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1956 Multitracking Controversy
I’m about to post a multitracked jazz improvisation called “Tea For Tristano”. An homage to my teacher’s teacher, Lennie Tristano. I thought some background would lend clarity to what that homage really is… not just to a seminal improvisatory genius, but to an artist who pioneered multitracking jazz in 1956 and the scorn he received for his prescience.
Here are three YouTube videos. The first an explanation of the controversy by a JAZZIS writer. The second, Lennie’s recording of his classic “Lineup” at original recording speed. The third is the finished product. You can read in the notes to the video what Tristano was up to.
We take for granted the infinitude of creation multitracking affords us, but it was not so long ago that, as in all new things, critics cursed the darkness from behind their blindfolds
Comments
Love it that the second video still talks about the "correct" speed. 🤷
@ervin… it would be better, I agree, if it were represented as the speed Lennie ultimately intended.
Interesting video. It's funny how this controversy seems so ridiculous now, but some people really do get hung-up on this notion of "cheating".
Great post, thanks!
Recording MIDI makes this type of "exceptional" technique possible for even the most clumsy fingered
keyboardists and MIDI editing to fix notes that sound "wrong" is an even better advance in making
music making less onerous.
But LIVE performances still elude anyone trying to "pass" as a competant technician.
But for most... the essential bottom line is music that strikes the listener as new, creative and something
you'd like to hear repeatedly.
This type of jazz seems to impress someone wanting to revere the ability to maintain a stream of improvisation that sounded fresh and showed the skills of a master musical technologist. Of course,
after 65 years we have all heard these "lines" to the point where there's not more surprise left.
It's like a type of musical wallpaper due to excessive imitation and the loss of a feedback loop with
a new audience.
As an art form it has become a form of musical IQ test.
I'm just riffing on my current disaffection with modern jazz musicians that go straight to the bebop
scale book for every solo and rarely play anything I can relate to. I respect the effort involved to master
these skills but have a hard time hoping for another listen.
This quest for the "new" is pretty important in the arts and certified classical anything can be pretty
boring for most. We want to be enlightened and not impressed in general. In '56 these lines were
impressive for a jazz hungry audience seeking the "new" and deserve respect for that historical
significance. Thank you Lennie... you played you for long stretches of brilliance.
Didn’t the moldy figs also get bent out of shape about Bill Evans’ Conversations With Myself due to his use of multi tracking?
My name is Michael Levy and I am a cheater. However, Lennie certainly was not. The Lineup example posted above is a perfect example. Tristan’s didn’t do it cause he couldn’t play fast enough. He was looking deeper, to what technology might add to his imagination. Here are some observations about hy he was experimenting with tape…
Line Up - as LT actually played it...
“Lee Konitz and I discussed this recording many years ago in a private lesson. He said that Lennie had slowed the rhythm section recording down to half speed. Because of this he had more time to execute the complex melodic and rhythmic variations that he was hearing. He then played and recorded his solo over the track an octave lower than where he usually would on the piano. After the solo was recorded, all of the tracks were brought back to the correct tempo so that the piano would sound "normal".”
@McD, I agree and disagree. Agree wholeheartedly that contemporary jazzers rely too much on overplayed riffs and runs… that young French woman, I forget her name, is a perfect example, IMO.
They don’t seem much concerned with originality, but more with a machine like competence. Let’s face it, it’s a hell of a lot easier than Coltrane disappearing in his own house for weeks to summon up the energy of spirit to create A Love Supreme.
I believe it is the reflection of societal trends and desires for instant, and recognizably repeatable, gratification. The average jazz “lover” today, I think, wants the jazz button pushed and fall into a “jazz groove”. The content is not so important as “hey, I’m groovin’ to jazz!”. One could say today’s selfie narcissism extends everywhere…. In other words, it’s not the jazz…”It’s me listening to jazz!” Take a picture!
The jazz “enthusiast musician” I believe is the same as he/she always was… too often a musical critic because, to them, their opinions elevate them above the rest and become a musical currency to hoard… not realizing the “riches” they accumulate go are worthless to anyone else.
But a great many truly are moved by exceptional music produced by musicians who express their original nature. These listeners, like the great musicians themselves, remove themselves from the equation and become ears accessing musical feelings on ever deepening neural pathways.
I do disagree, @McD, that great jazz of old is relegated to “historical “ value. That’s like saying Beethoven’s work is a useful reference. But, more particularly, music like Tristano made is not widely listened to, for reasons best discussed elsewhere. To ears not familiar, this genre of jazz is new ground (it became a genre, of course. When Lennie and his compatriots made it…. Especially free jazz… was groundbreaking.)
Perhaps part of the difficulty is 1/it takes great effort to get to the edge of the jazz envelope after a century of innovation, and 2/ even greats, like Coltrane, are lambasted when they get musically too far ahead of the critics, enthusiasts and every day listeners. A guy like a Coltrane could handle it and move forward, but for those with more fragile egos (and musicians are noted for that) it’s just too hard.
Me, I can no longer perform live. I frequently need my midi editing, bpm manipulation and timeline trickery to create something I can listen to. That’s cause I got bored with my own playing… bu, then, I am no Tristano or Coltrane.
What a great solo. Sounds like All of Me changes.
i find it interesting to view the spiral of time through the prisms of music and technology
how, as technology races ahead, how some of my “heroes” are now but a push of a button
i play to please my self
back, during “schooling”, our head-master took a few classes, tried to get us de-bating,
“new fangled electronic keyboards … good? …. or bad!?”
it surprised me that anyone could see them as a “bad” thing …
it was the “musicians” that seemed most put out
didn’t like that it was now easier for the rest of us..
didn’t like that it was easier …
« it sometimes seems to me, that our society is much like this between generations »
the technology is now at a level such, that it is easier than ever for everyone to express themselves,
through playing with all those things ,,, keys, midi, “chance” and manipulation
song templates, scale filtering, we can get any frequency we want
we have such Lucky Lovely tools in our hands.
clear and joyfull self expression , gets easier all the time
>
That is such an excellent, true, and sad statement.
Interesting clip. I’d never heard of Lennie Tristano before, but I love his response to his detractors regarding his then innovative use of multitracking: it’s the music that matters. Quite.
It’s funny, I’d be embarrassed to have a picture taken of me while I’m listening to Jazz, because i look ridiculous: eyes shut, stupid grin, blurred exposure because I can’t stay still.
Thanks @LinearLineman for bringing the jazz to this place. When i was a bit younger my friends wouldn’t call it ‘jazz’ we just called it The Music