Out-of-Tune Pianos of Note

[Brownian Motion]

I just picked up a copy of Kenny Burrell Live at the Five Spot Cafe. The out-of-tune piano significantly reduces my pleasure in the music.

I invite caveats for similarly afflicted recordings.

[sidewinder]

Of course Mal Waldron had to cope with the same problem at the Five Spot during the Booker Little/Eric Dolphy live recordings. The music trancends the problem, thankfully...

[7/4]

Of course Mal Waldron had to cope with the same problem at the Five Spot during the Booker Little/Eric Dolphy live recordings. The music trancends the problem, thankfully...

beat me to it...

[Nate Dorward]

The Montmartre piano is the pits! Listen to Cecil Taylor contend with it on Nefertitie the Beautiful One has Come & then Tete Montoliu has a crack at it on Roland Kirk's Live in Copenhagen. It doesn't sound it's been tuned in the interim between the two discs, actually.........

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Ron Carter: Piccolo (live at Sweet Basil)

Pat Martino: East

Mike

[jazzbo]

Lots of Nola Penthouse dates. . .especially Cal Massey's Candid.

[Free For All]

The piano on "Night of the Cookers" was pretty bad, although I think it was also due to the fact that it seemed to be a crappy upright, so tone quality was lame as well.

I think it was the Art Farmer recording "The Company I Keep" (1994 or so) that featured a good piano that was out of tune. That's almost more painful to listen to- you'd think that a studio recording done with a reasonably generous budget wouldn't have that problem.

That's the big drawback of being a pianist- you never know what you're going to have to play on. I can see why players make specific demands in their contracts.

[makpjazz57]

A partial exaggeration, but it seems as though every CD Bobby Timmons appears on features a badly out of tune piano. It has become a joke between a musician friend and myself that any piano poorly out of tune is bestowed the honor of being called a "Bobby Timmons piano."

Marla

[Alexander Hawkins]

That's the big drawback of being a pianist- you never know what you're going to have to play on. I can see why players make specific demands in their contracts.

That said, I would almost invariably play the crappiest, most beaten up piano going on a gig than play a keyboard of any sort...But that's off-topic!

Already mentioned in this thread - some of the most egregious examples which sprang to mind were the pianos used on 'Nefertiti...' and 'At the Five Spot'.

[Brownian Motion]

I'm surprised that Alfred Lion didn't spring for a tuning. He must have known by the time he recorded Kenny Burrell both that the Five Spot piano was often out-of-tune and that the owner of the Five Spot didn't give a shit.

[GA Russell]

The worst that I can think of was Thelonious Monk's first studio date for Prestige. Not even close!

[brownie]

Horace Silver also had to battle the piano at Cafe Bohemia when the Jazz Messengers recorded their BN albums there!

Nearly as bad as the one at the Five Spot!

Does not bother me that much. Silver and Waldron managed to make the best of the instruments. I still love those sessions...

[J.A.W.]

Cedar Walton's piano on his two Boomers albums doesn't sound kosher either.

[catesta]

Cedar Walton's piano on his two Boomers albums doesn't sound kosher either.

Yep.

I love the recordings, but the piano almost sounds like a toy.

[sidewinder]

One of the worst examples I can think of is on that great Prestige session by James Moody and Eddie Jefferson and Dave Burns which includes 'Filthy McNasty'. Barry Harris has to contend with a terrible piano that probably also featured on the Martino 'East'. Funnily enough though, the pitch of the piano probably seems to add to the appeal of the performance.

[Jazz Kat]

This was the case a lot with Ramsey Lewis in the late 50s and early 60s with his trio. But only, he was the reason they would get out of tune.

[Michael Fitzgerald]

Am I right in recalling the Prestige sessions in question were engineered by Richard Alderson? Was that his studio? Did it have a name? Can we look forward to a set of Prestige 4-bit CD remasters in "The RLA Series"??

Mike

[BFrank]

Stanley Cowell's piano on Tolliver's "Live at Slugs".

Doesn't bother me, though. Actually adds to the sound, IMHO.

[WD45]

Stanley Cowell's piano on Tolliver's "Live at Slugs".

Doesn't bother me, though. Actually adds to the sound, IMHO.

That is kind of how I feel about the Cecil Taylor date as well.

[clifford_thornton]

Amen to that; ditto wrt Waldron on the Five Spot...

[Nate Dorward]

Hm...... the outoftune piano adds to the atmosphere..... but I'm sure the pianists would have preferred a decent instrument.

There's a Marilyn Crispell album (the one with Fred Anderson) where if memory serves she's playing an instrument with a broken note.

[mikeweil]

Lots of Nola Penthouse dates. . .especially Cal Massey's Candid.

The many Candid dates marred by the piano at Nola's were the first to come to my mind, too