A jazz coincidence?

Coincidence, or something else?

This afternoon I spent about half an hour on Youtube listening to recordings of the great jazz pianist Lennie Tristano. Tristano isn’t mentioned much anymore, but he was a huge influence on many great musicians including Herbie Hancock. He was also a personal favorite of Charlie Parker’s.

What impresses me most about Tristano is that he was one of the bebop musicians who took the language and used it to express something truly individual, unique to themselves.

Today, after my 30 minutes of internet listening, I got in my car and turned on WKCR-FM to hear one of their daily jazz shows. It only took me a few notes to realize that they were playing a Tristano album. How rare is that? And just after I had been listening to him at home!

Coincidence? Probably. But if nothing else, I’ll take it as a sure sign that I need to share some Lennie Tristano with you today.

Here’s his trio rendition of “All The Things You Are.”

Listen to how fresh his improvised lines still sound today, decades after he recorded this. Enjoy these moments with a true musical genius!

If you’re just starting to learn “All The Things You Are,” here’s some help for you.

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