Tuesday, November 17, 2009

lennie tristano sextet - wow



Live recording of Tristano with his gifted protégés, Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh. Sound quality is a bit primitive, from tape or wire recorder or maybe tin cans and string. Marsh is one of the secret godheads of modern jazz - smoky and dreaming, drifting into the spaces between beats, deftly snaking his way into unmapped territory and then winding his way back. Konitz is a perfect foil, coaxing abstractions from his alto as Marsh explores the upper registers of his tenor. On their recordings together, I'm never absolutely sure which one I'm hearing in the first sax solo until Marsh steps forward, all smooth and smart and infinite. Listen to the two of them on the 1949 Capitol b-side Crosscurrent for an illustration, posted here along with its flip. Just another perfect single. For more, check out the Lennie Tristano Live At The Half Note clip on YouTube. Recorded in 1964 for a TV series on spirituality called Look Up And Live, now available to the entire universe just like Air Force Amy.

lennie tristano sextet
wow
jazz records jr-9 cd


01 Wow 8.27
02 Remembrance 3.53
03 April Fool 9.51
04 Subconscious-Lee 3.51
05 Fugue In D Minor 1.04
06 Chord Interlude .27
07 Sound-Lee 7.52
08 Do The Things You Do 3.32
09 No Figs 7.42
10 Wow 3.19
11 Crosscurrent 2.48

1-9 recorded live circa 1950 New York City
10-11 recorded March 4, 1949 New York City, released as a Capitol Records single

cd @320

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

merci for another great triple! since i heard from warne marsh via braxton, i was hooked. i like his tone, and also his timing, which you noted already.

i'm a bit suspicious about the recording quality, i heard so many poor recordings from the 40's, from the beginning of bop, and i couldn't listen to them - although they were highly praised as you-know-what.

for me lennie tristano was the first white jazz pianist i really got into - then evans.

baioso said...

To me a disk found.
Heartfelt thanks
Ciao

Anonymous said...

My sincere thanks for this show! I discovered this sextet some months ago and never thought I'd get to hear a live recording.