Lennie Tristano - Lennie Tristano & The New Tristano (1955&62)

Lennie Tristano - Lennie Tristano & The New Tristano (1955&62)

jazz | 2lp on 1cd | eac-flac-cue-log-cover | 410MB

Atlantic

Allmusic:
Lennie Tristano: 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. While the effect is quite listenable and only jarring in the most splendid sense of the word -- because of the sharp, angular arpeggios and the knotty, involved method of improvising that came directly by improvising against the rhythm section of drummer Jeff Morton and bassist Peter Ind -- it was literally unheard of at the time. The last five tunes on the disc were recorded live with a rhythm section of bassist Gene Ramey and drummer Art Taylor. Lee Konitz plays alto as well. The tunes are all standards, including "These Foolish Things," "Ghost of a Chance," and "All the Things You Are." The performance is flawless, with beautiful interplay between Lee and Lennie and stellar harmonic ideas coming down from the bandstand in a fluid relaxed manner. This is a gorgeous album with a beautiful juxtaposition between its first and second halves, with the rhythmic and intervallic genius of Tristano as an improviser on full display during the first half and the pianist as a supreme lyrical and swinging harmonist during the back half.
The New Tristano: 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

Tracks
-01. "Line Up" – 3:34
-02. "Requiem" – 4:53
-03. "Turkish Mambo" – 3:41
-04. "East Thirty-Second" – 4:33
-05. "These Foolish Things" (Harry Link, Holt Marvell, Jack Strachey) – 5:46
-06. "You Go to My Head" (J. Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie) – 5:20
-07. "If I Had You" (Jimmy Campbell, Reginald Connelly, Ted Shapiro) – 6:29
-08. "I Don't Stand a Ghost of a Chance With You" (B Crosby, N Washington, V Young) – 6:07
-09. "All the Things You Are" (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern) – 6:11
----
-10. "Becoming" - 4:32
-11. "C Minor Complex" - 5:50
-12 . "You Don't Know What Love Is" (DePaul, Raye) - 3:28
-13 . "Deliberation - 4:50
-14 . "Scene and Variations: Carol/Tania/Bud - 11:42
-15 . "Love Lines" - 2:19
-16 . "G Minor Complex - 3:51
All songs composed by Lennie Tristano, unless otherwise noted.

Personnel
* Lennie Tristano – piano
* Peter Ind – bass (1-4)
* Jeff Morton – drums (1-4)
* Lee Konitz – alto saxophone (5-9)
* Gene Ramey – bass (5-9)
* Art Taylor – drums (5-9)

sample & buy: Lennie Tristano / New Tristano