the McCoy Tyner school
Quartal Voicings
Stacked fourths over open fifths — the modern, open, modal sound.
All 12 keys
C major
Dm11 – G7sus – C6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
D♭ major (C♯)
E♭m11 – A♭7sus – D♭6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
D major
Em11 – A7sus – D6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
E♭ major
Fm11 – B♭7sus – E♭6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
E major
F♯m11 – B7sus – E6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
F major
Gm11 – C7sus – F6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
G♭ major (F♯)
A♭m11 – D♭7sus – G♭6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
G major
Am11 – D7sus – G6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
A♭ major
B♭m11 – E♭7sus – A♭6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
A major
Bm11 – E7sus – A6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
B♭ major
Cm11 – F7sus – B♭6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
B major
C♯m11 – F♯7sus – B6/9
3 of 5 voices hold from ii to V · total resolve motion 19 semitones
The story
Stack perfect fourths instead of thirds and the harmony stops telling you exactly where it is — which is the point. McCoy Tyner built his engine room on this: a bare fifth thundering in the left hand to anchor the root, fourths piled in the right, and suddenly one grip serves half a dozen chords. That ambiguity makes the voice leading almost free: in this progression the right-hand stack does not move at all from ii to V — only the bass drops a fifth, and the same three notes change meaning from (11–♭7–♭3) to (1–4–♭7), turning the dominant into a wide-open sus chord. Then everything exhales down into a 6/9 color for the I. No leading tones, no tritone pull — resolution by architecture instead of gravity. This is the sound of "Passion Dance" and of every pianist who wanted out of bebop's closed positions.
Listen: McCoy Tyner — "Passion Dance"; Chick Corea — "Matrix" comping.