McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Henry Grimes, Jack DeJohnette
Biography McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson, Henry Grimes, Jack DeJohnette
McCoy Tyner
Phenomenal jazz pianist McCoy Tyner was born December 11, 1938, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, of parents with roots in North Carolina. Tyner attended Martha Washington Grade School and Sulzberger Jr. High School. Tyner, with the encouragement of his teacher Ms. Addison and his mother, Beatrice Stephenson Tyner, began taking beginning piano lessons from a neighbor, Mr. Habershaw. Later, a Mr. Beroni taught Tyner classical piano. Although inspired by the music of Art Tatum and Thelonius Monk, it was his neighborhood Philadelphia musicians that pushed Tyner’s musical development. He engaged in neighborhood jam sessions with Lee Morgan, Bobby Timmons and Reggie Workman. Tyner was hand picked by John Coltrane in 1956, while still a student at West Philadelphia High School. Around this same time, Tyner converted to Islam.
After high school, Tyner toured with Bennie Golson and Art Farmer, and can be heard on their hit record, Killer Joe and the album Meet The Jazztet. In 1960, he became a part of John Coltrane’s legendary quartet that included Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. Later, the group included Eric Dolphy, Pharoah Sanders and others exploring themes of spirituality and African identity. Tyner can be heard on Africa Brass, A Love Supreme, My Favorite Things and Kulu Se’ Mama. He also recorded as a leader on Impulse! Records’ Inception, Night of Ballads, Blues, Live at Newport and several others.
Leaving Coltrane in 1965, Tyner played with a who’s who of jazz greats including: Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Gary Bartz, Ron Carter, Billy Cobham, Roy Haynes, Stanley Clarke, Sonny Rollins, and many others. He can be heard on a number of albums, including: The Real McCoy, 1967, Asante, 1970, Sahara, 1972, Trident, 1975, The Greeting, 1978, Inner Voices, 1990, and Infinity, 1995, displaying his variety and flexibility as a jazz musician. An innovator, Tyner performed with strings on 1976’s Fly With The Wind and with a big band on The Turning Point , 1991. With over eighty albums to his credit and five Grammy Awards, Tyner was nominated at the 45th Grammy Awards for Best Instrumental Jazz Recording for McCoy Tyner Plays John Coltrane: Live at the Village Vanguard, and in 2004, Tyner’s Illuminations won a Grammy for Best Jazz Album, Individual or Group. Like John Coltrane, Tyner strives to elevate his listeners’ consciousness.
Tyner’s energetic style embraces African, Latin, Eastern and bebop rhythms, which he plays in bright clusters. His block chords, pentatonic scales and modal structures have earned him international recognition among the top jazz pianists of all time. Tyner is the recipient of numerous honors including the National Endowment of the Arts’ Jazz Master Award in 2002 and the 2003 Heroes Award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the Recording Academy. In 2005, Tyner received an honorary doctorate of music from Berklee College in Boston, Massachusetts.
Tyner passed away on March 6, 2020. (Source: thehistorymakers.org)
Joe Henderson
One of the more distinctive tenor saxophone voices to have emerged during the 1960s, Joe Henderson's rich tone and strong sense of rhythm influenced scores of tenor saxophonists who followed him. In concert, his aggressive playing was often tempered by a melodic touch on ballads.
Growing up in Lima, Ohio, he first played the drums, switching to tenor saxophone at age 13. After high school he studied at Kentucky State College, then Wayne State in Detroit from 1956-60, as well as under the private tutelage of pianist Barry Harris. One of his first jazz jobs was alongside saxophonist Sonny Stitt. In 1960, he then led his own band in Detroit until entering the Army that year, playing in the Army band until 1962.
After leaving the Army, Henderson eventually moved to New York, where he worked with organist Jack McDuff, then co-led a band with Kenny Dorham during 1962-63. His first recording as a leader in 1963, Page One, was one of the most popular releases for the Blue Note label, and led to one of his richest recording periods both as a leader and sideman. He played with Horace Silver in 1964-66, and Andrew Hill in 1965, both Blue Note artists. His work on Lee Morgan's album The Sidewinder, especially on the hit title track, contains some of his best solos of the period. During the late 1960s, he was part of the cooperative band, the Jazz Communicators, with Freddie Hubbard and Louis Hayes.
At the end of the decade he spent more than a year with the Herbie Hancock Sextet (1969-70), and joined the pop band Blood, Sweat & Tears for a short time in 1971. Thereafter he worked mainly as a leader and freelance saxophonist. His bands employed a number of outstanding musicians and, following his Blue Note years, he made a series of rewarding discs for the Milestone label.
In the 1990s, Henderson experienced a resurgence in popularity with a series of well-received albums on the Verve label. His recordings of the music of Billy Strayhorn, Miles Davis, and Antonio Carlos Jobim in inventive arrangements were inspired, and he showed a skill for big band arrangement with his 1996 release, Big Band. Henderson stopped performing in 1998 after suffering a stroke. (Source: www.arts.gov)
