Piano Workshop - Berlin 1965 (feat. Earl Hines, Teddy Wilson, John Lewis, Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans & Jaki Byard)

The rest of the 1969 Berlin "Piano for Duke" night will follow tomorrow. To sweeten up the waiting time a bit, here's the "Piano Workshop" from Berlin 1965.

This concert was organised (and MC'ed) by Joachim Ernst Berendt and the idea behind it was to show the development of jazz piano, from Earl Hines to Teddy Wilson, on to John Lewis and Lennie Tristano, and finally Bill Evans and Jaki Byard

The piano players are accompanied by some of the finest bassists and drummers of that era, both Europeans and Americans. The spotlight is on the ivories and ebonies, though, that's for sure!

Highlights included Byard's long improvisation, and the collaborations of Evans/Lewis and Byard/Hines. If you happen to know the identity of Tristano's first piece, please post a comment!

There's a video of this around - plenty of it can be viewed on youtube and similar sites. It would be too much to share the DVD here, I'm afraid. The DVD was bootlegged by ImproJazz, in case you're desperately in need of having it...



Piano Workshop
Berliner Jazztage
Berlin (Germany), Sportpalast
October 30, 1965

Earl Hines - piano (1, 2, 3, 22, 23, 24)
Teddy Wilson - piano (1, 5, 6, 7)
John Lewis - piano (1, 9, 10, 18)
Lennie Tristano - piano (1, 12, 13)
Bill Evans - piano (1, 15, 16, 18)
Jaki Byard - piano (1, 20, 22, 23, 24)
Niels-Henning Örsted Pedersen - bass (1, 2, 3, 9, 10, 15, 16, 18)
Reggie Workman - bass (20)
Peter Trunk - bass (5, 6, 7)
Alan Dawson - drums (1, 2, 3, 15, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23)
Connie Kay - drums (9, 10, 12, 13)
Cees See - drums (5, 6, 7)

about track 1: each pianist plays a chorus, leaves the stage and is followed by the next one, announced by Joachim-Ernst Berendt

1. Improvisation (7:20) [all pianists, NHOP, Dawson]
2. Memories Of You (4:02) [Hines, NHOP, Dawson]
3. I've Got The World On A String (2:39) [Hines, NHOP, Dawson]
4. Joachim-Ernst Berendt introcudes Teddy Wilson (0:22)
5. Stompin' At The Savoy (2:55) [Wilson, Trunk, See]
6. Love (3:31) [Wilson, Trunk, See]
7. All Of Me (2:10) [Wilson, Trunk, See]
8. JEB Introduces John Lewis (0:30)
9. Django (4:32) [Lewis, NHOP, Kay]
10. I Should Care (4:42) [Lewis, NHOP, Kay]
11. JEB Introcudes Lennie Tristano (0:32)
12. (2:57) [Tristano, Kay]
13. Cool Boogie (2:23) [Tristano, Kay]
14. JEB Introduces Bill Evans (0:29)
15. Come Rain Or Shine (3:28) [Evans, NHOP, Dawson]
16. Beautiful Love (4:27) [Evans, NHOP, Dawson]
17. JEB Introduces BE and JL (0:20)
18. Blues (2:30) [Lewis, Evans, NHOP, Dawson]
19. JEB Introduces Jaki Byard (1:04)
20. Improvisation (7:20) [Byard, Workman, Dawson]
21. JEB announces EH & JB (0:30)
22. I Want A Little Girl (2:23) [Hines, Byard, Dawson]
23. A Pretty Girls Is Like A Melody (2:44) [Hines, Byard, Dawson]
24. Diane (4:10) [Hines, Byard]

TT: 68:12

Sound: A/A-
Source: DVB-S@320, 48kHz > raw data > ProjextX > mp3DirectCut > mp2
(lossy recording seeded in its original broadcast codec)

This is Jazz History!
In 1965 Joachim-Ernst Berendt, the founder of the Berliner Jazztage (later to become the Jazzfest Berlin) invited the most important jazz pianists then living to the festival.
This is the complete concert - each of them gave some short samples of their playing. The highlight is probably the duo with the oldest (Hines) and the youngest (Byard) pianist.