Alfred McCoy Tyner was born on December 11, 1938, and passed away on March 6, 2020. He was an American jazz pianist and composer who played with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965. After that, he continued his career alone for many years. Tyner was honored as an NEA Jazz Master and won five Grammy Awards. Many musicians have imitated his style, and he is considered one of the most well-known and influential jazz pianists in history.
Early life and education
Tyner was born on December 11, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. He was the oldest child of Jarvis and Beatrice (born Stevenson) Tyner.
His mother encouraged him to study piano. She had placed a piano in her beauty salon. At 13 years old, Tyner began piano lessons at the Granoff School of Music. There, he also studied music theory and harmony. By age 15, music became the main focus of his life.
Tyner’s decision to study piano was strengthened when he met bebop pianist Bud Powell, a neighbor of his family. Another major influence on his playing was Thelonious Monk, whose rhythmic style shaped Tyner’s approach. During his teenage years, Tyner led his own group called the Houserockers.
At 17, Tyner joined the Ahmadiyya faith and changed his name to Suleiman Saud. However, he continued to perform under the name "McCoy Tyner."
Early career and the John Coltrane Quartet
Tyner began playing professionally in Philadelphia with local musicians such as Lee Morgan and Jimmy Heath, performing in the city's modern jazz scene. He first met John Coltrane in the summer of 1955, and Coltrane later became like a brother to Tyner. They stayed in contact, played together sometimes, and agreed that if Coltrane ever formed his own group, Tyner would be the pianist. In 1960, Tyner joined The Jazztet, a group led by Benny Golson and Art Farmer, and recorded on the group's first album, Meet the Jazztet. Around the same time, Coltrane left Miles Davis's group and formed his own quartet. Because Coltrane was friends with Golson, he hesitated to ask Tyner to leave The Jazztet. Encouraged by his wife, Naima, Coltrane eventually asked Tyner what he wanted to do.
After six months with The Jazztet, Tyner joined the John Coltrane Quartet, which included bassist Steve Davis and drummer Elvin Jones. Tyner performed with the group during its long run at the Jazz Gallery, replacing pianist Steve Kuhn. Tyner later said, "There were probably some bad feelings at first with the Jazztet, but I think they understood better later on. John's group was where I belonged." Coltrane had already recorded Tyner's composition "The Believer" on January 10, 1958, which became the title track of Prestige Records' 1964 album.
The group toured almost constantly from 1961 to 1965 and changed bass players several times, with Reggie Workman replacing Steve Davis and Jimmy Garrison replacing Workman, forming the quartet's classic lineup. The group recorded many albums considered jazz classics, including My Favorite Things (1961) for Atlantic Records and Coltrane Live at the Village Vanguard (1962), Ballads (1963), John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963), Live at Birdland (1964), Crescent (1964), A Love Supreme (1964), and The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965) for Impulse! Records.
A Love Supreme, in particular, is widely recognized as one of the greatest jazz albums ever made. Tyner said, "The band had reached a very high level by that time… [Coltrane] wanted to dig deep and bring us up to another level. And that's what he did."
While in Coltrane's group, Tyner also recorded albums as a leader, including trio recordings such as his debut album, Inception (1962). In late 1962 and early 1963, producer Bob Thiele asked Tyner to record other jazz albums as a leader. These include Reaching Fourth (1963), Nights of Ballads & Blues (1963), Today and Tomorrow (1964), and McCoy Tyner Plays Ellington (1965).
Tyner also appeared as a sideman on many Blue Note Records albums from the 1960s, including classic recordings with Freddie Hubbard, Wayne Shorter, and Joe Henderson. However, he was often listed as "etc." on these albums' covers to follow his contract with Impulse! Records.
Tyner's complex playing style developed through his close work with Coltrane. In 2019, Sami Linna of the University of the Arts Helsinki wrote that Coltrane described his playing as "playing chordally (vertically) or melodically (horizontally)." Linna suggested that "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 to replace Tyner if he was unavailable; 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 also added more percussion players to his quartet, which made it harder for Tyner and Jones to be heard. Tyner said, "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." Alice Coltrane then replaced Tyner as the group's pianist.
Later solo career
In 1966, Tyner practiced with a new group of three musicians and began working as a band leader. At first, his work was not always steady, which made him think about getting a day job to help support his family. He even asked about becoming a taxi driver. Later, Tyner became known as a successful solo artist through a series of post-bop albums that Blue Note released between 1967 and 1970. These albums include The Real McCoy (1967), Tender Moments (1967), Time for Tyner (1968) with vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, Expansions (1968), and Extensions (1970).
Tyner then joined Milestone Records, where he worked well with jazz producer Orrin Keepnews. Keepnews had previously worked with Thelonious Monk and Bill Evans. Tyner’s first album with Milestone, Sahara, earned him his first two Grammy nominations and was named Album of the Year in the DownBeat critics’ poll. Tyner recorded 19 albums for Milestone before moving to Columbia Records. These include a solo piano tribute to Coltrane titled Echoes of a Friend (1972), small-group recordings like Enlightenment (1973) and Sama Layuca (1974), and two orchestral albums, Song of the New World (1973) and Fly with the Wind (1976). Both orchestral albums featured flutist Hubert Laws, other wind instruments, and full string sections. Tyner created the musical arrangements for these albums, using ideas from Walter Piston’s book Harmony. Musicians who played on Tyner’s Milestone recordings included Gary Bartz, Sonny Fortune, Azar Lawrence, and Woody Shaw.
Tyner’s recordings for Blue Note and Milestone often started with music from the Coltrane Quartet. Tyner said, “a lot of what I learned from [Coltrane] transferred” to his later work. He also added sounds from African and East Asian music into his compositions. On Sahara, he played koto, piano, flute, and percussion. On the trio recording Trident (1975), with bassist Ron Carter and Elvin Jones, Tyner played harpsichord and celesta, instruments not often used in jazz. These albums are examples of creative 1970s jazz that was not fusion or free jazz. Unlike many jazz keyboardists of his time, Tyner rarely used electronic keyboards or synthesizers. He said, “To me, electronic instruments have more of an artificial sound. Emotionally I couldn’t function on them.”
In 1982, Tyner and other famous jazz pianists recorded Bill Evans: A Tribute (Avion Records). He played an 8½-minute solo version of Evans’s “We Will Meet Again” to honor his late friend.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Tyner performed and recorded in a trio with Avery Sharpe on bass and Louis Hayes, then Aaron Scott, on drums. He also recorded a trilogy of solo or solo-with-guests albums for Blue Note, starting with Revelations (1988) and ending with Soliloquy (1991). He also recorded another album with Bobby Hutcherson, Manhattan Moods, in 1993.
After joining Telarc Records, Tyner recorded between 1998 and 2003: an album of Latin music, a trio album with Stanley Clarke and Al Foster, a solo album honoring jazz piano legends from Earl Hines to Keith Jarrett, a new album with Hutcherson, and a quintet album, Illuminations, with Terence Blanchard and Gary Bartz. Tyner’s last three albums were recorded for McCoy Tyner Music under Half Note Records. These include a quartet recording with Joe Lovano, an album with guest guitarists like Bill Frisell and Derek Trucks, and a live solo album.
Tyner stopped making recordings in 2007, even though he lived for 13 more years. He continued to play concerts for a while after that but eventually retired quietly.
Tyner wrote many songs. His most often recorded piece is “You Taught My Heart to Sing” (1985), for which Sammy Cahn wrote lyrics. Other songs he composed that have been recorded by many artists include “Aisha” (1961), “Inception” and “Effendi” (1962), and “Passion Dance,” “Contemplation,” “Search for Peace,” and “Blues on the Corner,” all from the 1967 album The Real McCoy.
Personal life
Tyner married Aisha Saud when they were teenagers; they had three children who are boys. The marriage ended in divorce.
Tyner's younger brother, Jarvis Tyner, was executive vice chairman of the Communist Party USA.
Death
Tyner passed away at his home in Bergenfield, New Jersey, on March 6, 2020. He was 81 years old. The reason for his death was not announced, but he had been experiencing poor health.
Influence and playing style
Tyner is considered one of the most important jazz pianists of the late 20th century. He earned this recognition during and after his time playing with Coltrane.
Tyner was left-handed. He played with his left hand positioned low on the keyboard and raised his arm high above the keys for strong, forceful notes. His right hand played short, separated notes. His musical style included a wide range of sounds, from simple blues to complex musical scales. His way of playing chords, especially using fourths, influenced many other jazz pianists, including Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, John Hicks, and Kenny Barron. Some of his harmonic techniques are linked to the composer Claude Debussy, who was one of Tyner's favorite musicians. Tyner also used many non-traditional chords, which led some to compare his work to Paul Hindemith, but Tyner said he was not directly influenced by Hindemith. Tyner said he found inspiration in the music of Igor Stravinsky, Duke Ellington, and Art Tatum, as well as in music from Japan, Turkey, and Africa.
In 1983, Tyner’s colleague Randy Weston said, "He is showing the way to the future while keeping the tradition, rhythm, spiritual energy, humor, and sadness. McCoy is on the right track." Vijay Iyer, a younger jazz pianist who admires Tyner’s work, said, "I have studied Tyner’s smooth playing style, strong rhythm, and rich sounds for many years. After Tyner passed away in 2020, I revisited his music again, which helped me understand what shaped my own playing." Jazz historian Kevin Whitehead wrote that Tyner "played powerful, unclear chords under fast, right-hand melodies often based on five-note scales, a feature in jazz connected to African music. His sound was heavy but lively, like blue smoke rising. His piano could sound like church bells. And he could move with great energy."
In his book History of Jazz, Ted Gioia described Tyner’s style as follows:
Grateful Dead rhythm guitarist Bob Weir also said Tyner influenced his playing.
Awards and honors
Tyner was named a 2002 NEA Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts. He won five Grammy Awards, all later in his career: The Turning Point (1992) and Journey (1993) both received the Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album. Blues for Coltrane: A Tribute to John Coltrane (1987), Infinity (1995), and Illuminations (2004) all won in the category of Best Instrumental Jazz Album.
Tyner was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music at the Sala dei Notari during the Umbria Jazz Festival. He also served as a judge for the 6th, 10th, and 11th annual Independent Music Awards. Steinway & Sons presented a special gold medallion to Tyner to honor his 50 years as a Steinway artist.