From the very first moment that I heard Lennie
Tristano’s ‘Line Up’ I was mesmerized.

Way before there were play-along tapes Lennie Tristano would experiment with his tape recorder in his studio with playing to a prerecorded track of a rhythm section.
It would allow him to go for that ‘perfect’ take, just in your own room without ticking clocks or pressure from an audience.
He would even spin the recording up a 20% to because he liked the sound of it (recorded in F, played back in Ab, a minor third higher). Jazz purists didn’t like that and there was a lot of debate before and after the release of the track.
He defended it as an artistic choice; the artist decides how he music must be heard.
It’s about the result not about the process. (Pianist Glenn Gould in those days would have the same kind of arguments, when he was experimenting in the studio.)
The steadiness of a rhythm section without ears gave him the freedom to experiment without safety buoy.
The jazz purists said he couldn’t play it that fast and neither could do it in one take, therefore: no real jazz.
Somewhat angered by this debate he obviously decided some years later to take revanche by going into a ‘real studio’ and record the same kind of stuff but now completely solo, no prepared rhythm tracks, nor retakes, just plain piano left a walking bass line and right the same kind of intriguing improvised lines.
The record, The New Tristano (Atlantic 1357)) was at least as genius as the intriguing Line Up.

By now experimenting with DAWs at home and fooling around with the sound is big time main stream and those jazz purists are gone (probably didn’t survive the years of smoking their pipes).
And daily new aspiring jazz lovers and players are discovering the magic sounds of this track, based on the ordinary old time favorite All of Me.
It is Bach meeting Ravel, but then completely different.. You can keep humming All of Me through the 7 chorusses but Lennie is trying to push you off the cliff all the time.

The lockdown granted me the time to finally put the transcription of the gem into Sibelius.
It turned out to be fun to listen to it closely, in a low tempo and with the clear bass notes, stupidly on the one.
That’s why I thought it was fun to share this with you.

There are many people that play this solo (it’s like a sect) as a wonderful exercise and with this video you can practice it in the luxurious slow tempo of 120, approximately half of the tempo Lennie played it in.

You can also download the Sibelius file from the Sibelius Real Book on my Telegram channel. It includes some analysis.
Line Up: [ Ссылка ]
Sibelius Real Book: [ Ссылка ]

Telegram is available on computers as well (most people think it is smart phone only).

Sibelius files can be played in the free Sibelius First (if you get the Avid link app and working): [ Ссылка ]
Or on iPad with Avid Scorch ($1.99): [ Ссылка ]

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