McCoy Tyner has died, aged 81

[Gheorghe]

6 hours ago, sidewinder said:

It was the music from ‘Horizon’ that featured in the band with John Blake that I heard. His presence at the time was a surprise for me too, resplendent on the bandstand at Scotts in flash white suit. Almost like someone from ‘Saturday Night Fever’ !

Gheorghe - Maybe the drummer you saw was Wilby Fletcher? Before that it was ‘Sonship’ Theuss I think.

6 hours ago, sidewinder said:

It was the music from ‘Horizon’ that featured in the band with John Blake that I heard. His presence at the time was a surprise for me too, resplendent on the bandstand at Scotts in flash white suit. Almost like someone from ‘Saturday Night Fever’ !

Gheorghe - Maybe the drummer you saw was Wilby Fletcher? Before that it was ‘Sonship’ Theuss I think.

Yes, thank you. It could have been Wilby Fletcher. Joe Ford must have been on saxophone. 

[felser]

6 hours ago, sidewinder said:

It was the music from ‘Horizon’ that featured in the band with John Blake that I heard. His presence at the time was a surprise for me too, resplendent on the bandstand at Scotts in flash white suit. Almost like someone from ‘Saturday Night Fever’ !

Gheorghe - Maybe the drummer you saw was Wilby Fletcher? Before that it was ‘Sonship’ Theuss I think.

I have a DVD of a show of undetermined vintage, but appears to be from around that time.  Tyner/Blake/Sharpe/Joe Ford/Ronnie Burrage on drums.

15 hours ago, CJ Shearn said:

 hope to get a lot of these albums on CD soon from the Milestone era.  I just have burns I made years ago of Enlightenment, Counterpoints: Live in Tokyo and Together from emusic as far as Milestones go.

Start with the mighty 'Sahara' and work forward from there.  You have great listening ahead!

[Milestones]

Someone mentioned a piece called "The Seeker."  I don't know that one.

[Gheorghe]

14 minutes ago, felser said:

I have a DVD of a show of undetermined vintage, but appears to be from around that time.  Tyner/Blake/Sharpe/Joe Ford/Ronnie Burrage on drums.

Start with the mighty 'Sahara' and work forward from there.  You have great listening ahead!

oh, yeah this is very possible. I just think I found the personnel once , and if I remember right, Ronnie Burrage was on it. 

It´s interesting that they played "The Seeker" which is not on the Horizon album, but it´s on the "4 Quartets" album done with Bobby Hutcherson in the Beginning of March 1980. And about 3 weeks later it was the tour with the mentioned sextet and maybe they just played it, it seemed to be a brandnew composition then. 

I remember "The Seeker" as something like a healing song for me, since I had a bad cold at that time and after a few bars there was no cold anymore, I just started to feel really fine ! 

4 minutes ago, Milestones said:

Someone mentioned a piece called "The Seeker."  I don't know that one.

As I wrote, "The Seeker" was the first tune the sextet played in Vienna March 1980 and it was recorded just before that tour on the famous double CD "4 Quartets". I mean....."Quartet 4 x 4" it´s four LP sides: One with Freddie Hubbard, one with John Abercrombie, one with Bobby Hutcherson, and the last one with Athur Blythe. 

Edited March 10, 2020 by Gheorghe

[Milestones]

OK, I do have that record (4x4), though it has not been played as much as many of the others.

[CJ Shearn]

13 hours ago, felser said:

I have a DVD of a show of undetermined vintage, but appears to be from around that time.  Tyner/Blake/Sharpe/Joe Ford/Ronnie Burrage on drums.

Start with the mighty 'Sahara' and work forward from there.  You have great listening ahead!

Looking forward.  Sahara I heard years ago, it's great.  If only Fantasy had done a mega Tyner Milestone set!

[felser]

11 hours ago, CJ Shearn said:

If only Fantasy had done a mega Tyner Milestone set!

I thought the same back in that golden era 20 years ago when such things seemed possible. 

[Milestones]

Tyner must have done at least 25 records on Milestone, several of them doubles.  And he did most of this within a 10-year span.

 

 

[felser]

If I got them all, it's 23, with three doubles (Enlightenment, Atlantis, 4x4):

Sahara            1972        Milestone
Song for My Lady    1972        Milestone
Echoes of a Friend    1972        JVC, Milestone
Song of the New World    1973        Milestone
Enlightenment        1973        Milestone
Sama Layuca        1974        Milestone
Atlantis        1974        Milestone
Trident            1975        Milestone
Fly with the Wind    1976        Milestone
Focal Point        1976        Milestone
Supertrios        1977        Milestone
Inner Voices        1977        Milestone
The Greeting        1978        Milestone
Passion Dance        1978        Milestone
Counterpoints        1978        Milestone
Together        1979        Milestone
Horizon            1979        Milestone
Quartets 4 X 4        1980        Milestone
13th House        1981        Milestone
Uptown/Downtown        1988        Milestone
One on One(w/ Grappelli)1990        Milestone
Blue Bossa        1991        Milestone
Prelude and Sonata    1994        Milestone
 

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

Milestone's premier artist

[Milestones]

Supertrios was also a double.  Of course, all the doubles later wound up as single CDs.   

 

 

[JSngry]

I bought most, if not all, of them as LPs at some point. But truthfully, at the time, they got to be too much of a good thing to really make an impact after 1976-77 or so. Stanley Crouch, who was then an ardent champion of the Loft scene, referred to Tyner becoming "the pentatonic Oscar Peterson" in  a Village Voice column of the late 70s(?), and although that struck me as being totally disrespectful, it also bore just a little ring of truth.

Here's a later one, post-Milestone, that I missed at first, and the loss was all mine. Released in the US by Verve and certainly worth finding.

 

[Teasing the Korean]

When I was getting into jazz in junior high, McCoy was an early gateway into jazz, because his chord voicings reminded me of the string writing in happy, uptempo 1950s production music.

His Blue Note album "Expansions" has long been a favorite of mine.

RIP.

[Milestones]

Expansions is a great album, and so is the big band album The Turning Point (more than 20 years later).

 

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

Expansions is also the only lp ive ever seen with the anti piracy/anti taping notice built into the front cover artwork

[David Ayers]

For me, above all, it is his contributions to the famous studio version of MFT, and to the numerous recorded live versions, that are closest to me. 

[felser]

34 minutes ago, David Ayers said:

For me, above all, it is his contributions to the famous studio version of MFT, and to the numerous recorded live versions, that are closest to me. 

My favorite version of it, for both Coltrane's and Tyner's solos, is Newport '63. even though I would have much rather had Elvin Jones on drums for that than Roy Haynes.

4 hours ago, Teasing the Korean said:

His Blue Note album "Expansions" has long been a favorite of mine.

'Expansions'. 'Extensions'. 'Sahara', 'Enlightenment'. and 'Sama Layuca' are probably my five favorites, though he did so many other great albums before and after.  All of the 60's-70's Blue Notes and the Milestones have so much to offer, as do most of the rest of his catalog.

[Gheorghe]

12 hours ago, felser said:

If I got them all, it's 23, with three doubles (Enlightenment, Atlantis, 4x4):

Sahara            1972        Milestone
Song for My Lady    1972        Milestone
Echoes of a Friend    1972        JVC, Milestone
Song of the New World    1973        Milestone
Enlightenment        1973        Milestone
Sama Layuca        1974        Milestone
Atlantis        1974        Milestone
Trident            1975        Milestone
Fly with the Wind    1976        Milestone
Focal Point        1976        Milestone
Supertrios        1977        Milestone
Inner Voices        1977        Milestone
The Greeting        1978        Milestone
Passion Dance        1978        Milestone
Counterpoints        1978        Milestone
Together        1979        Milestone
Horizon            1979        Milestone
Quartets 4 X 4        1980        Milestone
13th House        1981        Milestone
Uptown/Downtown        1988        Milestone
One on One(w/ Grappelli)1990        Milestone
Blue Bossa        1991        Milestone
Prelude and Sonata    1994        Milestone
 

And maybe the "Milestone Jazzstars" also. It was billed as "Sonny Rollins-McCoy Tyner-Ron Carter" + Al Foster and I think there was no real leader so it´s also McCoy´s Album . Anyway he Plays a solo feature and a fine duo with Ron. It was done in autumn 1978 and came out shortly after it, Maybe late 78, early 79. I remember it was very much advertised and we purchased it as soon as it came out. 

Edited March 12, 2020 by Gheorghe

[Justin V]

I was lucky enough to have seen McCoy Tyner twice.  The first time was with Savion Glover appearing alongside Tyner's trio of Gerald Cannon and Francisco Mela.  The second time was with Terence Blanchard guesting with the same trio.  Although Tyner appeared frail and was forgetful, he played with such power and joy.  To hear him play 'Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit' live was something else.   

I missed two other opportunities to see him.  Once was with Roy Haynes, Ron Carter and Wallace Roney due to a family engagement.  The other was with Gary Bartz in the band because of a reason I can't remember.  I'll always wish that I could've attended both concerts.

I haven't spent as much time with Tyner's leader dates as I should have,  so I've been listening to some during the last couple of weeks.  Having once seen a Tyner tribute by a pianist who confused volume for power, it made me think of how driving and intense Tyner could play without going overboard.

Thank you for the music, Mr. Tyner, and rest in peace.  

[sidewinder]

On 12/03/2020 at 6:14 AM, Gheorghe said:

And maybe the "Milestone Jazzstars" also. It was billed as "Sonny Rollins-McCoy Tyner-Ron Carter" + Al Foster and I think there was no real leader so it´s also McCoy´s Album . Anyway he Plays a solo feature and a fine duo with Ron. It was done in autumn 1978 and came out shortly after it, Maybe late 78, early 79. I remember it was very much advertised and we purchased it as soon as it came out. 

Gheorghe - My recollection of that one at the time was that the reviews over here were poor to lukewarm so I avoided it. My loss !  I did buy the vinyl of ‘Supertrios’ when it came out though.

[luhem]

RIP

[Teasing the Korean]

On 3/22/2020 at 5:04 PM, sidewinder said:

Gheorghe - My recollection of that one at the time was that the reviews over here were poor to lukewarm so I avoided it. My loss !  I did buy the vinyl of ‘Supertrios’ when it came out though.

Maybe they were reviewing the hideous cover art.

[felser]

On 3/22/2020 at 5:04 PM, sidewinder said:

Gheorghe - My recollection of that one at the time was that the reviews over here were poor to lukewarm so I avoided it. My loss !  I did buy the vinyl of ‘Supertrios’ when it came out though.

I remember being disappointed in it.  Not essential work by any of the three artists (and I've never been sold on Ron Carter as a leader beyond 'Uptown Conversation').

[JSngry]

5 minutes ago, felser said:

I remember being disappointed in it.  Not essential work by any of the three artists (and I've never been sold on Ron Carter as a leader beyond 'Uptown Conversation').

I've never been disappointed in any Ron Carter record that had Joe Henderson on it.

[David Ayers]

37 minutes ago, JSngry said:

I've never been disappointed in any Ron Carter record that had Joe Henderson on it.

What about the ones that had Ron Carter on them?