You'll Hear It: Full Album Deep Dives with Jazz Musicians - McCoy Tyner Tribute - Part 2

Episode Date: April 30, 2020

Peter and Adam's tribute to the late pianist McCoy Tyner continues today as they contemplate more of their favorite tracks from this jazz great.McCoy Tyner Tunes (Part 2)"Inner Urge""Celestial Chant""Wave""Search for Peace""You Taught My Heart to Sing"We've got a day jam-packed with live events coming at you! At 1:00 EDT, Adam continues his daily Guided Practice Session stream available only to Open Studio members (click the link to find out how you can join). And at 4:00 EDT, check out a Jazz Piano Q&A with Peter, Adam, and Geoffrey Keezer that'll be streaming live to YouTube. To keep up on all the live events from Open Studio, check out this handy calendar - we're adding new events regularly so pop in to see what we've got in the pipeline.In light of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, we understand that money is tight for a lot of people right now. That's why we've decided that for the duration of this crisis, we'll be running a Choose What You Pay campaign at Open Studio. Choose whichever course you want and then let us know how much you're willing to pay - that's it. For more info, click this link.Interested in more music advice? Go here to browse our catalog of jazz lessons and courses available for purchase. And be sure to check out our All Access Pass - every course from Open Studio on every instrument.Let us know what you think by leaving a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, or head over to our YouTube channel.Follow us on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hey, Pete. Hey. So we got the McCoy basics going yesterday, but are you ready for a deeper dive? You know what? I'm ready for a deeper dive. I wouldn't mind the next 20 episodes. I know this is only two parts, but I could go 20 episodes on McCoy and still want more. Well, then get your Cordell scuba gear on.

Cortal or Cordel? Cortal. I'm Adam Annis. And I'm Peter Martin. And you're listening to the You'll Hear Podcast. Daily Music Advice coming at you. Coming at you today, sponsored by Open Studio. Go to Open StudioJadioJazz.com for all your jazz lesson knees.

We're still doing our Choose What You Pay offer here during this global pandemic because everybody's still, for the most part, sheltering in place. Although some areas are starting to loosen up a little bit. I don't know if you saw that, Pete. I did. You mean some areas of our beloved St. Louis or some areas of the country, some areas of the world? What are we talking about?

Some areas of Missouri, starting like later this week. Yeah. Yeah. But if you're still staying at home, which we are, and you want to get some work done, go to open studio jazz.com, and you can choose what you're paying. Choose your price. Yep, good stuff, good stuff. Okay, so yesterday we, this, that was one of my favorite episodes.

I hope folks enjoyed it, but just one of my favorite episodes to do with you, Adam. I think that, you know, as we talked about the love for McCoy, you know, as a musician, as a pianist, as a connector, between generations as an influencer, you know, the spirit of his music, I was thinking about it overnight, and it's like the spirit of McCoy's music that I feel is like one of so much giving and so much generosity. And so I think that, I mean, it comes out in like how he plays in his compositions, in the spirit of his music. And if you, you know, get a chance to meet him, it definitely was the spirit of who he was. But I think that probably more than anything led to, you know, led to people just taking his, his voicing, his style, his concepts and stuff in a way that,

that, you know, he probably is the most directly influential pianist on other jazz pianists of our generation, for sure. Certainly one of the most, like one of the Mount Rushmore of jazz pianists of our generation, certainly. And I'm excited about today because we're going to go, you know, yesterday we did a lot of what people might think of when they first think of McCoy, which is passion, dance and all the stuff with John Coltrane, which is obviously amazing. And today we're going to go a little bit deeper, nothing too off the beaten path here,

but things that I think really highlight what a great collaborator McCoy was and what an impact he had on other seminal recordings of bands that weren't his and weren't John Coltrane. And the first is off of one of my favorite jazz compositions of all time. I think it's just a brilliant melody and modern series of, of melodic content from Joe Henderson. And I want to listen to just McCoy comping through here, the head and Joe's solo, because I think that's where he really helps guide these great players

and was so influential in really, like, shaping the way they're solo. You could hear it. You could hear it happening here on In Urge with Joe Henderson. Check it out. I love to start with the bass solo, too. Yeah. Very controversial move. Maybe this tune is catered to McCoy's style of comping so perfectly, and what he's doing behind both the bass solo and the saxophone solo is so amazing and still sounds like him at all times.

It really is, and that whole record is like this too, it really is just a showcase for what he was able to do with sound. You know, the sound of those chords, I mean, it's all, he's got his McCoy stuff together. He's got his, yeah, we said it yesterday, we'll say it today. And I think, you know, we always think about kind of. I love how you highlighted with that little bit there, that big bit, you know, his comping. We always think about great voicings, interesting rhythms, innovative rhythms. And that's all important for comping. But I think what really set McCoy apart, both in how he played and then how he influenced others, was his placement and displacement.

You know, like where he would place from an architectural standpoint, his comping. And you hear that in the base. So like he doesn't start from nothing. I mean, he's playing a fair amount, the way they have it in the mix there, you know, that classic Van Gelder sublimation of the piano, maybe a little bit even too much for my taste. But, you know, he's playing a lot. But if for a pianist out there and anybody who wants to play with a pianist, I always say it's just as important to study the other instruments if you want to play with them. And that's pretty much all of us, right? So like if we're talking about a great, you know, Elvin Jones, the way that he comps or whatever, that's not just for drummers.

That's for piano plays. If you want to be able to play with great drummers, you've got to learn what they're doing. So I would say that, you know, check out McCoy where he places and then sets up his rhythmic phrases with his comping, where he decides to play, where he decides not to play.

Some great decisions in there. It's awesome. So next we have Celestial Chant from Trident. This was your pick. And why did you choose this one of all the ones? I mean, because it's McCoy on Harpsichore. Come on, man. I mean, it doesn't get any better than that.

I love this. Like only McCoy could pull this off. And you would think like, okay, McCoy's playing. And this is like early mid-70s. You know, like, I mean, he was at the peak of, it wasn't like, oh, he's still kind of timidly learning his McCoy stuff. No, he was full on in McCoy. So if there's any pianists that you would think would just destroy a harpsichord and not

be able to play this ginger little Baroque instrument to be McCoy. But I think he brings his McCoy stuff, the power. Well, this is play it. You'll see. Sorry. Amazing. That's so good, man. That's so good.

I mean, I love the way, I just love this tune, too. I've got a chance to play this a few times. And a couple of things. I mean, this is a great trio record. He goes into some other places. There's a lot of great piano on it. He plays Celeste, a little Celeste for you. I know you're a lover of the Celeste, a practitioner of the Celeste.

But this is, you know, trio with Ron Carter and Elvin Jones, which I guess Passion Dance was Ron Carter, right? Right? I believe. I think so. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So I like that tree. Of course, you know, traditionally known, especially in the earlier period with Jimmy Garrison and Elvin Jones and McCoy, the classic rhythm section. But I love it with Ron Carter and Elvin, too.

There's a great, I mean, he does once I love to show Beam. This is just a really cool record. And what he brings to that harp score to me is just incredible. I've actually never heard the harpsichord done in a hip way outside of this. It's probably been done before in the jazz situation. Hank Jones has an electric harpsichord album that's actually pretty hip. Is it? It's different than this.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But it's electric harps to it. It's a little different. So speaking of Ron Carter, though, so my next pick is from Super Trio's, which the first half is Ron Carter and Tony Williams with McCoy, right? Which is like, oh, that's the classic Miles battery with a different, you know, non-herbie pianist.

So let's hear how that goes. This is, by the way, this is speaking of Joe Beam tunes, this is a wave. And you often think maybe of like a... You know, nice and easy. Not the case. Okay. How good is that?

It's like wave instead of at like a Ritz Carlton hotel bar. It's like at a biker bar, you know, on the south side of Chicago. It's like, you got to come strong with it. Those three dudes are super intense dudes. And to hear their wave like that is just insane and amazing. I love it. And the whole album's like that. Yeah, I remember this record too because I had this LP.

I remember buying it in the vintage vinyl. And this is a first thing. first tune, I think, on it. It is. That's what they start with. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's great.

And, you know, actually this, I kind of cut my teeth listening-wise to a lot of these milestone records. And I was thinking about, you know, we were talking about the Van Gelder sound so much associated with the earlier period with McCoy. But all these records in the 70s and Trident was from a couple years before as I was just looking it up. But, you know, at Fantasy Studios and Berkla, I got to record there years ago. And I don't know if it's still happening or now.

But this is like that milestone period of that sound. And I mean, at this point, I don't. don't know that it made a big difference, but in my mind, looking at LPs, young Peter growing up, I was always like, wow, this is West Coast. Cats went out to the West. I was like, Berkeley, California. I found it. I was like, where's Berkeley, you know?

And so I just think this was a great sound. Of course, Orrin Keepe News and like everything that he did. And this actually led right into, you know, the early 80s, some great records. Everyone always talks about the 70s being like a dead period. And this was kind of controversial. Actually, I remember Whitman, Salas kind of saying some derogatory things early on. But he was young, you know, about the 70s. 70s swing. There was no swing. There was no jazz. That's not true. There's some great, great

records, especially for McCoy, for, you know, for Herbie, for all the guys were really, I wouldn't even say it at their peak, because to me, McCoy, all the way up to the end was, was just, you know, at his peak. But this is a great record, man. Thanks for reminding me about this one. He, the Lush Life version on here is killer. It is. This is one right after McCoy passed away that I, this is the first one I put on, the Super Trio's because to me, it's just, he, He's at the peak of his power. Like, everything is so powerful. You know what I mean?

Yeah. And I just wanted to remember him. I got to see if I can find this LP. I think I might have been one of the ones lost in Katrina, but it might be over my mom's house. But I remember and I'm looking at the cover now of like looking. I love that picture. Like it's something about seeing that picture of McCoy. And I'm, you know, at that time I'm tracking him from like recorded in New Jersey, New York.

And then this is like he's, you know, Berkeley, California. He's got like the kind of hip 70 shirt. I was like McCoy went west. He might have just been out there for a day recording for all. But it's funny how you associate all these things, you know, with the different periods. It's so cool. So next up, we have Search for Peace from Live at Merkin Hall. Okay.

So this record, this is 1989. I got this record right when it came out. And this was when I was in like my peak McCoy, actually even a couple years after. I mean, certainly after I discovered him. But this is when I was like, wow. And I think this is a record that folks, and I'm trying to remember if it's called Live at Merk Hall or is it, I'll tell you in a second. But that's what it was recorded.

Merkin Hall is a cool little hall up in New York, kind of off the radar. I love the way this record sounds. And I don't know. It just kind of got slept on a lot of people who don't know it. But this is, of course, you search for piece, beautiful composition that was originally on Real McCoy, I believe, yeah, it was on Real McCoy. One of those early records. But he did a lot of solo.

He did a couple duos on here, like special guests on this live. And I love live records, even if they're not. in a club if they're in a small hall, but let's just check it out, search for peace. I mean, speaking of power, just so much power there. Yeah. And I love to, like, when we cover someone who's had a career that spans as long as McCoy had, and you can hear sort of the different sounds of technology as it goes from, you know, the late 50s through the 60s into the 70s, obviously, like the Super Trio sounds so 70s,

jazz recording, you know, and into this, which very much has that sort of crystalline, the first digital wave of the 80s recordings. I mean, this is well into the 80s, obviously, but that first digital incarnation of recording a piano and how different sounds, even in this live situation. Sounds great, too, by the way. I think it's great, yeah. I know exactly what you're saying, though.

It is that different sound. And then I'm looking at the cover, and I remember when I bought this LP, and this was like right after the, well, it was a couple years, but not too far into the revival of Blue Note records when Blue Note was really sort of dominating. And then, you know, actually this was probably on CD.

Yeah, definitely was on CD as well. For sure, for sure. McCoy there, I'm like, you know, he's got this suit on. He's back in New York. This was all in my mind. I think he might even have a little wave hairdo there. Hey, it was late 80s, you know. It's real tight.

Yeah, it's late 80s. But I was like, you know, he's old and distinguished. He's probably like 49 years old or something here. Yeah, right. But at the time, I was like, wow, because, you know, most of the earlier stuff, I'm playing ketchup and you see the chronology of it. But there's some kind of strange duos on here that actually, Folks should check this record out if they get a chance.

He does a couple duets with John Schofield, which you think in that sound of that acoustic hall in the way the piano sounds wouldn't work, but it's brilliant. And then with George Adams, tenor saxophonist, who at that time, that was my first time ever hearing him.

He does some cool duets with him. And, you know, he does blues on the corner. Like, I mean, McCoy was a great, great overlooked as a solo pianist. Yeah. You know, I mean, you can hear, you know,

early on the brilliance of that, like in the intros on ballads and the Johnny Hartman, John Coltrane and stuff. I mean, incredible. Yeah, that's one we didn't include in our list here, but I think is that Johnny Hartman, John Coltrane album, is a showcase for McCoy as well. Absolutely.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Cool. We're going out today with something that actually McCoy is not playing on. This is from Diane Reeves. Yeah. So, I mean, this is a little weird that we're doing something that he's not playing on. But I just wanted to highlight this song because a lot of people don't know it.

McCoy was obviously a brilliant composer, but a brilliant songwriter. And he wrote this with Sammy Kahn. the great songwriter who wrote the lyrics. And I think it was Sammy Khan's last lyric. Oh, cool. And sorry? That's cool.

Oh, that's cool. Okay. Okay, cool. Yeah. And yeah, a lot of people just don't know it. And this, but this is Mulgrew, the great Mulgrew Miller. And he, I think sort of epitomizes the influence on later pianist probably better than any of us. And he's playing.

So you, it's, it's Mulgrew for sure, but you'll hear the influence. influences of McCoy. But I just wanted to have a, we got to have a Mulgrew day as well, man. I know, exactly, exactly. But I think it's just a fitting tribute to McCoy. I mean, there's so much deeper we could go with so many other recordings and we highlighted, you know, some some known ones and some lesser known ones, but also just on his generosity and a big thank you and love and rest in peace. And, you know, the music lives on for sure in all of us. And so this is, you taught my heart to sing sung by Dianries with with Mowbram. You'll hear it.

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