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Post by isaacs on May 26, 2010 15:32:36 GMT 10
Been checking out this amazing solo from Lennie Tristano. A favourite in my youth on LP. Horn player articulation on the piano! What an achievement this is. It's the hardest I feel just to play pretty much continuous eighth notes without florid melismas which are easier in so many ways as you can skate on them as the pulse moves under you. To keep everything so lined up with the pulse in that unforgiving way that would show up speedily any rhythmic inaccuracies yet stay so continuously inventive! Does that particular pursuit come much better than Lennie here? This is keeping me playing in a bebop vein for hours a day against the metronome to add muscle to my puny frame.
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Post by johnmcall on May 26, 2010 23:22:13 GMT 10
Fantastic Mark
thanks for adding it
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Post by andgar on May 28, 2010 10:43:59 GMT 10
Certainly amazing... but - on this particular recording Tristano recorded the rhythm section, slowed down the speed of that and played along with it, then sped everything back up to normal tempo. That's why the piano sounds a bit weird. But I'm pretty sure his whole reason for this was to demonstrate the rhythmic accuracy stuff Mark mentioned
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Post by isaacs on May 28, 2010 11:18:25 GMT 10
Certainly amazing... but - on this particular recording Tristano recorded the rhythm section, slowed down the speed of that and played along with it, then sped everything back up to normal tempo. That's why the piano sounds a bit weird. But I'm pretty sure his whole reason for this was to demonstrate the rhythmic accuracy stuff Mark mentioned Wow, thanks for that info. I had read on the Net something about tape speed manipulation. Without taking away from his inventiveness it does humanise the whole thing that he was actually playing at a slower tempo when he did it. I did notice the weird piano sound. Interesting also because another feature I like so much is using the low register of the piano (makes it sounds like a baritone). So he must have been playing lower still again! What was superhuman about it when I thought it was done at the speed it appears was not simply playing that fast with complete rhythmic accuracy and that degree of invention (though in itself that would be an achievement in the Charlie Parker league). It just seemed impossible to get that degree of nuance in varying the articulations so much on so many notes (especially on the piano) at that speed. Certainly playing slower let's you focus more on the attack of each note and I think this is the main result that stuns when it is sped up: the articulation. |
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Post by andgar on May 28, 2010 14:04:26 GMT 10
Yeah, for sure. I just read a book of interviews with Konitz and he says Tristano was pretty cagey about the tape manipulation thing... but Konitz believes that Tristano achieves a similar level of articulation on his next album "the New Tristano" without any tape manipulation, but I haven't checked it out yet.
Nonetheless, it's a phenomenal demonstration of what we should be practicing to achieve anyway!
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Post by isaacs on May 29, 2010 11:39:56 GMT 10
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Post by March on Jun 22, 2010 21:16:46 GMT 10
After learning "Line Up" last year I've been working on "East 32nd" and "Deliberation" from the same album. They're fascinating insights into his method of playing as well...I remember Dr. Stevens introducing me to "G minor complex" when I got a lesson from him years ago....
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