Tyner Displays Lush Tones, Vibrant Qualities

Great jazz artists are often viewed as semi-permanent icons. Their break-through accomplishments, once valued for their revolutionary qualities, become the stuff that an audience expects to hear from them in every performance.

But many artists--Miles Davis may be the most obvious example--refuse to be over-categorized, insisting instead upon a forward-looking creative vision.

Case in point: Pianist McCoy Tyner, a member of the groundbreaking John Coltrane groups of the ‘60s, has generally been identified with the musical breakthroughs that took place during that vital period in his life.

But Tyner’s growth didn’t stop there. And, as his performance at the Jazz Bakery Wednesday night--in the opening set of a five-night run--made clear, he has become an even more sophisticated, complex and adventurous performer than he was in the ‘60s.

Working with his regular trio of bassist Avery Sharpe and drummer Aaron Scott, he offered a program primarily devoted to standards such as “I’ll Take Romance,” “Will You Still Be Mine?” and “For All We Know.” His playing was extraordinarily lush--his chording dense with note clusters, his phrasing dominated by cascading arpeggios and roving counter-lines.

But, as happens so often in opening sets at the Bakery--before musicians have an adequate chance to deal with the room’s difficult acoustics--Tyner’s interaction with his trio was generally blurred in a wash of undifferentiated sound.

Fortunately, he offered at least one complete tune--”For All We Know”--and several introductions unaccompanied, allowing the vibrant orchestral qualities of his playing to be fully displayed.

In those moments, Tyner’s soloing was a compendium of jazz piano history, pulsing with the buoyant stride of James P. Johnson and Fats Waller, rich with the lush harmonies of Art Tatum, articulate with the bop phrases of Bud Powell, all of it assembled into a personal, pianistic expression that is one of the great pleasures of contemporary jazz.

* The McCoy Tyner Trio at the Jazz Bakery through Sunday. 3233 Helms Ave., Culver City. (310) 271-9039. $22 admission tonight and Saturday at 8 and 9:30 p.m. and Sunday at 7 and 8:30 p.m.