ABSTRACT
In 1956, jazz pianist Lennie Tristano released an eponymous LP on Atlantic Records that made use of overdubbing and the manipulation of tape speeds in a jazz context. The resulting tracks represent a watershed moment for the creative use of extended studio techniques in jazz, but sparked an angry backlash from critics and fans. The contemporary controversy that surrounded the album’s release raises several interesting questions about the function of recording and the nature of the recorded artifact in jazz. What exactly is a jazz recording anyway? What does it seek to capture, and what functional use does it fulfill for the jazz fan? What does it mean for a jazz recording to be improvised, and in which ways have normative expectations of small-group jazz performance in a club setting privileged certain techniques for improvisation in a recorded context while all but eliminating others?
