McCoy Tyner was John Coltrane's only pianist for five years
From mid-1960 to December 1965, no other pianist played with John Coltrane. When McCoy Tyner couldn't make a gig, Coltrane simply went without. Their quartet recorded A Love Supreme, widely ranked among the greatest jazz albums. Then, as the music grew louder and freer, Tyner walked away and nearly became a taxi driver.
Tyner was born in Philadelphia in 1938. His mother, who ran a beauty salon, put a piano in the shop and encouraged him to play; he started formal lessons at 13, and by 15 music was the centre of his life. The bebop pianist Bud Powell lived nearby, and Thelonious Monk's percussive touch shaped his style. At 17 he became an Ahmadiyya Muslim and took the name Suleiman Saud, though he kept performing as McCoy Tyner.
He met Coltrane in Philadelphia in 1955, and the older saxophonist became like a big brother. They agreed that if Coltrane ever led his own band, Tyner would be its pianist. When that moment came in 1960, Tyner had just joined the Jazztet, and Coltrane hesitated to poach him from a friend's group. Encouraged by his wife Naima, he finally asked, and after six months Tyner switched. With Elvin Jones on drums and eventually Jimmy Garrison on bass, the classic quartet toured nearly nonstop and cut My Favorite Things and Crescent.
His playing was dense and full. A Helsinki researcher has argued that Tyner found a way to handle both of Coltrane's directions at once, the chordal and the melodic, supporting him while sounding distinct. By 1965, though, extra percussionists were drowning out piano and drums. Tyner said he heard only noise and could not play without feeling, so he left and Alice Coltrane took his place.
Work as a bandleader was patchy at first, and he asked about driving a cab to support his family. Then a run of Blue Note albums, starting with The Real McCoy in 1967, established him, and on Sahara for Milestone he also played koto, flute and percussion. He largely avoided electric keyboards, saying they sounded artificial. He won five Grammys, stopped recording in 2007 and died in 2020.
Source: McCoy Tyner
