McCoy Tyner was the most original and substantial jazz piano innovator to emerge between Bill Evans and Chick Corea. He played with the touch of God.

There was a ritual for my private lessons with Lee Konitz in his Manhattan apartment. Invariably, I insisted on beginning with the two of us listening to What's New as interpreted by McCoy together with John Coltrane, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison. This seemed to put me in a state of mind receptive to learning and doing my best, touching upon the spiritual bedrock of jazz and music itself. I didn't even know the lyrics of the song at the time. That came later, presaged by Lee informing me following one of these lessons that for musical inspiration he listened to Frank Sinatra.

- Michael Robinson, March 2020, Los Angeles

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Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer (musicologist)