100 year old piano, or close to it

[David Andersen]

>    Things became a little better, but only a little, as jazz began to
> get some respect.  And probably the artists started insisting on having
> an in-tune piano, at least if they had the clout to do so.  But even in
> the late 70's, I saw Keith Jarrett at the renowned Village Vanguard in
> New York and Keith had to come in early with his own tuning hammer to
> touch up the tuning because the cheap-ass owner wouldn't pay to have it
> done.
>     It's not the recording -- the pianos sound out of tune because they
> ARE out of tune. 
>     --David Nereson, RPT


Unbelievable.  What a joke.  No wonder people have a confused or ratty tonal
memory of acoustic piano....thanks to this thread for bringing this back up.
What we can do now is enthusiastically point out how horrific an out-of-tune
piano sounds to everyone who's listening, and make damn sure, with whatever
resources we can bring to bear, that pianos are in tune for recording and
performance.

That said, and flamesuit on, I'm starting to understand that in some pop
music the artist or producer WANTS the piano to sound kind of like a
12-string guitar pad, more earthy or vulnerable or something---hey, Ed
Foote: maybe these rock-and-roll dudes are all searching for pure
thirds....:--)

David Andersen