Lennie Tristano facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lennie Tristano
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Tristano, c. August 1947
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Leonard Joseph Tristano |
| Born | March 19, 1919 Chicago, Illinois, US |
| Died | November 18, 1978 (aged 59) New York City, New York, US |
| Genres | Avant-garde jazz, bebop, cool jazz, free jazz, post-bop |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, arranger, music teacher |
| Instruments | Piano |
| Years active | 1940s–1969 |
| Labels | Atlantic, Jazz |
| Associated acts | Billy Bauer, Arnold Fishkind, Peter Ind, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Art Taylor |
Lennie Tristano (born March 19, 1919 – died November 18, 1978) was an American jazz pianist. He was also a composer, arranger, and a famous teacher of jazz music.
Tristano studied music in Chicago before moving to New York City in 1946. He played with top bebop musicians and started his own small bands. These bands quickly showed his unique ideas, like how instruments could play together in complex ways.
In 1949, his group made the first ever "free jazz" recordings. This meant they improvised music without a set plan. Tristano kept innovating in 1951 by making the first jazz recordings using overdubbing. This is when you record new music over existing tracks.
Two years later, he recorded a solo piano piece that had no traditional harmony. It was based on developing small musical ideas instead. Tristano also explored complex rhythms and scales in the 1960s. However, he did not record very often during this time.
Tristano began teaching music, especially improvisation, in the early 1940s. By the mid-1950s, he focused more on teaching than performing. He taught in a very organized and strict way, which was new for jazz education back then. His teaching influenced many jazz musicians, including saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh.
Musicians and critics have different opinions about Tristano's music. Some say his playing was cold and that his ideas did not have much impact. Others believe he helped connect bebop to later, freer jazz styles. They also think he is not as famous as he should be because his music was hard to categorize.
Contents
Early Life and Musical Beginnings
Lennie Tristano was born in Chicago on March 19, 1919. His mother, Rose, was also from Chicago. His father, Michael, was born in Italy and moved to the United States as a child. Lennie was the second of four brothers.
Lennie started playing the family's player piano when he was only two or three years old. He took classical piano lessons at age eight. However, he later said these lessons made it harder for him to develop his own style.
He was born with poor eyesight. This might have been because his mother was sick during pregnancy. A severe case of measles at age six made his vision worse. By age nine or ten, he was completely blind due to glaucoma.
He first went to regular schools. Then, he attended the Illinois School for the Blind for ten years, starting around 1928. During his school years, he learned to play several instruments. These included saxophones, trumpet, guitar, and drums.
Tristano studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He earned a bachelor's degree from 1938 to 1941. He continued studying for two more years but left before finishing his master's degree. One of his aunts helped him by taking notes during his university classes.
Lennie Tristano's Career
Starting Out in the 1940s
In the early 1940s, Tristano played tenor saxophone and piano for different events. This included playing in a rhumba band. Around the same time, he started giving private music lessons. One of his first students was saxophonist Lee Konitz.
From 1943, Tristano also taught at the Axel Christensen School of Popular Music. He first got attention for his piano playing in 1944. He was mentioned in Metronome and later in Down Beat magazine.
In 1945, he recorded with musicians from Woody Herman's band. His playing on these songs showed his unique style. He used complex harmonies, fast single-note runs, and block chords. He also recorded solo piano pieces that year. Tristano got married in 1945 to Judy Moore, a singer.
Tristano's love for jazz led him to move to New York City in 1946. Before moving to the city, he stayed in Freeport, Long Island. There, he played in a restaurant with Arnold Fishkind (bass) and Billy Bauer (guitar). This trio made recordings in 1946–47.
Critics at the time noted how original their piano and guitar playing was. They also praised the trio's new approach to harmony. Later, musician Gunther Schuller said one of their recordings was "too far ahead of its time." It had very free harmonies and complex rhythms.
Tristano met saxophonist Charlie Parker in 1947. They played together in bands with other bebop musicians like Dizzy Gillespie and Max Roach. Tristano said Parker liked his playing because it was different and he did not copy Parker's style.
In 1948, Tristano played less often in clubs. He added Konitz and a drummer to his band, making it a quintet. This group made the first recordings for the New Jazz label, which later became Prestige Records. Later that year, Warne Marsh, another saxophonist student of Tristano's, joined the group.
Tristano's band had two important recording sessions in 1949. The sextet recorded original songs like "Wow" and "Crosscurrent." These songs used familiar harmonies. Critics noted the smooth, flowing lines of the playing and how it differed from bebop.
Without a drummer, the other musicians also recorded the first "free improvisations" by a group. These were "Intuition" and "Digression." For these songs, only the order and timing of musicians joining in were planned. Nothing else was set, like harmony, key, or tempo. The five musicians played together by listening and responding to each other.
Both songs were praised by critics, but their release was delayed. "Intuition" came out in late 1950, and "Digression" not until 1954. Charlie Parker and composer Aaron Copland were impressed. However, many other musicians thought Tristano's music was too new and lacked emotion. They believed it would not be popular.
The sextet struggled to find enough work. But they did play at Birdland's opening night and had a five-week engagement there. They also played at other places in the northeastern US in late 1949. They performed free pieces and Bach fugues in these concerts. But over time, they found it hard to keep the same freedom they had at first.
Innovations in the 1950s
The sextet continued performing into 1951, with some changes in musicians. In the same year, Tristano moved his lessons from his home to a loft in Manhattan. He turned part of the loft into a recording studio. This studio also became a place for many jam sessions with invited musicians. The address inspired one of his songs, "317 East 32nd Street."
Around this time, Tristano started his own record label called Jazz Records. It released two songs, "Ju-ju" and "Pastime," in 1952. But Tristano stopped the project because it took too much time and had distribution problems. These two songs were from a session with bassist Peter Ind and drummer Roy Haynes. Tristano later added a second piano part using overdubbing. Ind said these were the first improvised jazz recordings to use overdubbing. Early critics did not realize overdubbing had been used.
Tristano's recording studio stayed in use. It was where early sessions for Debut Records took place. This label was started by Max Roach and bassist Charles Mingus.
In 1952, Tristano's band played occasionally, including a quintet performance in Toronto. That summer, Konitz joined Stan Kenton's band. This broke up the main part of Tristano's long-time group. However, Konitz did play with Tristano again sometimes.
Tristano's 1953 recording "Descent into the Maelstrom" was another new idea. It was a musical story based on Edgar Allan Poe's tale of the same name. It was a solo piano piece that used multitracking. It had no planned harmony and was based on developing small musical ideas. This atonality (music without a clear key) was similar to later work by pianists like Cecil Taylor.
The next year, Tristano's sextet played at the first Newport Jazz Festival. This might have been his only jazz festival appearance. He thought festivals were too focused on money. Marsh left the band in the summer of 1955.
Tristano recorded his first album for Atlantic Records in 1955. He was allowed to control the recording process and what music to release. The album, named Lennie Tristano, included solo and trio songs. It had more experiments with multitracking ("Requiem" and "Turkish Mambo"). It also used altered tape-speed ("Line Up" and "East 32nd"). Using overdubbing and tape changes was controversial for some critics and musicians at the time.
"Requiem" was a tribute to Parker, who had recently passed away. It had a deep blues feeling, a style not usually linked with Tristano. For "Line Up" and "East 32nd," Tristano used "chromatic harmony." This made him a pioneer in expanding jazz's harmonic language, according to his biographer Eunmi Shim.
By the mid-1950s, Tristano focused more on teaching music. In 1956, he moved his studio from Manhattan to Hollis, Queens. Some of his main students moved to California after this change. He gave fewer concerts than before.
However, in 1958, he started playing at New York's Half Note Club. The owners convinced him to perform by replacing their piano with a new one of Tristano's choice. They later said that in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the most popular musicians at their club were John Coltrane, Zoot Sims, and Tristano.
Later Years: 1960s and 1970s
Tristano's second album for Atlantic was recorded in 1961 and released in 1962. The New Tristano was all solo piano music. It did not use overdubbing or tape-speed changes. The songs featured strong bass lines played by his left hand. These lines gave structure and played against the right-hand melodies. The album also had block chords, unclear harmonies, and contrasting rhythms. Other solo piano recordings Tristano made in 1961 were not released until the 1970s.
In 1964, the pianist brought back his quintet with Konitz and Marsh. They played for two months at the Half Note and in Toronto. The quartet, without Konitz, played at the Cellar Club in Toronto two years later. Tristano played at the Half Note Club until the mid-1960s. He also toured Europe in 1965, mostly as a solo pianist. His playing style was similar to his The New Tristano recordings.
He performed with Ind and others in the UK in 1968. These concerts were well-received, and Tristano returned the next year. His last public performance in the US was in 1968.
Tristano turned down offers to perform in the 1970s. He said he did not like to travel. He also did not want to follow the path of a career musician who had to play many concerts. He continued teaching and helped organize concerts for some of his students. Another album, Descent into the Maelstrom, was released in the 1970s. It contained recordings made between 1951 and 1966.
Tristano had several illnesses in the 1970s. He died of a heart attack at home in Jamaica, New York, on November 18, 1978.
Personality and Musical Ideas
According to bassist Peter Ind, Tristano was "always so gentle, so charming and so quietly spoken." But his directness could be surprising. Others, like bassist Chubby Jackson, also noted his directness. They said Tristano had little tact and did not worry about being rude. Some students found him bossy. But others said this was because he demanded discipline in training and a serious attitude toward music.
Writer Barry Ulanov said in 1946 that Tristano "was not content merely to feel something." He had to explore ideas and think them through carefully. Tristano criticized the free jazz that started in the 1960s. He felt it lacked musical logic and expressed negative emotions. "If you feel angry with somebody you hit him on the nose – not try to play angry music," he said. "Express all that is positive. Beauty is a positive thing." He explained that playing a specific emotion was self-centered and lacked true feeling.
Tristano also complained about jazz becoming too commercial. He felt musicians had to give up their artistic side to make a living. Later critics suggested that these complaints ignored the freedom he was given by Atlantic Records. They also said he blamed others for choices he made in his own career.
Influences and Playing Style
Saxophonists Charlie Parker and Lester Young greatly influenced Tristano. Another key figure was pianist Art Tatum. Tristano practiced Tatum's solo pieces early in his career. He then slowly moved away from this influence to find his own style. Bebop pianist Bud Powell also affected Tristano's playing and teaching. Tristano admired Powell's clear playing and expression.
Tristano's deep understanding of harmony pushed his music beyond the complex bebop style of his time. From his early recordings, he tried to use harmonies that were unusual for that period. His playing has been called "cool jazz." But this label does not fully capture the wide range of his music.
Grove Music noted some unique aspects of Tristano's style. Unlike the uneven rhythms of bebop, Tristano preferred a steady background. This allowed him to focus on the melody and complex changes in time. His solos often had very long, angular lines of almost even notes. These lines had subtle rhythmic changes and harsh, multi-key effects. He was skilled at using different speeds within a song and was a master of the block-chord style.
Fellow piano player Ethan Iverson said that Tristano was "in the top tier of technical accomplishment." He was a natural talent and worked very hard to improve. Tristano had "seemingly small but extremely flexible hands." This allowed him to reach very wide intervals on the piano.
Teaching Jazz Music
Tristano is seen as one of the first people to teach jazz, especially improvisation, in a structured way. He taught musicians no matter what instrument they played. He also designed lessons to fit each student's needs. Lessons usually lasted 15–20 minutes. He did not teach how to read music or the details of different jazz styles. Instead, he challenged students to find and express their own musical feelings or style.
A key part of a student's learning was understanding scales as music and as a basis for harmony. One of Tristano's common teaching tools was the metronome. Students would set the metronome very slowly at first. Then, they would gradually increase the speed. This helped them develop a sense of time and confidence in playing each note.
Tristano encouraged his students to learn the melodies of jazz standards. They would sing them first, then play them. After that, they would practice playing them in all musical keys. He also often had his students learn to sing and play the improvised solos of famous jazz musicians like Parker and Young. Some students first sang solos from recordings slowed to half speed. Eventually, they learned to sing and play them at normal speed.
Tristano stressed that students were not just copying the artist. They should use the experience to understand the musical feeling being expressed. These activities emphasized the importance of ear training. They also showed that feeling was key to musical expression. All of this came before students had the chance to improvise during lessons.
Lennie Tristano's Legacy
Critics have different ideas about Tristano's importance in jazz history. Max Harrison said the pianist had limited influence outside his own group of musicians. Robert Palmer noted that only one of Tristano's albums was available when he died. Palmer suggested Tristano was crucial in the shift from 1940s modern jazz to the freer styles that followed. Thomas Albright also believed Tristano's improvising opened new ground in music history.
Elements of Tristano's early playing influenced Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool. These elements included counterpoint (two or more melodies played together), reharmonizing (changing harmonies), and strict time. His playing also influenced saxophonist Gerry Mulligan and pianist Dave Brubeck. Tristano's early, more feeling-based performances also influenced pianist Bill Evans. Evans also used overdubbing and multitracking in his own recordings after Tristano had experimented with them. Avant-garde musician Anthony Braxton has often said Tristano and some of his students influenced him.
Pianist Mose Allison commented that Tristano and Powell "were the founders of modern piano playing." He said almost everyone was influenced by one or the other. Albright named Tristano as an influence on pianists Paul Bley, Andrew Hill, Mal Waldron, and Taylor. After Tristano's death, jazz piano increasingly adopted parts of his early playing. Ted Gioia said that "younger players were coming to these same end points not because they had listened to Tristano... but because these developments were logical extensions of the modern jazz idiom."
In Peter Ind's opinion, Tristano's legacy is "what he added technically to the jazz vocabulary." It is also his view of jazz as a serious musical art. Grove Music says Tristano's influence is strongest in the work of his best students. It is also in his example of high standards and perfectionism. These qualities showed that jazz should be seen as a high form of art.
Eunmi Shim also pointed to his teaching as part of his legacy. Parts of his teaching approach have become standard practice in jazz education. The large number of students he taught, possibly over a thousand, shows his influence. Many of them went on to use what they learned in their own playing and teaching. Tristano's teaching also affected the art of painter Robert Ryman. Ryman had music lessons with the pianist. Ryman's painting technique shares the principles of detailed attention that Tristano taught.
Shim suggested that Tristano is often not appreciated enough. This is partly because his style was unusual and hard for jazz critics to categorize. Ind also believed Tristano's reputation became less than he deserved. "He stuck with his convictions and would not commercialize," Ind said. "His dedication, plus the lack of general appreciation by many jazz critics, led inevitably to his being sidelined."
Awards and Recognition
Tristano was named Metronome magazine's musician of the year in 1947. He was chosen for Down Beat magazine's Hall of Fame in 1979. In 2013, Tristano was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. This was for Crosscurrents, an album of recordings from 1949. He was added to the Ertegun Hall of Fame in 2015.
Images for kids
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Tristano, c. August 1947
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Bill Harris, Denzil Best, Flip Phillips, Billy Bauer, Lennie Tristano, Chubby Jackson in New York City, 1947.
See also
In Spanish: Lennie Tristano para niños
