McCoy Tyner, one of the living legends of American Jazz music, took the stage at the RSJ Centre last Friday for the first of two Bermuda Festival concerts. He brought along with him some other giants of the music, two of whom - bassist Charnett Moffett , and drummer Eric Harland - appear on the album ‘Land of The Giants'. Then there was master gongero Richy Flores and the flautist Dave Valentin. To call this a stellar line up doesn't begin to tell the story.

Tyner opened in tri format with a straight ahead standard, ‘Will You Still Be Mine'.

Mellow chorded and swinging, this opener whetted the appetite, the great pianist creating an impressive solo , supple muscular angular runs rippling from the piano in the style he invented. If saxophone players play in a language invented by Parker, then pianists surely pay the same homage to Tyner.

Two engaging solos , the first by drummer Eric Harland, followed by Moffett extended the piece before Tyner returned to the theme, then closed it out. After he quietly welcomes the audience he performed ‘I Should Care'. There was all the lyricism and harmonic complexity that characterises his sound in this all too brief rendition of this classic.

Two Puerto Rican guests, the flautist Dave Valentin, and the amazing Richy Flores jointed the trio on stage and took the music in a decidedly different direction.

Flores is known elsewhere no only for his abilities as a performer but also as an arranging musical encounters with performers from other musical cultures. Valentin, with an intriguing collection of South American flute, and a rootsy style of mixing guttural utterances with the flute's timbre, proceeded with the trio explored the multi-rhytmic possibilities of 6/8 time.His flute playing was pointilistic, rather than lyrical, and served the idea of the primacy, in this number, of rhythm.

Rhythm ruled. It was not merely rhythmic, though, it was about rhythm; this in the sense that each member seems to go about their own business, Tyner's foot tapping at times being the only indication of the basic meter, while each player spun of like planets with their own gravity, albeit within the same planetary system. It was a universe of rhythm. It was risky, suspenseful and finally extremely gratifying.

They played ‘Little Sun Flower'. All that beauty, and just two chords! Valentin swithched to alto flute, and later sampled his collection of instruments.

Tyner's solos were remarkable for their brevity as much as anything else. He seemed to preside over the musical proceedings, as much as take part in them, playing always with great taste.

Afterwards Tyner again , alone began a blues in stride, choruses of which recalled Waller, Garner and other masters of the genre. No mere performance though, this was a retrospective of piano playing styles, of which Jazz can now boast more than one hundred years worth; lovingly, it seemed, Tyner recalled the great Bud Powell in a display of piano playing that was simply masterful. The bassist joined in quoting ‘One Mint Julip' at length, then the drummer had his marvellous turn..

Then ‘Angelina', a Latin flavoured number. The flautist seemed not to know the head too well, but soldiered on. The Richy Flores solo on this number was a revelation.

With four congas tuned to different pitches he played with lightening speed and evenness of touch, a solo that drew loud appreciative noises from the audience.

‘Rain or Shine' opened the second set, a nod to the inclemency of the weather , maybe.It closed with ‘Fly With The Wind', a raucous, cacophonous romp for all the player, as the revelled in the latin textured sound, Tyner imitating the cow bell with octave punctuations, keeping time while the drummer took off , cymbals shimmering.

The concert ended on that number. It was all dazzling, even with the slightly uneven balance of the first set, which the sound people corrected by the second.

It was quite a night.

RONLIGHTBOURNE