Lennie Tristano Trio 1954 - 1955 ~ Line Up

Recorded: Lennie Tristano's home studio, NYC, 1954-1955

Personnel:
Lennie Tristano - Piano
Peter Ind - Bass
Jeff Morton - Drums

* The note-perfect transcription to this work can be found here:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/11954201/Line-Up-Lennie-Tristano

"When this track was first released, it attracted enormous attention , but not for the music. Tristano had "tampered" with the tapes by recording the piano part over a separate rhythm track, manipulating the music in the process. Tristano never provided details—and got testy when questioned about his method—but it appears that he brought the bass and drums down to half speed, and recorded the piano on top of this slower version, then accelerated the playback rate of the combined performance. A certain ethereal and detached quality permeates the finished product. The piano sound possesses a strange, unnatural crispness, and the question was raised whether Tristano wasn't trying to "trick" people into thinking that he could play faster than was actually the case.

The controversy would be less pronounced today, when studio splicing, dicing and "fixing" are a high-tech art. But the sad result of this brouhaha was that it distracted attention from Tristano's brilliant performance. "Line Up" is one of the great linear improvisations in the modern jazz heritage. Students could profitably study this solo, learning from its crystalline structure, unlocking the artistry of its phrasing, the rhythmic relationship of melody to the ground beat, and the harmonic implications of Tristano's lines. The chord changes are borrowed from "All of Me," but instead of the romantic sensibility of that standard, Tristano offers a diamond-hard coolness purged of all emotional excesses. This is as pure and abstract as music can get. At any speed, "Line Up" is a masterpiece."

Ted Gioia
http://www.jazz.com/music/2008/1/20/lennie-tristano-line-up

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Lennie
• Tristano
• 1954
• 1955
• Line
• Up
• Jazz
• Swing
• Improvisation
• Bebop
• Lines
• Master
• Classics
• Atlantic
• Records
• WMG
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• Orchard
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[lizaazur]

genius

[orqsilva]

Definitely one of the greatest recorded solos in the history of jazz. I here a lot of Bird in this solo and I would assume Lennie had a close relationship with him. He was supposedly going to play with Bird's group in Boston on a gig in 1955 just before Bird died.

[orqsilva]

Incredible. I used to own this record. Could someone post the rest of the album including "Requiem" and "Turkish Mambo." Incredible line and displaced phrasing. Bill Evans used displaced phrasing also, but this much more advanced. I thought this was from 1961. It is definitely a masterpiece, way ahead of its time.

[orqsilva]

All of Me. Incredible for 1954.

[petemeis234]

I can't put it on the computer, but, I have been a big fan of Tristano ever since I first heard him in September of 1959. I got this album back then. You have got to hear one from it called East 32nd. That and Line Up are the best. Maybe someone can put it on. Mine's on wax.

[theeboon]

I got this on CD after I heard it... The whole album kills me. What a sound.

[eruptionista]

Waiting to hear this wonderful example of the unique Tristano

[123must]

A real mastepiece ! I love Tristano..

Thank you so much

[honeybee7700]

great needed this