Tristano...Quotes!

Some quotes: by Lennie Tristano:

"You could make your fingers reproduce exactly what you felt, if you really worked at it. I achieved it, not only spending a lot of time at the keyboard but finding ways I could make my fingers reproduce my deepest feelings. It meant, when you hit a note with a finger, you sank into that note all the way to the bottom of the keyboard until it went pow! Right?..."

"It's not instant composing; it's not following any kind of a formula. All you do is hear music in your head and reproduce it."

by Sheila Jordan:

"I was really his first singer I would say and I liked his attitude toward women. I never felt less of a musician because I was a singer and I think a lot of that came out when I was studying with Lennie. He made me feel as important and as welcome as any of the other musicians that joined in the sessions."

Connie Crothers:

"Lennie once told me he felt that in all the world of art as we know it, all through the centuries, there was a dimension missing and that was the dimension of women."

"He really felt that if women were brought into the art expression of the times, that this dimension would express something for men and also for the world in its entirety."

Warne Marsh:

"What I would have to say is the subject is larger than the person. I mean Lennie was offering training in a subject much larger than Lennie Tristano."

"He was the very best friend I've ever had in my life: my teacher, the leader of the band I was in and a very close personal friend. Of course, the most influential musician I know."

Note: these quotes are from the award-winning Danish video documentary about Lennie Tristano entitled, "Manhattan Studio".

Ask your local PBS or cable to show it...