Lennie Tristano

One of the most complicated figures in jazz history, pianist and composer Lennie Tristano never achieved the mainstream acclaim of his peers, but his influence on a certain school of post-bop musicians was profound, paving the way for saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh, both of whom worked in his first bands. Born in Chicago in 1919, Tristano was adept at playing multiple instruments, but after going blind around age 10, he soon focused on piano. After earning several music degrees he gave private lessons in Chicago before moving to New York in 1946, where he made his first recordings, including several pieces that were essentially the first examples of free jazz. Heavily influenced by the music of Lester Young and Charlie Parker, Tristano reconfigured the harmonic complexity of bebop with a more streamlined, even static rhythmic attack, with an emphasis on counterpoint. He was ambivalent about performing and touring, but his ideas nonetheless have had an enduring impact decades after his death in 1978.