McCoy Tyner

Alfred McCoy Tyner was born on the eleventh of December 1938 at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Jarvis Tyner — a Philadelphia Black professional — and Beatrice Stevenson Tyner. He was raised in the principal Philadelphia Black community of the principal post-Second-World-War West-Philadelphia community.

He was instructed in classical piano from age thirteen at the principal West Philadelphia Black-piano-and-music community — and was a principal high-school colleague of the principal Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Calvin Massey at the Philadelphia Mastbaum Vocational School in the principal mid-1950s.

He converted to Islam at the principal post-1955 Philadelphia post-Mecca Sunni-Islam Black-American conversion period — and adopted the principal Sulaimon Saud Muslim name across the principal Coltrane Quartet period.

He was hired in 1959 by the principal Benny Golson and Art Farmer Jazztet at Philadelphia and New York as principal pianist — at the principal post-1959 Jazztet commercial-and-performance period.

He was hired in March 1960 by the principal John Coltrane Quartet at New York — and held the principal John Coltrane Quartet pianist position from March 1960 to December 1965. The principal John Coltrane Quartet of 1960 to 1965 included John Coltrane (tenor and soprano saxophone), McCoy Tyner (piano), Jimmy Garrison (bass), and Elvin Jones (drums).

He recorded the principal foundational John Coltrane Quartet long-playing-records across the principal 1961 to 1965 period — including Coltrane's Sound of October 1960, My Favorite Things of October 1960, Africa/Brass of May 1961, Live! at the Village Vanguard of November 1961, Crescent of April 1964, A Love Supreme of December 1964, and Ascension of June 1965.

He founded the principal McCoy Tyner Sextet at New York in 1972 — at the principal post-1972 McCoy-Tyner-Sextet commercial-and-compositional period.

He recorded the principal foundational Blue Note Records and Milestone Records McCoy Tyner long-playing-records across the principal 1967 to 1980 period — including The Real McCoy of April 1967, Tender Moments of December 1967, Time for Tyner of May 1968, Expansions of August 1968, Sahara of January 1972, Song for My Lady of November 1972, Echoes of a Friend of November 1972, Enlightenment of July 1973, Sama Layuca of March 1974, and Fly with the Wind of April 1976.

He was awarded the principal 1976 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Performance for the principal No Mysteries of November 1975 — and the principal 2002 NEA Jazz Master Fellowship.

He died at Bergenfield, New Jersey on the sixth of March 2020 of natural causes, at eighty-one.

He is honored here as the principal pianist of the John Coltrane Quartet.