Jazz Review : Pianist McCoy Tyner at His Amiable Best at Jazz Bakery

McCoy Tyner may be the most influential under-recognized pianist in contemporary jazz. His highly personal style, profuse with dense note clusters and intricate rhythms, has impacted a wide spectrum of younger players, despite his relative unfamiliarity to the wider jazz audience.

Part of the problem may be that Tyner’s performances can be difficult for casual listeners, and noticeably so when he elects to dip heavily into unfamiliar repertoire. But he was at his amiable best with his trio at the Jazz Bakery on Tuesday night, ranging through a set of tunes that demonstrated the breadth, if not always the complete depth, of his substantial talents.

Pieces such as “Have You Met Miss Jones” and “In a Mellow Tone” were showcases for Tyner’s remarkable ability to time-shift the rhythm. At times he multiplied it into sharp, rapid-fire bursts of notes; at other times he toyed with the meter, punching out razor-thin, but always precise chordal syncopations.

Tyner was especially impressive in an illuminating solo piano rendering of the old standard “We’ll Be Together Again.” Moving freely across styles and eras, he combined bits and snatches of be-bop, stride piano and Coltranesque rhythmic complexities into his own lush harmonic vision. His innate feel for timbral subtleties, not especially apparent when his rhythm section was playing, was on full display. It was a splendid revelation of how a mature jazz artist--Tyner is 55--with desire and determination can persistently push open the envelope of his skills.

Tyner’s longtime musical companions, bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Aaron Scott, provided the kind of easy, almost symbiotic support that only comes with continuing artistic association. Unfortunately, the Bakery’s still unfocused audio system tended to blur their playing. One wonders whether a trio such as Tyner’s might not be better heard, in this setting, with no electronic amplification at all, other than a slight boost for Sharpe’s bass.

* The McCoy Tyner Trio at the Jazz Bakery, 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. (310) 271-9039. $20 entrance. The Tyner Trio plays through Sunday.