On January 11, 1949 pianist, composer and musical mentor Lennie Tristano had a group in the studio making a record that was released as a 78 on the New Jazz label. On that date they recorded a tune called Subconscious-Lee.

Tristano, who earned a master’s degree in music, began teaching music, and specifically jazz improvisation in the early 1940s in Chicago before moving to New York City in 1946. His groups made some interesting recordings in the late 1940s and early 1950s before Tristano decided to dedicate his energies to teaching rather than performing in the mid-1950s. Some critics have said that Tristano’s music was cold and unemotional, while others have indicated that his innovations bridged the gap between bebop and later cool and free jazz playing.

Along with Tristano’s piano and the alto saxophone of Konitz, guitarist Billy Bauer is heard on the record, as is bassist Arnold Fishkin and drummer Shelly Manne. The song became one of twelve eventually making up a Prestige album that, on other tracks, also featured performances by tenor man Warne Marsh and pianist Sal Mosca. Tristano’s music of the period has been described as “forging a heady approach to Charlie Parker's innovations, full of lithe and at times super-fast solo lines, Tristano and his favorite pupil Konitz in particular nurtured an introverted, wan, yet still swinging alternative to the frenetic muscle of bebop."

Here is a link to the Lennie Tristano Quintet’s recording of Subconscious-Lee made 77 years ago today:

"SUBCONSCIOUS-LEE"