After the first number, Tyner picked up a microphone to greet the audience. In a quiet baritone voice, he said it was an honor to have played with John Coltrane, and led the band through the legendary saxophonist’s composition A Moment’s Notice. Scott again featured as the lead voice, and by then his cool exterior had melted: he beamed and shook his head slightly, as if in humble awe at Tyner’s lush, inspired soloing.
The show only grew in intensity, with energetic, masterful performances from bassist Gerald Cannon and drummer Eric Gravatt. The veteran musicians created exquisitely textured rhythms, to which Tyner added dramatic splashes of dissonant chords and lines of notes that ranged from sparse to overflowing. The result was a cerebral, elegant sound. Tyner and the group developed abstracted melodies and challenging harmonies, but housed them in tight, crisp structures — even the silences that sometimes marked solos were perfectly timed.
The remaining songs were unfamiliar to this reviewer, but the music was unmistakably familiar: it was driven and had the excitement that marked Tyner’s tenure with the John Coltrane Quartet. The tunes ran a gamut of emotions: one piece grew into a sonic frenzy, which was then tempered by a ballad; there was also a straightforward, be-bop blues number. But throughout, there was always a sense of musical exploration, as well as joy on stage, evident as the musicians frequently broke into smiles.
RSS