Compared to the compilation jointly credited to Parker and Tristano (reviewed above) this is the real thing, curated by Lennie's daughter Carol. Previously unreleased, it has three sessions with trusted duo partners, all of them his pupils, which ensures the focus is well and truly on the master. He was undoubtedly the recording engineer too and, as with some of his previously issued tapes, many of the performances either begin mid-stream or fade while still in progress. Lennie's influence on other pianists has been slender and indirect (Bill? Keith?) but disciples such as Lee Konitz or Warne Marsh rubbed off on younger avant-bop saxists like Branford Marsalis and Mark Turner. While using the chord-sequences of favourite standards, the pianist breaks up the beat with almost abstract right-hand lines (often quite virtuosic) and, with his left-hand stab-chords and occasional walking bass-lines, you need a strong internal sense of rhythm to keep up. The 10 minutes' duetting with Crothers at two pianos show their most far-out free improv, but even the more conventional duos with Popkin or Mancuso are a challenge until you get used to Tristano. There are no pre-arranged heads and, though some titles give clues to the sequences (‘Out Of A Dream’ and ‘That Feeling’), others are less obvious – both ‘Inflight’ and ‘Home Again’ are based on ‘Indiana’, but there are a couple I'm still working on.