Tyner group penetrates heart of jazz
Philip
Elwood, Chronicle Jazz Critic
Friday, January 25, 2002
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/01/25/DD92384.DTL
What a blessing it was for Bay Area jazz fans in 1995 when Yoshi's Jazz House established the tradition of beginning each new year with a two-week engagement featuring McCoy Tyner, during which the pianist would perform with a different group each week.
Playing this first week of the eighth annual Tyner residency is a quartet that includes the estimable bassist George Mraz, alto saxist Kenny Garrett, drummer Harvey Mason, and Tyner -- average age, 45; total professional experience, more than 160 years.
This post-bop, post-Coltrane quartet is improvised jazz at its best. Even for those who prefer older Dixieland stuff or big-band ensembles, loose- structured free jazz, modal scoring or soloist-oriented arrangements, the instrumental core of this Tyner group displays the very essence of jazz -- whatever style.
Tuesday's first set, five selections in 70 minutes, included the slam-bang "Trainin'," with a four-minute hard-driving solo by Garrett that covered, I think, every possible harmonic (or structural) change allowed, backed by Tyner's less-than-subtle, crash-and-crunch keyboard activities.
Seeing the thoughtful Mraz playing his beautifully constructed bass lines trough "Trainin'," I thought of him 25 years ago playing with the elegant pianist Tommy Flanagan; then with Oscar Peterson -- another power hitter, like Tyner, at the keyboard, and finally, with Stan Getz, master saxophone balladeer. Watching and hearing a musician with Mraz's credentials is an honor.
The most fun and excitement a fan can get out of any post-bop group such as Tyner's ad hoc quartet is to listen to the group as a whole while also noting what each member is up to.
Those quick flurries of clear-tone plucked notes from Mraz, Tyner's astonishingly agile runs on the keyboard, Garrett's power and harmonic skills and Mason's remarkable use of drum rudiments when combined create the whole audio package.
It's like tiny half-tone dots squeezing together to form a photograph.
"Passion Dance," played at an up-up tempo, included a hard-blown four-
minute Garrett solo, while the modal-based, near-somber "Search for Respect"
(with floating harmonic sequences) almost quieted the spirited crowd. On
"4x5" there was a wonderful bass-and-sax duet sequence, and the closer
(titled "Justablues," on the spot, by Tyner) had the swing of a Johnny
Hodges-Duke Ellington small-band blues number -- can't do any better than
that.
JAZZ
McCOY TYNER: The quartet's shows are sold out. Tyner's trio with Ron Carter and Harvey Mason plays Tuesday through Feb. 3 (some of those shows are sold out). Yoshi's, 510 Embarcadero W., Oakland. (510) 238-9200, www.ticketweb.com.E-mail Philip Elwood at pelwood@sfchronicle.com.
©2002 San Francisco Chronicle