Live at Birdland 1949

As both a pianist and a composer, Lennie Tristano was something of an anomaly during the cool jazz period: a musician whose style sometimes tipped from “cool” over into “cold,” his music struck some as too calculated, too mathematical. But for those with ears to hear, his architectural approach to jazz could yield real beauty. On this live album from 1949, the recorded sound is terrible, but Tristano’s quintet plays beautifully, and his solo rendition of “Glad Am I” should put to rest any characterizations of him as a bloodless musical mathematician. (Less so his take on “This Is Called Love,” which finds him seemingly analyzing the tune from eight or nine different angles.)