reed wrote:
> Anyway, who cares what Lennie Tristano did? I mean the guy was not a
> bad
> player but he's no beacon of jazz truth or playing. He was probably
> one of the first people to try and teach bebop playing. As one of my
> teachers once said, "I've never met someone that said 'I Heard Lennie
> Tristano
> and it changed my life and made me want to be a jazz pianist whereas
> you'll
> hear alot of people say that about Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Bud
> Powell,
> Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea,
> ...."
>
> Also, there is so much mythology surrounding Lennie Tristano that I
> don't really believe much of what people say regarding what he taught,
>
> etc. In NY city I've heard there is almost a cult following.
>
>
I understand the general point that you are trying to make, but I
would like to come to he defense of Tristano. While I think that his
historical role is somewhat more important than some of the actual
recordings that he made, I think that he was an exceptional pianist and
an important figure in the history of modern jazz. Cult following
aside, he was, as you indicated, one of the first who tried to analyze
and formalize the musical principles of bop. In his sense he is the
father of the whole academic jazz movement (which I think is a mixed
blessing) even though he was not an academic. He was also important fo
trying to move beyond the cliches of bop. I am not very fond of his
group recordings and find that players such as Konitz and Marsh made
much better music on their own, I think that some of his solo and trio
recordings rank among some of the most original piano statements of his
time. If you listen to some of his things such as Descent into the
Malestrom, you will find that he was very different from the
Powell-inspired bop tradition and as quirky and interesting as Nichols
and Monk.
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Piotr Michalowski Office phone: 313-764-0314 Dept. of Near Eastern Studies Fax: 313-936-2679 3074 Frieze Building Home page: www.umich.edu/ University of Michigan ~neareast/pages/faculty/ Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285 michalow.htm -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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reed wrote:
Anyway, who cares what Lennie Tristano did? I mean the guy was not a badI understand the general point that you are trying to make, but I would like to come to he defense of Tristano. While I think that his historical role is somewhat more important than some of the actual recordings that he made, I think that he was an exceptional pianist and an important figure in the history of modern jazz. Cult following aside, he was, as you indicated, one of the first who tried to analyze and formalize the musical principles of bop. In his sense he is the father of the whole academic jazz movement (which I think is a mixed blessing) even though he was not an academic. He was also important fo trying to move beyond the cliches of bop. I am not very fond of his group recordings and find that players such as Konitz and Marsh made much better music on their own, I think that some of his solo and trio recordings rank among some of the most original piano statements of his time. If you listen to some of his things such as Descent into the Malestrom, you will find that he was very different from the Powell-inspired bop tradition and as quirky and interesting as Nichols and Monk.
player but he's no beacon of jazz truth or playing. He was probably
one of the first people to try and teach bebop playing. As one of my
teachers once said, "I've never met someone that said 'I Heard Lennie Tristano
and it changed my life and made me want to be a jazz pianist whereas you'll
hear alot of people say that about Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Bud Powell,
Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea,
...."Also, there is so much mythology surrounding Lennie Tristano that I
don't really believe much of what people say regarding what he taught,
etc. In NY city I've heard there is almost a cult following.
--
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Piotr Michalowski Office phone: 313-764-0314
Dept. of Near Eastern Studies Fax: 313-936-2679
3074 Frieze Building Home page: www.umich.edu/
University of Michigan ~neareast/pages/faculty/
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285 michalow.htm
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