From: schabert@spieden.Stanford.EDU (Vernon Schabert)
Subject: McCoy Tyner Trio at Kimball's East w/ Bobby Hutcherson 8/26/92
Keywords: review, tyner, hutcherson
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 92 23:57:07 GMT

Last Wednesday I got to see the first show of McCoy Tyner's stay at
Kimball's East.  I had never seen so many people out to hear jazz on a
Wednesday; the place was so packed that the staff was asking patrons to
share tables and booths.  The crowd was not disappointed; the show was
excellent, and McCoy ably demonstrated that his current work is as
exciting as his past credentials.  He was joined by Avery Sharpe on bass
and Aaron Scott on drums, and Bobby Hutcherson was the special guest on
vibes and marimba.

The set opened with "I'll Take Romance."  Tyner's solo was marked with
extremely percussive playing, using the sides of his hands, fists, and
many glissandos interspersed between light yet aggressive solo lines.
His piano tuner and repairman must be very rich people, with all of the
abuse he gives the keyboard.  The result is a powerful and transfixing
solo that is surprisingly well composed and coherent given the seemingly
reckless style of attack he uses.  Sharpe's bass solo began as a bowed
solo, and he was getting a tone out of the bass that was remarkably
similar to the tenor sax sounds of Pres and Coleman Hawkins.  He
eventually switched to pizzicato for the remainder of the solo, and
mimicked the percussive attack of Tyner.

The second tune was "Giant Steps."  Tyner said that he hadn't performed
this in several years, and was eager to play it in public again.  I'd
say that he has developed a far more theoretical understanding of the
chord progression than 'Trane ever had.  He began the tune with a
blistering cadenza doing inventions on the head, then the trio kicked in
to play the tune slightly faster than it was recorded by Coltrane.
Tyner's solo started out very playful and impish, then developed into a
collaborative soli with bass and drums, only to break into another
cadenza by Tyner before returning to the head.

The third piece was a Freddie Hubbard tune called "[something] Spring."
It was an easy waltz that temporarily evolved into a hard driven blues
during Tyner's solo.  He started playing the repetetive, ascending
chords during his solo that can be heard in his playing on the later
Coltrane albums, but the chords he was using this evening seemed to be
more extended, making liberal use of 11ths and 13ths.  Sharpe's bass
solo was exceptional, and he was getting the full mileage out of his
axe, including slaps to the fingerboard and body, double time licks, and
even some finger-tapping.

Hutcherson came on for the fourth tune, which was a modal, mildly Latin
piece that was not named.  Unfortunately, Hutcherson's vibes weren't
mixed in well at first, so most of the head got swallowed, but he
switched to marimba for the solo and wove quite a few whole tone licks
into a very fluid solo.  Tyner blended the transition to his own solo
seamlessly.  At the end, the bass and drums sat out consecutively, while
Tyner and Hutcherson finished with a spacey call-and-answer to finish
the tune.

Next, Tyner and Hutcherson did an unaccompanied duet on Monk's
"Veronica."  These two have great musical rapport, and they were
obviously having a ball playing together.  Hutcherson's marimba solo was
a technical feat, not even marred by losing the head off of one of his
mallets.

The quartet resumed with a hard bop piece, which boasted the tightest
ensemble playing of the night.  The group would brew their music hotter
and hotter, then drop down to nothing and start over again.  Scott
finally got a drum solo, and it was an exceptionally artistic work in
spite of his powerful attack, making rapid use of the bass drum to power
the rest of the solo.

The blues that finished the set and the encore were also exceptional.  I
was overwhelmed by the genius and brilliance behind Tyner's every line.
I hadn't heard Hutcherson before, and it was a real treat to hear him
join the trio for the last half of the set.  I would strongly recommend
catching either of these two musicians if they go through your town.
There's enough outside playing and mainstream fidelity to keep almost
any jazz afficionado entertained.

They mentioned at the end of the evening that Delfayo Marsalis will be
the opening act when Kimball's San Francisco reopens later this month.
I wasn't aware that he was still playing.  Maybe I'll have to stop by...

Vernon Schabert
schabert@psych.stanford.edu