Tyner, (Alfred) McCoy [Saud, Sulaimon]
- Keith Waters
Extract
[Saud, Sulaimon]
(b Philadelphia, Dec 11, 1938; d Bergenfield, NJ, March 6, 2020). American pianist and composer. He began studying piano at the age of 13 and studied harmony and theory at the Granoff School of Music. Growing up in Philadelphia, Tyner began participating in jam sessions from around the age of 15, and he absorbed much from bop pianists, in particular Bud Powell’s eighth-note bop phrasing and Thelonious Monk’s rhythmic and percussive pianism. His earliest recording was made with the Benny Golson–Art Farmer Jazztet, which he joined in 1959. Less than a year later, he joined the influential John Coltrane Quartet and performed on many of Coltrane’s landmark albums, including My Favorite Things, Africa Brass, A Love Supreme, and Ascension. He remained in Coltrane’s quartet until 1965, while releasing a series of albums for the Impulse label and recording as a sideman with Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, and others....
