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| courtesy Joe Alper |
Before it gets too far away from me, I want to give a belated tip of the hat to the late McCoy Tyner, one of the architects of a sound that was key in the development of both jazz and improv-focused rock. That would be John Coltrane's sound, of course, but what went frequently unremarked over the decades was just how much John Coltrane's sound was also really McCoy Tyner's sound: as Ben Ratliff puts it, "when you are thinking of Coltrane playing 'My Favorite Things' or 'A Love Supreme,' you may be thinking of the sound of Mr. Tyner almost as much as that of Coltrane’s saxophone." If you are inclined to dig deeper, see David Graham in The Atlantic or pianist/blogger Ethan Iverson.
That means, then, that Tyner unintentionally laid the groundwork for all rock bands who took their cue to "rock out on two chords, Coltrane style" in Phil Lesh's words. Early 60's Coltrane was a key source of that information for the Dead -- Light Into Ashes' post on this is a must read. Bob Weir was explicit about the influence of Tyner on his own approach. I am no musicologist, but the very general jist of what made Tyner's style so influential is that his approach to playing chords ("voicing" in musical terms) was done in a way that was ambiguous and "open" enough to sustain creativity (and attention) over long periods of repetition (i.e., the "two chords" of modal jazz, as opposed to the cycling chord progressions of jazz based on blues or pop music forms). Part of what makes Weir such a non-traditional rhythm guitarist was his distinct voicings; not all of that came directly from Tyner, although Tyner was certainly who planted that seed. But every other improvising rock band also owes a serious debt to McCoy Tyner.
On a smaller note, Tyner also wrote the mighty Sama Layuca, which was featured on his album of the same name in 1974, and was performed a handful of times by Garcia with Reconstruction. 3/31/79 or 4/17/79 or 8/10/79 are all fine versions that are worthy of your time and attention. But you should go listen to some McCoy Tyner first.
Found this passage while paging through Phil's autobiography and couldn't resist. Talking about driving with future wife Jill on tour in Aug-Sept 1983, Phil recalls
ReplyDelete"...we laughed and talked our way across the countryside, picking up local radio stations when we could, discovering incredible syncronicities between the places we were and the music we heard — the moment, for example, when at the climax of a track from McCoy Tyner’s album Dimensions we topped a hill and saw the land dropping away ahead, opening vast western vistas, and to the east, a double rainbow."