Last night I went to the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall to see one of my jazz piano heroes, McCoy Tyner, and his quartet in concert. Following the September 2007 release of his album, 'Quartet', the concert showed Tyner as the master of modal jazz, with some superb numbers from 'Quartet', like 'Walk Spirit, Talk Spirit' and 'Mellow Minor'.

For teachers wanting to enthuse their students in jazz - especially at secondary level - material like this very approachable and highly recommended. It is not difficult to transcribe the 'head' and the chord changes don't come too rapidly so beginners can really concentrate on structuring and building their solos, rather than worrying overmuch about integrating lots of different scale types.

For more information about McCoy Tyner and his 'Quartet' album, go to www.mccoytyner.com or to his MySpace site.