Song of the Day 3/7: McCoy Tyner, “Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit”
Jazz giant McCoy Tyner died Friday, age 81, at his New Jersey home. He was only 22 when he joined John Coltrane’s quartet, and in the first half of the 1960s he could be heard as a sideman on scores of LPs on Blue Note, often uncredited because his own trio was signed to Impulse. He left Coltrane in 1965 after more percussionists and horn players were added, explaining, “All I could hear was a lot of noise. I didn’t have any feeling for the music, and when I don’t have feelings, I don’t play.” It took nearly a decade for his own group to achieve the prominence he had with Coltrane, but his influence on pianists who followed him is incalculable.
“Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit” is the closing track on his 1973 LP “Enlightenment.” Here he debuts the song at the 1973 Montreaux Jazz Festival, with then-20-year-old Azar Lawrence on tenor sax.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnQJsrUYb8Q
One of my favorites, especially his hard bop period. Found it to be inspirational.
So glad you did this. I loved McCoy Tyner. Saw him twice, once when I was in college with a group that featured Sonny Fortune and Alfonse Mouzon, and then years later after the Flight Deck had migrated to Market Street. The violinist John Blake played with him at that concert. Here are two of my faves from his post-Coltrane career:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64lWx44RjdU
This was from a solo performance recorded live in Japan, and was from an album dedicated to ‘Trane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATA1s_tzeDE
I saw that Flight Deck show. Lot of top jazz players there back in the day. He was outstanding, as usual. Nice that the video includes Azar Lawrence. Nobody could match Coltrane, but he was very good. Nice as this is, I also prefer the hard-bop he did with early Coltrane.
Speaking of bop, I saw Barry Harris and Clifford Jordan at the Flight Deck as well.
Don’t forget I posted a live performance of “My Favorite Things” back in December which included a longer solo by Tyner than the studio version.
http://delawareliberal.net/2019/12/14/song-of-the-day-12-14-john-coltrane-quartet-my-favorite-things/