This Saturday, Jan. 13, the Hopkins Center will host eminent jazz pianist McCoy Tyner and his trio for what should prove to be a night of engaging and entertaining modern jazz.
The show has drawn a significant amount of interest from the student population as well as the local community. According to the Hop's website, the show is completely sold out. Any tickets that are available will be sold to the public on the day of the show.
Tyner is featured prominently in the Hop's winter catalogue as one of the big-name jazz acts that it books for Spaulding Auditorium each year. This year has seen other bookings for performers of similar cultural significance. Sonny Rollins, the legendary tenor saxophonist, was scheduled to perform this past September, but that show has been postponed due to Rollins's ill health.
Tyner quickly established himself as a capable and intuitive performer and improviser. He gained a reputation in the jazz community and became very close with saxophonist John Coltrane, a leading innovator of that time.
Tyner was involved in creating some of the defining records of the post-bop era, for which Coltrane was the poster child. He first played with Coltrane's quartet on the record "My Favorite Things," which marked the beginning of the "classic quartet" era made up of Coltrane, Tyner, Jimmy Garrison on bass and Elvin Jones on drums. The record was characterized by its use of modality, a trait that Tyner would carry on in his own records.
After playing with Coltrane for several years and helping to make such important records as "Impressions" and "A Love Supreme," Tyner formed his own quartet with Jones, Joe Henderson on tenor sax and Ron Carter on bass, and began recording post-bop albums for Blue Note records in 1967. Since then, he has released over 70 albums for a variety of labels, and he continues to be a major force in the jazz community as a composer and performer.
He is also the recipient of numerous Grammy awards and in 2004 was inducted into Down Beat magazine's hall of fame.
This Saturday, Tyner will be playing with his trio. Tyner's remarkable style and ability should provide a solid night of jazz for those in attendance.
The show is at 8 p.m. in Spaulding.
