Yes, artist like John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Chick Corea have many musicians who they have influence in their wake, but to give you some semblance of how Lennie Tristano (1919-1978) still has an impact on todays music, consider this: both post bop saxophonist Dave Liebman and hard rock guitarist Joe Satriano took lessons from this pioneer.
So why is he so obscure? Well, he did essentially drop out of the music scene, and he did not record a ton of material. Yet his sound is still palpably heard today, as this 6 cd, limited set from Mosaic Records illustrates.
Comprised of home recordings, never before released to the public, this 74 song anthology spans 24 years of his musical vision, ranging from traditional stride to bop, to post bop to the very early stages of what became known as “free”jazz. It’s all here, with the sessions including solo piano, trio works and sextet with artists including alto sax giant Lee Konitz, underrated tenor saxist Warne Marsh, swinger Zoot Sims and cool toned guitarist Billy Bauer.
The 1952/62 solo recordings from both Tristano’s home and the famed Rudy Van Gelder Studio spotlight the pianist’s strong and dominant left hand, sounding both from the stride and bop school, on his own pieces on the lithe “Lennie’s Blues” and “New Pennies”, just oozing with idiosyncratic harmonies, while his take on “When Your Lover Has Gone” and “These Foolish Things “ (also puree’d into “Foolish Again”) reveals a creative and iconoclastic brilliance.
There’s a “live” trio session collection on one disc from 1946/47 with bassist Arnold Fishkin and guitarist Billy Bauer in Long Island. For those accustomed to his work with horn players, these recordings are a revelation, with symbiotic conversations, solos and unison lines on pieces such as “Stream Line”, “Cosmology”, “Three For Tea” and “Lennie’s Song” are awe-inspiring. Another disc has Tristano again, but with bassist Peter Ind and either Tom Wayburn or Al Levit on drums. Here, Tristano is at his most accessible, and is swinging with style on the sleek “Ocean’s Deep”, “There Will Never Be Another You” and “Movin’ Along”. (As you can tell, Tristano had a habit of taking standards, slightly changing the title, and making them his own).
From the 1960s, there are some trios and duos with bassist Sonny Dallas and drummer Nick Stabulus, with the ESP-ish conversations and interplay on “Duo Days” or “I Should Care” are rich shadows of sound.
If Tristano is known for anything these days, its for his hot house of a band that germinated the advanced sounds of the “cool school” meeting “free” with Lee Konitz/as, Warne Marsh/ts, Billy Bauer/g, Arnold Fishkin-Joe Shulman/b and Jeff Morton/dr. These free flying, impressionistic pieces are sublime yet challenging, with the Charlie Parker disciple Konitz in gloriously icy form on “Sound Lee” and “Ice Cream Konitz”, and teaming with Marsh on a jaw dropping “Sax of A Kind”. This is material you won’t want to let go of.
The most adventurous session, by far, is the prophetic 1948 meeting with Konitz, Marsh and Bauer. Many of you may have heard of Tristano’s famous “Intuition” and “Digression”, but these tunes actually pre-date that legendary on-off. Your eyes might bug out with the revelatory p ieces l ike “Dialogue”, “Digression Expanse” and “Story”. Whole set ends on an almost mainstream scale with a 1962 gig at the Half Note with Tristano cooking with Zoot Sims/ts, Konitz/as, Dallas/b and Stabulas/dr on “Swingin’ at Half Note” and a dry ice smoke of “Lennie’s Dream” and “Hudson Street”.
Included is a 16 page booklet with notes and analysis by Lenny Poplin, as well as a collection of very cool vintage photos. Mosaic is owed a debt of gratitude for this one, bringing back to recognition and overlooked and underappreciated visionary. Check it out.
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