orig. Leonard Joseph Tristano
born March 19, 1919, Chicago, Ill., U.S.
died Nov. 18, 1978, New York, N.Y.
U.S. jazz pianist.
Blind from childhood, Tristano performed and taught in New York City from the 1940s. His recordings featured players who had studied with him, including saxophonists Lee Konitz (b. 1927) and Warne Marsh (192787). Although resistant to classification, Tristano's music displayed a rigour and virtuosity appropriate to bebop while its aesthetic foreshadowed much of cool jazz.