R.I.P. McCoy Tyner

[arielcee]

Jazz Pianist McCoy Tyner Dies at 81

Got to see him several times, once with Ravi Coltrane.
He's certainly my favorite piano player.
I'd say it is sad, but he's probably in a better place now.
R.I.P. maestro.

[mr. beaumont]

Wow, RIP indeed. Thanks for all the music, McCoy.

What a loss.

[AndyV]

[wintermoon]

a former co worker grew up w him. He said they'd all be outside playing ball but McCoy would be inside practicing all the time.
His mother had a beauty salon w a piano and cats like Trane, Golson, the Heath brothers etc would be there jamming and learning

rip Mr Tyner

[AndyV]

[TOMMO]

Sh*t! A true giant of jazz. RIP.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

My tribe doesn't do "RIP", so I'll just say, farewell, McCoy!

I had this album. Awesome is too weak a word for it!

[jaco]

Saw McCoy at the Jazz Workshop in Boston around 74-75. Alphonse Mouzon was on drums if I remember correctly. I do remember it was a Monday night and only about 30 people there. I've never heard such incredible power come out of a piano. I thought the legs would have to come off the thing. A transcendental experience...RIP to one of the best

[wolflen]

taking the keyboard beyond limits..

and now

breaking through to the other side..

[neatomic]

always a bummer to come onto the forum and see a rip thread...and this one hits particularly hard

mccoy tyner!! what a great!!! i listen to his recordings all the time...i love his milestone records era...so many great albums...while sama layuca is prob my alltime fave-

here's a track from his sahara album (1972)...with another great who passed too early, the aforementioned ^ alphonse mouzon...one of the few drummers as powerful as elvin

the aptly titled- rebirth

mccoy may you live forever in our hearts

cheers

[joelf]

Very, very sorry to hear.

The ranks are thinning...

[bonsritmos]

what a gigantic loss to the jazz world

absolutly neatomic, rebirth on sahara is phenominal and its in my practice tape . i practice with mccoy all the time, he is my time ajuster and baromater. i have to swing with him to know im in the ball park of swing

you have to understand, i saw all the contemporary greats back in the late sixties early seventies, check, jarret, herbie, and by far, if you wanted to understand the real depth of jazz swing and improvisation , mccoy with alphonce , sonny fortune and junie booth was the most powerfully swinging group , doing the sahara thing with rebirth and other hard swinging cuts.

rest in peace, i have always been humbled by you mccoy, and you set the jazz swing standard of my time

[Sam Sherry]

I feel smaller.


The "played with John Coltrane" club is now mighty small. Sonny Rollins, Kenny Burrell, Pharoah Sanders, James Cobb and who else?


Mr. Tyner with Pat Metheny and Michael Brecker -- "Song for Bilbao" was originally called "Song for McCoy"

Mr. Tyner with John Abercrombie:

When I started playing jazz in the mid-70s both McCoy Tyner and Bill Evans were alive, and everybody wanted to play like Tyner. It seems like it was only after Evans' death that the scales started to tip in his direction. Here's hoping it's Tyner time again. Let's hear people make some pianos move.

[darkwaters]

How sad. Ms. darkwaters and I went to see him at the Blue Note in NY in the late 90's. Great show.

[wintermoon]

Always dug his playing on Lee Morgan's Tom Cat lp (can you believe this session sat in the can until 1980?, there were a ton of recordings like this that Michael Cuscuna dug up around then, just shows how much quality material Alfred Lion had to choose from)
Here's Twilight Mist....

[Alter]

A true jazz giant.. How much can a single musician offer!..

[Rob MacKillop]

A major, major name. Sad to say farewell, but glad he left us so much.

[grahambop]

I think I managed to see him 4 times, what a phenomenon he was.

Here’s a photo I took on the first occasion in 1981:

[kevmoga]

I think I managed to see him 4 times, what a phenomenon he was.

Here’s a photo I took on the first occasion in 1981:

That's about the time I first saw him live - opening for Art Blakey and the JMs at the Atlanta jazz festival when it used to be a bigger deal than it is now - what a night! Listening to Grant Green's Matador album right now with MT on piano, right up there with the Sonny Clark quartets and maybe even up a notch. RIP.

[Sam Sherry]

Let's pause and go where the music takes us . . .

[cosmic gumbo]

McCoy! What a force of nature. Everything I needed to know about quartal harmony I learned from listening to him. One of the true piano icons, his sound was so distinctive, harmonically and rhythmically. You could identify him in a couple measures. Such a modern influence on pianists and guitarists too! Comping on modern stuff, by default, I always go into Tyner mode.

During his important time with Coltrane, he was never overshadowed by Trane, always an equal. Made his mark with a few other tenor players, also.

[Litterick]

Mr. Tyner did not use electric piano or synthesizers, or play with rock and disco backbeats, as many of the best jazz musicians did at the time; owning one of the strongest and most recognizable keyboard sounds in jazz, he was committed to acoustic instrumentation

Forthright obituary in the New York Times

[Marinero]

I saw McCoy many times in Chicago beginning in the early 70's. He was a master technician, interpreter and artist.

"Where have all the flowers gone . . . Long time passing . . . "
Good playing . . . Marinero

[joelf]

This is really beautiful. Those vocal arrangements!:

[arielcee]

Man. Still can't believe McCoy is gone. Sad few days.