# Modern jazz has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner: Video

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2017/12/11/modern-jazz-has-been-shaped-by-the-music-of-mccoy-tyner-video/
- Published: 2017-12-11T00:02:11+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**11.12. – Happy Birthday !!! It is not an overstatement to say that modern jazz
has been shaped by the music of McCoy Tyner. His blues- based piano style, replete
with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand has transcended
conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised 
music. His harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary
of a majority of jazz pianists.**

Born in 1938 in Philadelphia, he became a part of the fertile jazz and R&B scene
of the early ‘50s. His parents imbued him with a love for music from an early age.
His mother encouraged him to explore his musical interests through formal training.

At 17 he began a career-changing relationship with Miles Davis’ sideman saxophonist
John Coltrane. Tyner joined Coltrane for the classic album My Favorite Things (1960),
and remained at the core of what became one of the most seminal groups in jazz history,
The John Coltrane Quartet. The band, which also included drummer Elvin Jones and
bassist Jimmy Garrison, had an extraordinary chemistry, fostered in part by Tyner’s
almost familial relationship with Coltrane. From 1960 through 1965, Tyner’s name
was propelled to international renown, as he developed a new vocabulary that transcended
the piano styles of the time, providing a unique harmonic underpinning and rhythmic
charge essential to the group’s sound. He performed on Coltrane’s classic recordings
such as Live at the Village Vanguard, Impressions and Coltrane’s signature suite,
A Love Supreme.

In 1965, after over five years with Coltrane’s quartet, Tyner left the group to 
explore his destiny as a composer and bandleader. Among his major projects is a 
1967 album entitled The Real McCoy, on which he was joined by saxophonist Joe Henderson,
bassist Ron Carter and fellow Coltrane alumnus Elvin Jones. His 1972 Grammy- award
nomination album Sahara, broke new ground by the sounds and rhythms of Africa. Since
1980, he has also arranged his lavishly textured harmonies for a big band that performs
and records when possible. In the late 1980s, he mainly focused on his regular piano
trio featuring Avery Sharpe on bass and Aarron Scott on drums. As of today, this
trio is still in great demand. He returned to Impulse in 1995, with a superb album
featuring Michael Brecker. In 1996 he recorded a special album with the music of
Burt Bacharach. In 1998 he changed labels again and recorded an interesting latin
album and an album featuring Stanley Clarke for TelArc.

Tyner has always expanded his vision of the musical landscape and incorporated new
elements, whether from distant continents or diverse musical influences. More recently
he has arranged for big bands, employed string arrangements, and even reinterpreted
popular music.

Today, Tyner has released nearly 80 albums under his name, earned four Grammys and
was awarded Jazz Master from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2002. He continues
to leave his mark on generations of improvisers, and yet remains a disarmingly modest
and spiritually directed man.

![Image result for McCoy Tyner trio](https://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/qYt3VJMnkew/
maxresdefault.jpg?w=640&ssl=1)

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