One of my favorite ever jazz musicians, and favorite ever musicians period. His playing with John Coltrane is obviously mind-boggling, but even if he and Coltrane had never met he would still have been a giant. My favorite McCoy moment is a four-bar phrase from the middle of his long solo on Coltrane’s “Lonnie’s Lament.” Listen at 3:35.
That might be the single hardest, funkiest thing in jazz history. I did my best to transcribe it, though I’m not a hundred percent confident about the left-hand voicings.
McCoy influenced my guitar playing in a major way – his iconic fourths chords translate better to guitar than most piano voicings. I have done my best jazz playing by planing fourths chords up and down chromatically or by bigger jumps. I certainly can’t play single lines as fast as McCoy could, but I have strived to imitate his swing and power.
Here are some more McCoy Tyner high points, chosen from among many.