Improvising with McCoy Tyner and Savion Glover: Bring it On!

At times whimsical, alive, thoughtful, competitive, paternal and prayerful, tonight's performance by the McCoy Tyner Trio and Savion Glover at Peekskill's historic Paramount Center for the Arts* sent me spinning and dancing.

The audience leapt from our seats begging for an encore (which was granted). Rarely have I heard four musicians more connected with each other or so enjoying making music together. Never before have I heard a man's feet become an instrument quite like Glover's did tonight.

The floorboards and the keyboards were ablaze with the blues of Tyner's West Phillie upbringing, the jazz of Coltrane and Savion's Newark funk-i-fied feet. As a wannabe disciple of the church of John Coltrane, I know the Spirit moving when I see, hear and feel it.

Glover's sheer joy shone through his almost ever-present smile, poured out of his lanky, agile, ever-moving frame as he tapped on his toes, his heels, the sides of his shoes, sliding, stepping, shuffling across the stage on risers just inches above the other guys. Dreads tossed into a loose bunch on the lower part of his head, a few raucous strands jutting out in various directions, dancing along with his skinny legs and gangly fingers, Glover played his feet like a second percussionist to drummer Eric Kamau Gravatt.

Most of the night he faced Tyner who was stage right, like a son looking to his father for direction, for acceptance, for partnership. Occasionally Tyner glanced up from the keyboard, all the while tappin' his left heel on the floor while his right toes pressed the pads of the Steinway, and a satisfied smile would cross his face immediately reinvigorating Glover like a child who's parent had just given him a "nice dive, son" and thumbs up poolside. As the musicians took turns soloing, Glover would begin to hear the subtle shift either to his left and engage the drummer, or behind, and engage bassist Gerald Cannon. No matter the musician, Glover's feet could accompany.

The 30-something year-old woman beside me, who has been taking tap classes for many years including recently studying with a student of Savion's, remarked that it's not just his speed that is impressive, or that he never stops moving. It is the clarity of each and every ba bah BAH bah BAH swish, ba bah bah BAH of metal on wood like the precision of a violinist's fingers on strings or a skater's double somersault landing on ice. There is nothing more impressive or inspiring than that kind of precision, especially when offered with such joy, such elegance and such apparent ease.

In the second to last piece, Glover and the drummer took center stage entering into a duel of cymbals depending on what they struck and how they landed. Their boxing match of music entailed one taking lead and the next responding - and then taking it one step further. After a good few minutes and a few subtle, then less subtle key strokes, the almost-70-year old Pappa Tyner would reign in his fighters to harness their abundant energy into a cohesive ensemble again. As Turner pulled the posse together, Glover would tap and turn himself unconsciously back toward the father. Okay, we're all here now. We know who's in charge. And the call and response would begin anew.

In the finale before we called Encore!, Glover had been wiping the sweat from his brow with a white towel when the music consumed him and next thing he was dancing with the towel in his hand. Where his hands had been loose and free all night, now one clenched the towel and the other became fisted with one finger pointing. As his hands shifted, so too his legs and arms; what had seemed to be constantly flexing and lengthening had now become stiff like a new skier on a steep slope. What had flown freely like his baggy pants and t-shirt became rigid with anticipation. His tap tap tap became STOMP STOMP STOMP and his smile disappeared as a look of squinted concentration consumed his face, a face now turned upward as if his whole body were saying Bring it On, YES YES YES. Or maybe it was Amen! or who knows where he was going but he was flying and we were flying with him. We came out the other side, drained and thrilled and on our feet, but falling over with pleasure.

It's nights like tonight that I am reminded we each have something we are meant to be doing. What a ride. Thanks, guys.


*From the Paramount Theater press release:
Grammy Award winning jazz pianist McCoy Tyner performs a groundbreaking evening of music and dance with the critically acclaimed, world renowned tap dancer Savion Glover. Tyner's blues-based, percussive piano playing (formulated while a key member of John Coltrane's legendary quartet) has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. Glover's phenomenal tap repertoire first exploded on the scene with the award winning Broadway show, Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. Since that time, he has amazed audiences through appearances in film (including his tapping in the animated film Happy Feet), other plays, and touring performances with his own group.