Lennie Tristano - 1947-1951 '2003

Tracks list

This second volume in the chronological Classics anthology of Lennie Tristano
from his Capitol and Prestige recordings is where the mature composer and
improviser appears from his former skeleton. Beginning with the original version
of "Dissonance," featuring guitarist Billy Bauer and bassist Arnold Fishkin, the
set concentrates on Tristano's emerging and very complex ideas about melodic
improvisation. The masters for early tracks here come from a session cut on New
Year's Eve in 1947, and include clarinetist John LaPorta on such visionary
compositions as "Through These Portals," with its dual melodic front line
playing an extrapolated harmonic counterpoint via the piano and guitar, then
being bridged by a common third line played by LaPorta, whose solo is almost a
tag upon the two entwining solo lines played throughout. "Speculation" is pure
chordal genius, with rhythms cascading in two directions against a nearly
expressionistic melodic integration of variously shaded harmonics. The first
sessions of both the quintet and quartet with Lee Konitz are here, too, with
Konitz's unique phrasing on the shimmering bop of "Progression," "Tautology,"
and, of course, "Subconscious-Lee." Tristano was a giant of the intellect, and
his knotty approach to deconstructing harmonics and creating new melodies from
the ruins appealed to Konitz, who was, and remains, a melodist. Later that same
year, in 1949, Tristano added second saxophonist Warne Marsh to the mix, and
that magical pairing found its voice on the front lines of "Crosscurrent,"
"Intuition," and the stellar "Marionette." Finally, the 1951 trio sides with Roy
Haynes and Peter Ind make clear that these new architectures Tristano was
building could be erected by himself and a rhythm section, and in some ways were
even bigger as a result of that. These ideas have never been fully integrated
into the jazz canon as they should be, but nonetheless, with recordings like
this abounding now, it cannot be long before they are.

Tracks:

01. Dissonance (2:40)
02. Through These Portals (2:19)
03. Speculation (Ear, Eyes) (2:27)
04. New Sound (2:19)
05. Resemblance (2:25)
06. Progression (3:01)
07. Tautology (2:47)
08. Retrospection (3:10)
09. Subconscious-Lee (2:50)
10. Judy (2:56)
11. Wow (3:23)
12. Crosscurrent (2:52)
13. Yesterdays (2:49)
14. Marionette (3:06)
15. Sax of a Kind (3:02)
16. Intuition (2:30)
17. Digression (Intuition II) (3:05)
18. Ju-Ju (2:17)
19. Passtime (3:39) 








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