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Lennie Tristano Reconsidered · The Piano Maven with Jed Distler

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This is Jed Disler, and welcome to The Piano
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Maven, your friendly podcast guide to piano recordings.
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Moving on, I'm going to be talking about the
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jazz pianist, composer, teacher, and band leader
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Lenny Tristano in this episode. In an earlier
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Piano Maven episode, I discussed ten classical
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pianists who one might consider to be cult figures.
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Now, in the world of jazz piano, the artist who
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I think resides at the top of piano cult figures
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undoubtedly would have to be Lenny Tristano,
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who lived from 1919 until 1978. Long before jazz
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was being taught in conservatories and music
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schools, Tristano had developed a very thorough
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and systematic approach to teaching improvisation
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that applied not only to pianists, but to all
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instrumentalists in terms of ear training and
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technique and timekeeping and linear improvisation.
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And this resulted in generations of students.
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many of whom were fanatically devoted not just
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to Tristano's teaching, but even going so far
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to accepting his opinions on various musicians
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as gospel. Tristano had a very strong personality
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and an unswerving focus that one could interpret
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as being either positive or negative. And I personally
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found Tristano quite intimidating upon the one
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personal encounter I had with him when I was
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considering maybe taking lessons with him. But
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from what I understand, he could also be quite
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nurturing and generous with his students. But
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let's talk about his career and his life. Born
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blind, Lenny Tristano was raised in Chicago,
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where he studied at that city's American Conservatory
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of Music, and he got a bachelor's degree in 1943.
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Tristano moved to New York in 1946 and became
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involved in the rapidly developing modern jazz
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scene, making a name for himself as both pianist
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and composer. He had a penchant for harmonic
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experimentation and contrapuntal textures that
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impressed many musicians and listeners. First,
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in his trio recordings with guitar and bass that
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he made for the Keystone label in 1946. But Tristano's
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musical conceptions coalesced even further in
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the sextet recordings he made for the Capitol
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label in 1949. And his sidemen featured students
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and disciples such as alto saxophonist Lee Konitz,
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tenor saxophonist Warren Marsh, and guitarist
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Billy Bauer. And these recordings still stand
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out for their sophisticated themes characterized
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by great lineage. invention and the level of
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ensemble precision that contrasted to the often
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rough and ready bebop norm on disc. And the Capitol
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sessions also included two selections that were
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completely improvised from scratch, totally free
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improvisation. And this is 10 years before Ornette
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Coleman came onto the scene. In the early 1950s,
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Tristano experimented with multi -tracking and
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other forms of tape manipulation with his piano
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recordings, sometimes achieving rather controversial
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results in that he might record improvised lines
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at one tempo and then play them back twice as
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fast. However, his 1961 solo piano album called
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The New Tristano that first came out on the Atlantic
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label totally avoids such gimmicks. It's pure,
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unadulterated solo piano. And the selections
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reveal a solo style that is... either heavily
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chord -based or else consists of steady walking
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bass lines in the left hand that support complex
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right -hand linear improvisations. As Tristano's
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teaching practice grew in the 1950s and 60s,
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he increasingly retreated from live performances.
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And when he did perform in public, it was really
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quite a rare occasion. and his recording activity
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became limited to private sessions in his home
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studio, many of these which were released after
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his death. I find that the finesse of the 1949
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Capitol recordings quite stimulating, and they're
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really beautiful recordings. Although there is
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a degree of self -awareness and, dare I say,
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a kind of contrived sensibility that also comes
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across to my ears. And in the 1954 quartet recordings
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for Atlantic that Tristano made with Lee Konitz,
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I tend to find Tristano's accompaniments, how
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he's supporting Konitz, very heavy -handed and
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kind of... off -putting with thick pounding chords
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a lot of the time that seem to be less about
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giving support than being a stern chaperone for
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lack of a better analogy but the virtuosity and
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intensity characterizing the solo tracks on the
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new tristano still sounds fresh and vital especially
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in a really dazzling selection that's called
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C minor complex, which is based on the harmonic
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sequence of the song Pennies from Heaven, but
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in the minor key, the minor mode instead of the
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major mode. Most of Tristano's thematic lines...
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are based on popular song standards, by the way.
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For example, the 1949 sextet selection that is
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called Wow is based on the song You Can Depend
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on Me, while there's a song by Tristan that's
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called Lenny Bird, and that's based on How High
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the Moon. His students similarly followed suit.
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For example, Warren Marsh came up with some brilliant,
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brilliant lines. Like his song Marshmallow is
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based on Cherokee. And he has a song called Background
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Music that's really quite sophisticated rhythmically
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and has all kinds of melodic phrases that just
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go over the bar lines. And it's called Background
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Music. And this is based on All of Me, the song
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All of Me. actually think that warren marsh took
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tristano's principles and forged one of the most
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fluid and subtle and original improvising styles
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of all tenor saxophonists whereas lee konitz
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was more of an experimenter and sometimes an
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outlier and he could be more unpredictable the
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problem that i often have with tristano and the
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people who came out of his school is that they
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always seem to have been focused on the pursuit
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of the ideal improvised line while generally
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ignoring their surroundings and the process and
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maybe not taking their rhythm section into consideration
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or thinking about color or dynamics or ensemble
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textural contrasts. It's often as... like when
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you hear Tristano in some of the recordings with
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bass and drums, is that he's content to relegate
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the bass and drums to a mere timekeeping function.
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And rather than interacting with them, I mean,
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it's totally the opposite from the 1960s Bill
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Evans trios, you know, which are basically three
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-way conversations. You know, for example, when
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you listen to the 1960s Miles Davis quintet recordings,
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it's really akin to sophisticated chamber music
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where everyone has solo turns, of course, yet
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the textural and rhythmic variety with which
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the rhythm section supports the soloists creates
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a whole different kind of context rather than
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just mere background timekeeping wallpaper. But
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with the Tristano disciples, and often with Tristano
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himself, I guess it's like the analogy I'm thinking
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about is like a chef who is hell -bent on creating
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the most perfect sauce without caring so much
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about how the meal is presented or the sequence
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of dishes, you know, appetizer, main course,
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dessert, you know, without that kind of context.
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It's really all about that ideal sauce. But we
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do have some amazing isolated examples of Tristano
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at his most experimental. For instance, there
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is this multi -tracked piano selection that's
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called Descent into the Maelstrom. I think it
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was recorded in 1953. I don't think it was released
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during Tristano's lifetime. I may be wrong, but...
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It's an extraordinary track because it is full
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of atonal and thick and restlessly virtuosic
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piano playing. And it's not unlike the cluster
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-based piano music of the Russian and Italian
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futurists or maybe the American George Antile
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in the 1920s with his Ballet Mechanique. and
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it often foreshadows Cecil Taylor. I wonder what
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would have happened if Tristano had pursued these
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ideas further, or what would have happened had
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he built upon the potential displayed in the
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1949 sextet experiments in free improvisation.
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But his few solo performances from the 1960s,
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aside from the album The New Tristano, basically
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adhere to that walking bass left hand and right
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hand melodic improvisation model that is displayed
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in the new Tristano. And these unaccompanied
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solos are wonderful in and of themselves. Now,
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one reason that Tristano may have retreated from
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live performance probably had to do with nightclub
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conditions and bad pianos and audience noise
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and things like that. I think he really wanted
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audiences to come and really pay attention to
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the music and just have real ideal conditions
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to make art. And I totally can understand that.
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Now, would Tristano have performed more had he
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been granted the conditions that... people like
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Oscar Peterson or Keith Jarrett had when they
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made their rare nightclub appearances. I'm thinking
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about when Oscar Peterson played at New York's
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Blue Note, as well as Keith Jarrett playing at
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the Blue Note, you know, where the piano would
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be tuned before each set, and there would be
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very strict rules about when drinks could be
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served, like you couldn't be serving anything
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during the music or something like that. My sense
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is that after a certain point in his life, Tristano
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felt that he could be creative outside of the
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public arena and that he could do so on his own
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terms. And also that I think he genuinely enjoyed
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teaching and transmitting his ideas to and through
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young musicians. And also having established
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a teaching studio in the 1950s that basically
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flourished for the next two decades, Tristano
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had a relatively secure and stable base of income
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that really did allow him the luxury of not having
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to compromise elsewhere in his life. In any case...
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Lenny Tristano's recorded legacy is a prime example
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of the value in scarcity. And it kind of parallels
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classical artists like Carlos Kleiber, the conductor,
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who only made a handful of commercial recordings.
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or the pianist Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli,
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who picked and choosed everything he did and
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probably canceled more concerts than he played.
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Be that as it may, Lenny Tristano will always
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be a fascinating figure in jazz history, as a
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musical thinker, as an educator, as a bandleader,
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and as a remarkable and very individual pianist.
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This is Jed Disler, and you've been listening
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to The Piano Maven, your friendly podcast guide
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to piano recordings. I look forward to being
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with you for the next episode. Take good care.