Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Grammy Award winner. Tyner has been widely imitated, and is one of the most recognizable and influential jazz pianists of all time.

Early life and education

Tyner was born on December 11, 1938, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, Pennsylvania, the eldest of Jarvis and Beatrice (née Stevenson) Tyner's three children. Tyner was encouraged to study piano by his mother, who had installed a piano at her beauty salon. When he was 13, Tyner began piano lessons at Granoff School of Music, where he also studied

music theory Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...

and

harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

. By the time he was 15, music had become the focus of his life. Tyner's decision to study piano was reinforced when he encountered

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

pianist Bud Powell, a neighbor of the Tyner family. Another major influence on Tyner's playing was Thelonious Monk, whose percussive attacks informed Tyner's style. During his teens, Tyner led his own group, the Houserockers. When he was 17, Tyner converted to

Ahmadiyya Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ), is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed a ...

and changed his name to Suleiman Saud.

Career

Tyner played professionally in Philadelphia, becoming part of its modern jazz scene. In 1960, he joined

The Jazztet The Jazztet was a jazz sextet, co-founded in 1959 by trumpeter Art Farmer and tenor saxophonist Benny Golson, always featuring the founders along with a trombonist and a piano-bass-drums rhythm section. In its first phase, the Jazztet lasted unti ...

led by Benny Golson and

Art Farmer Arthur Stewart Farmer (August 21, 1928 – October 4, 1999) was an American jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player. He also played flumpet, a trumpet–flugelhorn combination especially designed for him. He and his identical twin brother, doub ...

. Six months later, he joined the

quartet, which included drummer

Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was an American jazz drummer of the post-bop era. Most famously a member of John Coltrane's quartet, with whom he recorded from late 1960 to late 1965, Jones appeared on such albums as ''My Fa ...

and bassist Steve Davis. He worked with the band during its extended run at the Jazz Gallery, replacing

Steve Kuhn Steve Kuhn (born March 24, 1938) is an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator. He is the composer of the jazz standard " The Saga of Harrison Crabfeathers". Biography Kuhn was born in New York City, New York, to S ...

. Coltrane had known Tyner for a while growing up in Philadelphia, and recorded Tyner's composition "The Believer" on January 10, 1958, which became the title track of Prestige Records' 1964

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

under Coltrane's name. The band toured almost nonstop between 1961 and 1965, recording many albums widely considered jazz classics including '' My Favorite Things'' (1961) for

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

and '' Coltrane "Live" at the Village Vanguard'' (1962), '' Ballads'' (1963), '' John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman'' (1963), '' Live at Birdland'' (1964), ''

Crescent A crescent shape (, ) is a symbol or emblem used to represent the lunar phase (as it appears in the northern hemisphere) in the first quarter (the "sickle moon"), or by extension a symbol representing the Moon itself. In Hindu iconography, Hind ...

'' (1964), '' A Love Supreme'' (1964), and '' The John Coltrane Quartet Plays'' (1965), for Impulse! Records. While in Coltrane's group, Tyner recorded albums in a piano trio. In late 1962 and the first half of 1963, Tyner was asked by producer Bob Thiele to record more straightforward jazz albums as a leader. These included '' Reaching Fourth'' (1963), '' Today and Tomorrow'' (1964), and '' McCoy Tyner Plays Ellington'' (1965). In a 2017 review, Marc Myers of ''JazzWax'' wrote, "the finest of these straightforward piano recordings was '' Nights of Ballads & Blues''. Tyner's playing is exciting and exceptional on all of the tracks... On the album, he exhibits a reserved elegance and tenderness that reveals the other side of his personality—a lover of melody and standards. In this regard, there are traces of

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

in his playing. Perhaps Thiele was using Tyner to take a bite out of Peterson's vast and successful early-'60s share of the jazz market." Tyner also appeared as a sideman on many

Blue Note Records Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by History of the Jews in Germany, German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it deriv ...

albums of the 1960s, although he was often credited as "etc." on the cover of these albums to respect his contract with Impulse!. Tyner's playing style developed in close contact with Coltrane. His style is comparable to Coltrane's maximalist style. In 2019, Sami Linna at the

University of the Arts Helsinki The University of the Arts Helsinki (, ), also known as Uniarts Helsinki, is a Finnish arts university that was launched in the beginning of 2013. Apart from a few exceptions, it is the only university in Finland that provides education in the f ...

noted that Coltrane described the two different directions in his playing as "playing chordally (vertically) or melodically (horizontally)". Linna suggests: "Tyner would eventually find a way of dealing with the two directions simultaneously, in a manner that was supportive and complementary yet original and slightly different from Coltrane's approach." After 1960, Coltrane did not hire anyone as a replacement if Tyner was not available; between the time Tyner joined the group (around the end of May 1960) and left (December 1965), no other pianist accompanied Coltrane. Tyner's involvement with Coltrane ended in 1965. Coltrane's music was becoming much more atonal and free; he had also augmented his quartet with percussion players who threatened to drown out both Tyner and Jones. Tyner commented: "I didn't see myself making any contribution to that music... All I could hear was a lot of noise. I didn't have any feeling for the music, and when I don't have feelings, I don't play". In 1966, Tyner rehearsed with a new trio and embarked on a career as a bandleader. Tyner produced a series of

post-bop Post-bop is a jazz term with several possible definitions and usages.Yudkin, Jeremy (2007), p. 125 It has been variously defined as a musical period, a musical genre, a musical style, and a body of music, sometimes in different chronological perio ...

albums released by Blue Note between 1967 and 1970. These included '' The Real McCoy'' (1967), '' Tender Moments'' (1967), '' Time for Tyner'' (1968), '' Expansions'' (1968), and '' Extensions'' (1970). He signed with Milestone Records and recorded such albums as ''

Sahara The Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning across North Africa. With an area of , it is the largest hot desert in the world and the list of deserts by area, third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Ar ...

'' and '' Echoes of a Friend'' (1972), '' Enlightenment'' (1973), and '' Fly with the Wind'' (1976), which included flutist Hubert Laws, drummer Billy Cobham, and a string orchestra. His music for Blue Note and Milestone often used the music of the Coltrane quartet as a starting point. Tyner also incorporated African and East Asian elements. On ''Sahara'', he played ''koto'' in addition to piano, flute, and percussion. These albums have been cited as examples of innovative 1970s jazz that was neither fusion nor

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

. On '' Trident'' (1975) Tyner played the

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

and celesta, instruments rarely heard in jazz. Unlike many jazz keyboardists of his generation, Tyner rarely used

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument based on keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs and digital audio work ...

s or

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s. During the '80s and '90s, Tyner performed in a trio including Avery Sharpe on bass and Louis Hayes, then Aaron Scott, on drums. He also recorded some solo albums for Blue Note, beginning with '' Revelations'' (1988) and culminating in ''

Soliloquy A soliloquy (, from Latin 'alone' and 'to speak', ) is a speech in drama in which a character speaks their thoughts aloud, typically while alone on stage. It serves to reveal the character's inner feelings, motivations, or plans directly to ...

'' (1991). After signing with Telarc, he recorded with several other trios. These included Charnett Moffett on bass and Al Foster on drums. In 2008, he toured with a quartet of Gary Bartz, Gerald L. Cannon, and Eric Gravatt.

Personal life

Tyner married Aisha Saud; they had three sons. The marriage ended in divorce. Tyner's younger brother Jarvis Tyner was executive vice-chairman of the Communist Party USA.

Death

Tyner died at his home in Bergenfield, New Jersey, on March 6, 2020. He was 81. No cause of death was given, but he had been in ill health.

Influence and playing style

Tyner is considered one of the most influential jazz pianists of the late 20th century, an honor he earned during and after his time with Coltrane. Tyner, who was left-handed, played with a low bass left hand and raised his arm high above the keyboard for an emphatic attack. His right-hand soloing was detached and

staccato Staccato (; Italian for "detached") is a form of Articulation (music), musical articulation. In modern notation, it signifies a note of shortened duration, separated from the note that may follow by silence. It has been described by theorists and ...

. His melodic vocabulary was rich, ranging from raw

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

to complex superimposed pentatonic scales; his approach to chord voicing (most characteristically by fourths) influenced contemporary jazz pianists, such as Chick Corea. Some of his harmonic modal techniques have been connected to

Claude Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

's music. Bob Weir, rhythm guitarist for the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1965. Known for their eclectic style that fused elements of rock, blues, jazz, Folk music, folk, country music, country, bluegrass music, bluegrass, roc ...

, has cited Tyner as an influence on his playing.

Awards and honors

Tyner was named a 2002 NEA Jazz Master by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. He won five

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

s: for '' The Turning Point'' (1992) and '' Journey'' (1993) and best instrumental jazz album for '' Illuminations'' (2004), ''

Infinity Infinity is something which is boundless, endless, or larger than any natural number. It is denoted by \infty, called the infinity symbol. From the time of the Ancient Greek mathematics, ancient Greeks, the Infinity (philosophy), philosophic ...

'' (1995), and '' Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane'' (1987). Tyner was awarded an

Honorary Doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

of Music from

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

at the Sala dei Notari during the Umbria Jazz Festival. Tyner was a judge for the 6th, 10th and 11th annual Independent Music Awards."11th Annual IMA Judges
Independent Music Awards. Retrieved September 4, 2013.

Discography

References

External links

*
NEA Jazz Masters biography
at International Association for Jazz Education
McCoy Tyner's musical style
at jazz-piano.org
McCoy Tyner at Jazz Resource Center
at jazzcenter.org
McCoy Tyner Trio with Gary Bartz: concert review, 2011
at allaboutjazz.com

at innerviews.org *
McCoy Tyner interview
on In Black America, September 17, 1982 at the American Archive of Public Broadcasting * 2003 concert, recorded at SFJAZZ Jazz Fest {{DEFAULTSORT:Tyner, Mccoy 1938 births 2020 deaths 20th-century African-American musicians 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century American pianists 21st-century African-American musicians African-American jazz musicians African-American jazz pianists Afro-Cuban jazz pianists American Ahmadis American jazz bandleaders American jazz composers American male jazz composers American male jazz pianists Muslims from Pennsylvania Bellaphon Records artists Chesky Records artists Columbia Records artists Converts to Islam Elektra Records artists Enja Records artists Grammy Award winners Hard bop pianists Impulse! Records artists Jazz musicians from Philadelphia Mainstream jazz pianists Milestone Records artists Modal jazz pianists Palo Alto Records artists People from Bergenfield, New Jersey Post-bop pianists Red Baron Records artists Spiritual jazz musicians Telarc Records artists The Jazztet members Timeless Records artists West Philadelphia High School alumni African-American Muslims DownBeat Jazz Hall of Fame members Musicians from Bergen County, New Jersey NEA Jazz Masters The Jazz Messengers members