McCoy Tyner w/Pharoah & Ravi

[ghost of miles]

Didn't see it myself--Ben Ratliff's NY Times review via the Coltrane list:

Old Dog Offers Some New Tricks of His Own

By BEN RATLIFF

he pianist McCoy Tyner proved himself a wakeful giant a long time ago, as part of the John Coltrane Quartet in the early 1960's. His playing, with its commanding, ancient-sounding chords and the kind of arm power that gets a roar out of the piano's bass clef, has remained powerful. When he has seemed like a sleeping giant, it has been a matter of context: a dull rhythm section, a palpable lack of momentum, a bad concept for a concept album.

Any accomplished performer can reach a point at which it seems the battles have all been won. This is the feeling that Mr. Tyner, now 65, has projected for most of the last decade, and he has given his audience an unenthusiastic surfeit of riches: the big sound, the famous Coltrane-band tunes, tired rhythm sections.

But a little less than a year ago he reorganized his trio, hiring the bassist Charnett Moffett and the young drummer Eric Harland. The change has energized Mr. Tyner's performance from top to bottom. On Tuesday in his first set at the Iridium (where he plays through Sunday) with his new trio and the tenor saxophonists Ravi Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders as guests, one saw a band that mattered, not just historically, but now.

There was a direct homage to John Coltrane at one point, but it was nicely done. Mr. Sanders played "Over and Over Again," famous from Coltrane's "Ballads" album, and for those few minutes a musician famous for rawboned screaming played in supremely elegant ballad mode. There and elsewhere, the power of the set was no academic issue. Five or six times after solos players got full-house ovations of a force that you rarely see at a routine jazz-club gig.

The set opened with Mr. Tyner's "Angelina," and right away the band established momentum. Mr. Harland is an exact, firm-tempo drummer, filling in rolling, popping details through the width of the groove, but making them surge and ebb and function as dramatic elements. He locked in with Mr. Tyner, pushing him, and then began a long drum solo, building up drum chants and pressing hard on the groove, making it rock. Next Ravi Coltrane, who is John's son, and Mr. Sanders appeared, establishing a pattern that lasted through several pieces: Mr. Sanders played torrentially, Mr. Coltrane shrewdly.

In the best of those pieces, Mr. Tyner's "African Village," Mr. Sanders played a solo building up to scrabbling hollers, with rough clumps of close-interval notes suddenly giving way to a yawping long tone. It was charismatic and personal, one long detonation. Mr. Coltrane — who, let's say it again, has escaped sounding like his father — followed with a decent representation of the opposite. He played a series of soft, round, isolated single notes, forming them into patterns, and finally built up to deft, athletic, highly schooled playing.

Through it all Mr. Tyner hit the keyboard hard enough that chords rang against one another in the air; rhythmically he protected the rolling vamps that power his music. And in a short piano solo near the end, he grabbed handfuls of jazz-piano history, stomping through stride-piano sections. It was 90 minutes into the set — already longer than usual — and the crowd looked eager for more.

[RainyDay]

I was fortunate to see this group at Yoshi's earlier this year and it was amazing. When the first few notes of "Over and Over Again" were played, there was a collective sigh in the house. McCoy is not noted for chatting on stage but he took a moment to comment how much he apprecitated the opportunity to play with Ravi and Sanders and made very touching comments about Coltrane Sr. It was one of those times that made you glad to be alive and in love with jazz. It was a magical event not just because of the band line up but because the music was so tight.

I can't believe I left this off my jaw dropping list because it should have been there.

Sanders plays Yoshi's once a year and he tends to pace himself and let the other band members do a lot of soloing. But with McCoy, Sanders played much more than he normally does with his own band and he seemed to be tireless. He is such a strong player with incredible control. McCoy played with more energy than I'd seen in a while. Moffett was the stuff. I can't wait to see him again.

I'm glad this group is doing other gigs. I hope there is a recording in the offing.

[7/4]

Sanders played much more than he normally does with his own band

He does that with any band other than his own.

[RainyDay]

I wonder why that is.

[kdd]

Shows how on top of it Ratliff is, I think Tyner has had a new band for almost 4 years now. I saw him with Charnett and Al Foster a few times in 2000 and I think Harland has been there a couple of years as well. I'm going to try and make this tomorrow night, it sounds great. Did any one catch it with Kenny Garrett last week?

Edited May 15, 2004 by kdd