Lennie Tristano: Tristano (atlantic)

Lennie Tristano - Tristano (1955) {Atlantic Japan, 30XD-1036, Early Press}
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© 1955, 1988 Atlantic / Warner Japan | 30XD-1036
Jazz / Bop / Cool / Piano

Lennie Tristano's Atlantic debut was a controversial album at the time of its release. Though Tristano was regarded as a stellar and innovative bebop pianist, he had been absent from recording for six years and had founded a jazz school where he focused instead on teaching. The first four tunes on this set shocked the jazz world at the time of their release (though not critic Barry Ulanov, who was Tristano's greatest champion and wrote the liner notes for the set). The reason was that on those four original tunes – "Line Up," "Requiem," "Turkish Mambo," and "East Thirty-Second" – Tristano actually overdubbed piano lines, and sped the tape up and down for effect.

Tristano's piano solos are challenging and ambitious on these unaccompanied solo works, recorded between 1960 and 1962 (all except "You Don't Know What Love Is" Tristano originals). The variety and sheer amount of ideas, plus the facility of the lines and the overall performances, are impressive. This is a superb presentation of Lennie Tristano's work.

Tristano's piano solos are challenging and ambitious on these unaccompanied solo works, recorded between 1960 and 1962 (all except "You Don't Know What Love Is" Tristano originals). The variety and sheer amount of ideas, plus the facility of the lines and the overall performances, are impressive. This is a superb presentation of Lennie Tristano's work.

Tristano's piano solos are challenging and ambitious on these unaccompanied solo works, recorded between 1960 and 1962 (all except "You Don't Know What Love Is" Tristano originals). The variety and sheer amount of ideas, plus the facility of the lines and the overall performances, are impressive. This is a superb presentation of Lennie Tristano's work.

Towards the end of the 20th century, the Giants of Jazz reissue label came out with a series of compilations that paid tribute to the amazingly creative musical mind of Lennie Tristano. Requiem offers 13 tracks recorded in New York City between the years 1949 and 1955, beginning with a pair of piano solos (the gnarly overdubbed "Turkish Mambo" and the beautiful reflective blues "Requiem") along with two studies for trio involving bassist Peter Ind and drummer Jeff Morton. "East Thirty-Second" was named for the address of Tristano's home recording studio, where these first four titles were taped in 1954 and 1955…

Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz & Warne Marsh - The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1954-61 {6CD Box Set Mosaic MD6-174 rel 1997}
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© 1954-61, 1997 Mosaic Records / Atlantic | MD6-174
Jazz / Cool / Bop / Saxophone / Piano

Pianist Lennie Tristano was an early inspiration and a major influence on the playing of altoist Lee Konitz and tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh. Their very notable and highly original Capitol recordings of 1949 – with the quiet metronomic rhythm section, advanced melodic improvising, and reharmonizations – stood apart from the typical bop of the period. By 1955, when the earliest performances on this 1997 limited-edition, six-CD set were recorded, the trio was not working together very often; in fact, Tristano was mostly functioning as a teacher, only surfacing for occasional records and club dates.

Lennie Tristano - The New Tristano (1962) {2013 Japan Jazz Best Collection 1000 Series WPCR-27259}
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© 1962, 2013 Atlantic / Warner Japan / WEA / Rhino | WPCR-27259
Jazz / Cool / Piano

Features 24 bit remastering and comes with a mini-description. Tristano's piano solos are challenging and ambitious on these unaccompanied solo works, recorded between 1960 and 1962 (all except "You Don't Know What Love Is" Tristano originals). The variety and sheer amount of ideas, plus the facility of the lines and the overall performances, are impressive. This is a superb presentation of Lennie Tristano's work.

The history of jazz is written as a recounting of the lives of its most famous (and presumably, most influential) artists. Reality is not so simple, however. Certainly the most important of the music's innovators are those whose names are known by all Armstrong, Parker, Young, Coltrane. Unfortunately, the jazz critic's tendency to inflate the major figures' status often comes at the expense of other musicians' reputations men and women who have made significant, even essential, contributions of their own, who are, for whatever reason, overlooked in the mad rush to canonize a select few.

Rhino's various artists/sampler series focuses on keyboards on this release, with cuts from 13 players. The opening track features Jimmy Yancey's sparkling boogie piano, and continues through several styles from Erroll Garner's flashy solos through Thelonious Monk's amazing bop improvisations, John Lewis' sedate, sophisticated phrases, Lennie Tristano's intricate material, and bluesier fare from Ray Charles, Junior Mance, and Les McCann. Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea take more adventurous directions, while The Mitchell-Ruff duo with drummer Charlie Smith falls somewhere in the center. The set's compositional variety and artist lineup is impressive; while none of these tracks qualify as particularly rare or obscure, they show the wealth of keyboard talent once on the Atlantic roster. ~ Ron Wynn