Also, the so-called creative music scene isn*t really very open to innovation or feeling or individuality, now less than ever, in my opinion. People also took parts of his innovations, like Shearing, Herbie Currently, tenor saxophonist Mark Turner expresses his admiration for Lennie*s music and plays some of his lines. It*s kind of hip now to say you were influenced by Tristano but only if you had nothing to do with him. It is funny Tristano influenced a lot of people through his musicĪnd through his teaching. But other than that, who? Nice to see you carrying the mantle, but as you say, it doesn*t get much recognition.* I know that Gary Foster was sort of a disciple, and he plays a lot on the west coast. The lp/cd CONTINUITY is from this time, also.Ĥ] *Funny, but as great as Konitz, Marsh, Tristano and those other guys were, you see very little follow up on their music. *Descent Into the Maelstrom* has some tracks from Paris. Stuff from 65-66 has just been released on Jazz Records. ģ] *I don*t think I*ve ever seen any of that stuff. Music up through 1966 has been released on Jazz Records. Lennie Tristano performed in Berlin and at the Half Note in theĦ0*s and these have been released. Even though this sounds like no big deal to us these days, it was shocking then. He also said that he got a rep for being difficult with promoters because he didn*t feel like wearing a tie or wanted to wear his bedroom slippers when he would play a concert. Was dead if you listen to a lot of the music that happened around then, one must agree. In one interview, I heard him say that he felt that the club scene said, *O.K., if you turn out the lights so we can be equals*, and Mingus backed down.Ģ] *But what was the story on Tristano? Why did he stop performing?* The one time I heard he wanted the lights out was when Mingus came to his studio and wanted to fight about some crap. I*ve talked a lot about him w/ Connie and there are recorded interviews w/ him from local radio shows. There are a lot of myths about Lennie Tristano! Connie told me heonce apologized for not putting on the light when it got dark during the changing seasons, and promptly put it on. Someone told me that he used to actually give lessons in the dark so that his students couldn*t see any better than he could.* His music was fascinating, and from what I*ve read about him he was pretty unique, too. It is being posted again because few people saw it and many member requested it.-R.T.ġ] *I always wondered why Tristano stopped performing and recording after like the late 50*s. The following is culled from some e-mail correspondence I had and I thought that some people might dig to see it.