Jazz Visions

Peter Ind is now 76, lives in Twickenham. In addition to writing and painting, he runs his own CD company, Wave Marketing Limited, and has recently launched a new career as leader of a jazz band "Bass Clef International" in memory of the jazz club he ran for ten years.

Lennie Tristano was one of jazz's most extraordinary innovators, possessing a superb piano technique and an awesome musical imagination. Unheralded by the general public, the blind pianist's work was revered by many jazz greats including the legendary Charlie Parker. Tristano's persuasive personality made him an ideal teacher, and he proved that (against the accepted theory of the time) jazz improvisation could be taught. His guidance played a big part in the development of many instrumentalists including saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh and double-bassist Peter Ind. It is Ind's long, direct involvement with his subject that makes this such a revealing book: the story of an English musician going to New York to study with an unsung Jazz giant. In the process, Tristano's genius is examined and his reputation revalued, with Ind making a persuasive case for the pianist to be placed at the centre of jazz developments in the mid-20th century.

PREFACE PART ONE - LENNIE - THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC CHAPTER ONE - MY EARLY CONTACT WITH JAZZ - THE SOUNDS OF LENNIE TRISTANO AND OF CHARLIE PARKER (BIRD) CHAPTER TWO - MY EARLY EXPERIENCES OF NEW YORK JAZZ CHAPTER THREE - LIVING IN NEW YORK - WORKING WITH LENNIE IN THE EARLY DAYS CHAPTER FOUR - OTHER INFLUENCES ON JAZZ MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS DURING THE 1950'S CHAPTER FIVE - LENNIE AND THE CHANGES IN JAZZ FROM THE 1950's CHAPTER SIX - LENNIES INFLUENCE AND WHAT HAPPENED TO HIS ASSOCIATES FROM THOSE 1950'S DAYS CHAPTER SEVEN - A REFLECTION ON LENNIE AS I KNEW HIM - THE MAN AND HIS MUSIC PART TWO - LENNIE - A MORE TECHNICAL CONSIDERATION OF JAZZ IMPROVISATION AND HIS LEGACY CHAPTER EIGHT- WHAT DO WE MEAN BY JAZZ CHAPTER NINE - APPRECIATING JAZZ IMPROVISATION CHAPTER TEN - THE TECHNICAL BASE OF JAZZ AND LENNIE'S APPROACH PART THREE - A RECONSIDERATION OF LENNIE'S LEGACY CHAPTER ELEVEN - MYTHMAKING ABOUT LENNIE CHAPTERTWELVE- LENNIE TRISTANO AND THE ENIGMA OF NON-RECOGNITION CHAPTER THIRTEEN - MYTHMAKING AND PREJUDICES AND JAZZ CHAPTER FOURTEEN - REAPPRAISAL