The ‘kin way in!

(If you’ve gorrit already, go dig it aaaaaaaaaat again)
Holler at your boi! So man we got my favouritist jazz musician in the whole ‘kin wide world under focus this month. BUT, before we check this sexy album, I just wanna relate a bit to last months “Birth Of The Cool”,cos remember them tunes that were laid daaaan in 49/50 didn’t actually become an album till the late 50’s - Well, back to basicz, the Album takes it’s name from when stuff like a lengthy orchestral work was divided onto several discs, and presented in a kind of photo album style package. Cos of rrp n vinyl running time n shit, it’s only from the mid 50’s for Jazz ,and into the 60’s for pop, that a body of work would appear on the one vinyl disc, and have a few singles taken from it. Although I love “Lennie Tristano” to death and it is a classic, I reckon my fave Tristano stuff was put down 5 or 6 years previous. I just wanna urge you to check the amazingly cheap box set on Proper records that compiles that early period Tristano-school stuff (1945-1952), including solo harmonic explorations, stunningly slick cool/bebop tunes like “Crosscurrent” and “Subconscious-lee”, and free jazz- TEN YEARS BEFORE ORNETTE COLEMAN on tracks like “Intuition” and “Digression”

ANYWAY, cos we’re talking albums here not history/biog, please check the Lennie Myspace I set up (like a dweeb) for all that, and some tunes that I change round every couple of months.. Website at the bottom!

Lennie Tristano: Lennie Tristano (Rec 1955 Rel 1956)

1. Line Up
2. Requiem
3. Turkish Mambo
4. East Thirty-Second
5. These Foolish Things
6. You Go To My Head
7. If I Had You
8. Ghost Of A Chance
9. All The Things You Are

1-4
Piano: Lennie Tristano
Bass: Peter Ind
Drums: Jeff Morton

5-9
Piano: Lennie Tristano
Alto Sax: Lee Konitz
Bass: Gene Ramey
Drums: Art Taylor

So, Lennie Tristano! What we’ve got here is an album that celebrates vinyl. Two sides, each a work in itself. Side 1 is the bitch that will appeal most to you crazy kids that like to fiddle with music in yer bedroomz. Lennie’s in complete control here, overdubbing his improvisations onto pre-recorded bass and drums, and improvising new lines over his own lines. These four hotties caused a bit of controversy, cos although the “classical” scene was goin tits around this time, the out-there Jazz players were generally still accessible, so fooling about with yer sound “wasn’t on”. Rejection came mainly from those that believed Jazz was about interaction, but Lennie was sayin that hey, it took you months to realise- and it sounds great, so doo one..

As it’s a quicky here i’ll not do details, but “Line Up” and “East Thirty-Second” has stuff recorded at different tempos for good reason, then sped up to match each other- check the piano’s tone! “Requiem” was laid by Tristano straight after hearing of his friend, Charlie Parker’s,death. Charlie, for those that don’t know, was/is one of the most influential players of all time, and Lennie won his praise for NOT imitating him. And check track 3- “Turkish Mambo”, for a serious groove- lets get some intelligent MC’ing over it somebody, n bring it to the kidz!!! In mini side-summary, this is Jazz on the next level (like Tristano’s stuff generally is), and the vibe behind this overdubbing business, like what Pianist Bill Evans did in the 60’s, is that no-one knows better what you’re trying to say, than yourself..

Side 2 is part of a live set from the Confucius restaurant in NYC where him n his band held a relatively long engagement of a few months (massive for Tristano as his extended harmony, and long angular lines of semiquavers didnt always get a thumbs up).. Here Lee Konitz, student of Tristano, and still gigging today, is introduced on Alto Sax- also refreshingly not trying to sound like Parker. The thing I like most about the Tristano groups live stuff is the precision to it. The real strong rhythm section gets me ‘kin head goin like a death-metal sympathiser, and solid playing from Tristano and Konitz provide perfect balance in solo and duo passages. Personal highlights of this side are Jerome Kern’s stunner- “All the things you are”, and as a block-chord groupy, i’m mad into Lennie’s phatness on “If I had you”

To steal a quote from the 50′z abaaat Tristano by Jazz critic/historian/novelist/columnist- Nat Hentoff “his work continues to be one of the more consistently absorbing examples of thinking jazz”. ‘Kin sumz it up nicely I reckon.

I only have space to scratch the surface on these “Ben talks Jazz” things, but if yer wanna know more, gerrin touch, or even better, buy every record and book you can. Learnin abaaaat Lennie is what cool people do!

Best listened to: Not at Deb Dispensing in Little Eaton, cos I was informed this week that “Jazz is a loada shit. It’s just six people all playing a different tune at the same time”

www.myspace.com/lennietristano