and Louis Hayes. There is nothing wrong with Clifford Jarvis—he swings, he interacts with the other players, and he fits the band’s conservative concept. But on his best records Hubbard fed off his ...

McCoy Tyner: Plays John Coltrane: At the Village Vanguard

by AAJ Staff
November 1, 2001

First off, for those who might assume this record was some never-before released Tyner Impulse record from the 60s--please calm down...it's actually a Tyner record of the recent era when he recorded for Impulse, evidently residue from the contract he was under before having moved onto Telarc.So-not the Tyner of such memorable records as Today and Tommorrow or Inception, not that classic 60s Impulse recorded sound, but...a good record nonetheless and one that has its own certain value ...

McCoy Tyner: Jazz Roots

by Dave Nathan
December 1, 2000

Perhaps Jazz Roots can be dubbed McCoy Tyner's “thank you" album as the great pianist pays homage to those masters of the keyboard, both those who preceded him and his contemporaries, like Fats Waller, Bud Powell, Art Tatum, Erroll Garner and Earl “Fatha" Hines. Tyner also recognizes individuals who composed the great music which allowed accomplished artists like himself to show off their considerable skills to the best advantage. There are tunes here by Duke Ellington (of course), Thelonious Monk, ...

McCoy Tyner: Jazz Roots

by Mark Corroto
November 1, 2000

Pianist McCoy Tyner is the anti-Miles and the anti-(modern) Jarrett. Not that he is their competitor, but that Tyner applies himself to the piano in such a converse manner. Where Miles Davis let the silence between notes speak, Tyner fills almost all the space. The new millenium version of Keith Jarrett, recovering from chronic fatigue syndrome, has a most economical touch, whereas Tyner plays like a soccer mom’s SUV on game day. The Philadelphia born musician was a neighbor to ...

McCoy Tyner: With Stanley Clarke And Al Foster

by Mark Corroto
February 1, 2000

One cannot think of McCoy Tyner and not recall John Coltrane’s classic quartet. Tyner’s massive expression on the ivories was the equivalent of John Coltrane’s efforts to blow the jazz world wide open. For the past forty years his playing has been the model for most modern jazz piano. Of late, he has worked in a big band setting with his Latin All-Stars, covered the music of Bert Bacharach, and sat in on Michael Brecker’s recordings. His latest, a trio ...