McCoy Tyner Believes in Staying True to His Style

Were it just for the five years he spent with John Coltrane, pianist McCoy Tyner would have solidified his place in jazz history.

Coltrane, who began as a sideman in 1955 and died in 1967 at age 40, recorded an extraordinary amount of exceptional work in such a short time. Much of that came during Tyner’s run, which also included the explosive drumming of Elvin Jones. “Ol Coltrane,” “My Favorite Things,” “A Love Supreme,” “Africa Brass Sessions, Vol. 1 and 2” and “Live at the Village Vanguard” are just some examples of the magic Tyner helped Coltrane create between 1960 and 1965.

Aside from some lean years after his departure from the legendary saxophonist, Tyner’s post-’Trane career has been every bit as prolific and has cemented him as one of the most important acoustic pianists of the last 50 years. (In a review in The Times, Don Heckman wrote of Tyner’s brilliant form and nonstop creativity when he played at the Jazz Bakery in Culver City in February.)

Tyner’s latest disc, “Jazz Roots: McCoy Tyner Honors Jazz Piano Legends of the 20th Century” (Telarc), pays tribute to greats of the eighty-eight such as Art Tatum, Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Duke Ellington as well as living innovators Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea.

“I try to do things in contrast,” Tyner says. “I had the Latin jazz and some trio stuff, so I thought it would be nice to do a solo album. I think it makes sense. I don’t like to put out sequels or the same concept all the time. I like to offer [listeners] something different.”

He’s released more than 50 albums under his name. Although his projects offer something different each time, like the great innovator Monk, Tyner has rarely had to alter his distinctive style--one that shows admiration for the blues, includes percussive block chords and utilizes riffs and vamps--to fit any of the formats. An unabashed lover of the acoustic piano, he also refused to be persuaded by the technological upgrades the fusion craze brought about.

Tyner was born in Philadelphia in 1938, began studying piano at 13 and playing professionally at 15. His formal music training lasted about three years.

“I had always liked music and heard different kinds of music,” he says. “I had an R&B; band in junior high school, and then some older musicians heard me and took me under their wing and they showed me some jazz standards. And then Bud Powell moved around the corner. So it was a gradual progression.” Powell, Monk and Tatum were and remain Tyner’s three major influences.

Making Jazz History With John Coltrane

During breaks from high school, Tyner would travel to play clubs in Atlantic City, N.J. The 17-year-old Tyner first met Coltrane when Coltrane was in Philadelphia between gigs with Miles Davis. Coltrane was still cementing his vision as a frontman but used Tyner for several area shows.

Tyner, in the meantime, was gaining his first real exposure with Benny Golson and Art Farmer’s Jazztet in 1959. Coltrane left Davis’ group the following year and called on Tyner to, unknowingly, make jazz history. Coltrane is among the greatest musical minds of the last 40 years; he was on a never-ending quest both for spirituality through music and new ways to sound. Tyner says the synergy among Coltrane’s musicians was strong. It had to be, the music demanded it.

“We were dedicated to the music we were doing,” he says. “It was more of a passion and love of music than a job. You couldn’t play music of that level if you were just treating it as a job with a paycheck at the end of the week.”

“A Love Supreme,” a devotional suite broken into parts called “Acknowledgment,” “Resolution,” “Pursuance” and “Psalm,” and a raga-like rendition of “My Favorite Things” rank among the best jazz recordings ever made.

“We were very confident and I always felt that we were doing something really important,” Tyner says. “I didn’t realize the [true] significance until afterward.”

After he left Coltrane, the press and the public had a hard time realizing Tyner’s significance as well. A string of recordings for the Blue Note label rank among the best of his career yet went relatively unnoticed. His genius has been widely accepted since the early 1970s, when he signed with the Milestone, a label he stayed with until 1980. His output and guest spots remain prolific. He tours regularly with his trio and periodically with the McCoy Tyner Big Band, which he put together in 1984.

He’s been around the block more than once, but Tyner isn’t sure where jazz is going next. “This is an art form and it has a lot to do with a lot of things,” he says. “Sometimes it’s forced and it has a tendency to end--the fusion thing, it’s kaput now and at one time it was a big craze. Sound comes from within.”

He doesn’t subscribe to the “young lion” school of thought that began with Wynton Marsalis in the early 1980s and has included every young gifted jazz musician to emerge since.

“There’s some young people coming up that have tremendous potential,” he says. “The ones who are outstanding will make themselves known. You don’t have to wave a flag.”

Tyner does voice concern about how quickly young talent is exposed. Apprenticeships, which nearly all musicians of his era paid their dues with, are all but gone. Now, “you’re a leader before you’re out of college,” he says.

Tyner, on the other hand, was recording jazz history shortly after his college years.