Modern Jazz Piano - Four Views

 

Waltz Boogie

Modern Jazz Piano: Four Views

Mary Lou Williams / Art Tatum / Errol Garner / Lennie Tristano

Photo: Carl Fischer

RCA Camden CAL 385

1957

From the back cover: During the past decade, modern jazz has been the spearhead in widening the audience for jazz in general – and as the head of that spear, the piano has opened ears that hitherto had been closed to what, to them, were the harsher sounds of the trumpet, trombone and saxophone.

The piano is a complete instrument, an orchestra within itself and although it is effective within a large orchestra, in a group with horns or merely in a trio setting backed by brass and drums, it is able to stand without aid when left completely in the hands of an unaccompanied player. This is especially true when the piano bands are the sure ones of accomplished soloists like Art Tatum, Erroll Garner, Lennie Tristano and Mary Lou Williams. In this set Mary Lou has the help of a rhythm section and, on one selection, vibes and guitar, but she has often proven her virtuosos capabilities. 

In speaking of virtuosos in jazz piano, Art Tatum must be placed at the head of the list. From the time of his emergence on the jazz scene in the early Thirties and continuing on past his death in 1956, Tatum has drawn the admiration of numerous concert pianists and tremendous acclaim from critics and listeners alike. His prodigious technique allowed him to achieve a full range of expression; the integration between right and left hands was complete.

An example of the esteem in which he is held was demonstrated in the "Musicians' Musicians poll or Leonard Feather's Encyclopedia Yearbook of Jazz where Art was voted into first place in his instruments' division as the "Greatest Ever" by sixty-eight fellow jazzmen including pianists such as Count Basie, Nat Cole, Duke Ellington, Bud Powell, George Shearing, Andre Previn, Horace Silver, Billy Taylor and Teddy Wilson. The Tatum treatments of Cherokee, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and Out Of Nowhere will indicate to you why they voted the way they did.

As individual as Tatum, but in a different style, is the untutored Erroll Garner. Garner, who never learned to read music, came to New York from his native Pittsburgh in the mid-forties and made a reputation for himself among musicians through his work on 52nd Street which was known as "Swing Alley" in those days. By dint of numerous successful recordings and personal appearances, Erroll soon established himself as one of the most popular pianists of the modern era.

When Erroll interprets a ballad such as Stairway To The Stars, it may be said to be completely "garnerized" when he was finished. The lush chords of an Impressionist palette mark his slower tempos while the bounce of his punctuating left-hand chordings is in evidence on medium and up tempos. Erroll's Bounce, a minor key original, and the second chorus of I Can't Escape From You are excellent examples of this. Erroll's Blues is exactly what the title implies, an answer to a request from supervisor Leonard Feather for a long, ad-lib blues. (Incidentally, Feather also did the excellent supervision jobs on the other sessions which help comprise this L.P.)

Yet another individualist, of an even more rugged variety, is Lennie Tristano, Blind, like Tatum, Tristano forged a personal style out of several elements including Earl Hines. Tatum, Milt Buckner and modern classical influences. His own influence on other pianists has not been widespread but as a teacher, Lennie, who has operated his own music school since 1951, has had much to do with furthering the careers of saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh. Under his fingers I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You, his one number here, takes on dimensions it never previously had.

One of the illustrious ladies of jazz, and a stylist in her own right, is Mary Lou Williams who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but who spent many productive years in and around Kansas City as pianist arranger with Andy Kirk's orchestra. Although she originally rose to fame on the strength of her boogie-woogie performances, she was actually Hines-influenced. Later, in New York during the Forties, she was among the first of the Swing musicians to understand and assimilate the ideas of the modernists. Much of her writing since that time has had a misterioso quality, well illustrated here  by the blues Fifth Dimension in its insinuating left-an figure and general atmosphere. Her ingenuity is clearly shown in Waltz Boogie, one of the earliest of the jazz waltzes. The trio here includes bassist June Rotenburg and drummer Bridget O'Flynn, while the quintet on Conversation includes Miss Rotenburg, drummer, Rose Gottesman and two renowned distaff soloists: guitarist Mary Osborne and Margie Hymans, former vibes star with Woody Herman and George Shearing. – Notes by Ira Gitler

All God's Chillun Got Rhythm - Mary Lou Williams Trio

Erroll's Blues - Erroll Garner

I Don't Stand A Ghost Of A Chance With You - Lennie Tristano

Smoke Gets In Your Eyes - Art Tatum

Walt Boogie - Mary Lou Williams

I Can't Escape From You - Erroll Garner

Erroll's Bounce - Erroll Garner

Cherokee - Art Tatum

Fifth Dimension - Mary Lou Williams

Stairway To The Stars - Erroll Garner

Conversation - Mary Lou Williams

Out Of Nowhere - Art Tatum