Search - Lennie Tristano :: Live in Toronto 1952

A Lesson in Collective Improvisation

Arthur Hampton | Rohnert Park, CA USA | 12/18/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I sold all my lps after not playing any of them for a year after buying a cd player. This is the one album I thought I would regret parting with for the rest of my life. I didn't think I would see it on cd, but here it is. Tristano was a dedicated pianist and improviser who gave lessons to the horn players Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh and all three of them are on this amazing document. The sound is pretty good for 1952, quite listenable. But the music is of an amazingly high order. I go through periods where this is mainly what I listen to for a month at a time, then I don't play it for a year or so. Each time I put it on I discover more about myself and music. I would call it a rosetta stone for deciphering modern improvisation. This is not easy listening music. But do yourself a favor and listen to it carefully for five plays. It opens up worlds of perception that weren't there before. The most interesting thing to me is the muscular, shifting time themes that are tossed back and forth between the soloists. But that is rivalled by the use of shifting tonalities and changing scales. This is some of the most original music played in the twentieth century."