Maybe it's time that the one of the greatest living pianists in jazz got the full PBS pledge week treatment -- say a two-hour special entitled "Immortality the McCoy Tyner Way."
Because it's starting to look like the veteran player has found a way to cheat the aging process. Yes, he looked most of his 71 years in the opening performance Thursday of a weekend run at Yoshi's San Francisco. But his playing hasn't succumbed a bit to the advancing years.
At a point where lesser mortals might lean back and focus on the ballads -- which Tyner can do with elegance and dramatic reserve, as he demonstrated on a beautiful rendering of "I Should Care."
But the man still lives for the groove, which can he play tricks with like nobody's business. Pounding away with his left hand and dashing off machine-gun arpeggios with his right, Tyner tore through "Fly With the Wind" and summoned echoes of his propulsive work anchoring John Coltrane's epochal version of "My Favorite Things" in his spirited reading of "African Village."
Unlike some previous outings, Tyner was the clear captain of this version of his All-Stars band, save for his unusual generosity -- often handsomely rewarded -- in doling out solos to bassist John Patitucci. Trumpeter Roy Hargrove was a welcome alternative to the usual saxophone pairing, recalling Tyner's foreful early 1960s work with Freddie Hubbard rather than the thoroughly-plowed John Coltrane field. Hargrove was particularly effect articulating punchy blues riffs on "Blues on the Corner."
Performances continue through Sunday at Yoshi's, with tickets going for $30 and $40.
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Thanks so much for bringing news about this special concert : Mc Coy Tyner + Roy Hargrove. The photos are wonderful. Love from Switzerland.
hey, i was there at last night's 8pm show. my partner and i both heard tyner pretty loudly say "No!" to hargrove toward the end of one the last couple of tunes as roy was getting ready to help finish the tune out. mccoy even put his hands up to add emphasis.
seemed like after that roy was more than just tentative, and didn't even participate at all in the final tune. anyone else observe this and interpret it similarly? felt like a very weird putdown...
Looks like this was the first night for this particular group, so maybe they're still refining their non-verbal communication.
I thought Hargrove was pulling back just because Tyner was playing so forcefully.
Thanks for reading and sharing.
What I see is that McCoy Tyner and Roy Hargrove are both big band conductors (among a huge lot of other musical things ) so they must have their way to communicate and understand each other; this meeting can't but be amazing and unusual!!
I only hope someone is going to share a video of them playing together. Thank you.
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