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Lennie Tristano

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Lennie Tristano was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger and teacher, born in Chicago in 1919. As a child he played the family's player piano and by the age of nine or ten he was completely blind. He attended an institute for the blind for some ten years, played various instruments there and then studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. In 1946 he moved to New York, where he played with leading bebop musicians and led small groups. His interest lay in counterpoint, harmonic flexibility and rhythmic complexity.

Music and breakthrough

His quintet recorded the first free group improvisations in 1949. In 1951 he made the first jazz recordings with overdubs, and two years later an atonal piano solo, based on the development of motifs rather than harmonies. Records such as Holiday in Piano, The New Tristano and later Descent Into the Maelstrom reveal that search. His music was little recorded, and from the mid-1950s he mainly taught.

Influence

Tristano taught improvisation in a structured, rigorous way, which was unusual in jazz at the time. His pupils, including the saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, carried his influence further. Critics are divided: some find his playing cool and his influence small, others see him as a bridge between bebop and freer jazz who received less appreciation because he refused to be categorised and did not want to be commercial. He died in 1978.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to a solo piece from his recordings of the 1950s and notice the long, continuous lines of the right hand and how little the piece resembles an ordinary theme with chords.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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See also

Categories: Artists