Not to belabor this, Frogman. I thought the first two comments referencing Lennie Tristano could be taken to mean the author was not completely alone in his stance (while recognizing the author and Tristano probably differ on this topic somewhat and "paths" by which they arrived might well differ too). In any event, I'm definitely not trying to argue in defense of either's position!
1 Ralph // May 20, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Alan: One possible explanation for Tristano walking out on the famed Evans trio was his dislike for the interactive styles of both Motian and LaFaro! In an interview I did with Jack Reilly, an under appreciated pianist and composer and a former Tristano student, he told me Lennie apparently didn't use a rhythm section in that manner. Scott La Faro would probably not be a good match for Lennie. To quote Jack on Motian: "In fact, when Paul Motian played�he played once (with Lennie) and Lennie told him to stop all the other stuff and he was quite annoyed and I don't know if he lasted the week or not, it was at the Half Note, and he had come in to sub for somebody. He stayed a few days but I don't know if he was ever invited back to play with Lennie.""... Lennie had so much going on in his head that anything that was not just strict time would interfere with the way he wanted to express himself at the piano."
2 Ted Gioia // May 20, 2008 at 10:41 PM
There is very smart assessment of Tristano's attitude toward rhythm sections, recently published by Ethan Iverson at this link. He examines in detail Tristano's well-known complaints about bassists and (especially) drummers. But as Iverson points out, Tristano's primary obsession was with having an even, steady beat.