Quotes by McCoy Tyner
6 quotes
Statements and quotes by McCoy Tyner from interviews and other sources.
I never felt intimidated by John Coltrane, because I knew his mother, his cousin Mary, and his family. He used to pat me on the back, "This is my little brother, here."
Tyner recalls that his closeness to Coltrane's family kept him from ever feeling intimidated in the quartet.
about John ColtraneI was so immersed in the music when I was with John. The influence was so great, and the roles we all played in that group were so powerful; you couldn't divorce yourself from it just because you weren't physically there.
In a 1997 interview, Tyner describes how the quartet's pull stayed with him long after he left in 1965.
Yeah, because harmonically I think he was going some place else and I didn't want to play like Cecil Taylor or Sun Ra, I didn't want to play like that.
Asked why he left Coltrane's group in 1965, Tyner points to where Coltrane was heading harmonically.
He used to be on an airplane, he would be in the hotel, I would walk past his room and he would be practicing on his horn because he was hearing something and he had to articulate it.
Tyner recalls Coltrane practicing constantly on the road with the quartet.
I think John was looking for a bass player who had the ability to not necessarily get locked into form but could move away from that if he could hear what was going on.
On why Coltrane wanted Jimmy Garrison, who had been playing with Ornette Coleman, in the quartet.
about Jimmy GarrisonJoe was a great thinker in terms of improvisation and he had a great sound, he had a distinguished sound. I could tell him from any other, like I could with John.
Asked to talk about Henderson's playing, just after discussing their album The Real McCoy.
about Joe Henderson