McCoy Tyner
American jazz pianist (1938–2020)
Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938 – March 6, 2020) was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965 and his long solo career afterward. He was an NEA Jazz Master and a five-time Grammy Award winner. Tyner has been widely imitated and is one of the most recognizable and influential jazz pianists of all time.
Early life and education
Tyner was born on December 11, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, the eldest of Jarvis and Beatrice (née Stevenson) Tyner's three children.
Tyner was encouraged to study piano by his mother, who had installed a piano at her beauty salon. At the age of 13, he began piano lessons at the Granoff School of Music, where he also studied music theory and harmony. By the time he was 15 years old, music had become the center of his life.
Tyner's decision to study piano was reinforced when he encountered bebop pianist Bud Powell, a neighbor of the Tyner family. Another major influence on Tyner's playing was Thelonious Monk, whose percussive attacks informed Tyner's style. During his teens, Tyner led his own group, the Houserockers.
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This entry incorporates text from “McCoy Tyner” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.