Lee Konitz is one of the great legends of jazz whose name has been synonymous with almost clairvoyant compositions and playing since the 1940s. His range of styles and improvisation is legendary. He has played with Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman, Gil Evans, Bill Frisell, his great tutor, Lennie Tristano and many more. He influenced players like Paul Desmond and Art Pepper. He has contributed to film scores, composed for and with Gerry Mulligan (he was part of his tentet) and played countless festivals and clubs including Woodstock festival and Birdland. He is a vital component of what made jazz great and at 89 is still recording. Here he has got together with drummer Kenny Washington, bass player Peter Washington and pianist Kenny Barron. Kenny Washington has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Benny Goodman, Curtis Lundy, Phil Woods, Johnny Griffin to name a few and Peter Washington played with The Jazz Messengers, Tommy Flanagan and appeared on many recordings including Mosaic for Blue Note, released in 2009. Kenny Barron has worked with Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, Stanley Turrentine, Stan Getz, Yusef Lateef, appeared at Five Spot and recorded for Verve, with nine Grammy nominations to his name as well as many Downbeat poll awards. Peter, Kenny and Lee have played together on occasion for over forty years.
With such quality and experience, the expectation of Frescalalto (Impulse/Decca 2017) is high.
Stella By Starlight opens the album and is a trademark improvisation on a standard, which Lee Konitz often prefers. Here the Ned Washington/Victor Young familiar composition is given a sax opening, after which the piano takes over improvising around the chords before a double bass interlude, a drum solo and then the sax leads once again. The easy, fluid flow of the tune is punctuated with percussive flurries and all the musicians get to improvise around the theme with a notable bass solo just before the sax re-enters.
Thinging is a Lee Konitz composition and centres unsurprisingly around alto themes and riffs, intersected with supportive and innovative solos from the other musicians. The piano line rolls around, creating up and down waves with the percussion staccato-ing emphasis and the bass underpinning between the solos whilst the sax of Konitz is supreme ranging from blistering scale rises to gentle, melodic themes. Darn That Dream is gentle , with vocals inserted by Konitz, laid back singing which intersects with his alto perfectly. This whole number is gorgeous, rich and just lovely.
Kary's Trance is a self-penned number which allows Konitz to range from the easy, flowing style he is known for, to the cross-register changes he makes sound so easy and it is cleverly arranged to allow ample room for the other musicians to shine - which they do. In Out Of Nowhere again, the sax of Konitz leads and soar whilst not being parsimonious with room allowed to the improvisation of piano, drums and bass. Lee sings again, simply filling in the notes in easy, subtle manner with a touch of the humorous play on some of the notes. Gundula, another Konitz composition, is gentle and the familiar theme is introduced by the sax as well as explored , clearly a beloved friend in this tune. The middle section from the piano, bass and drums discussing, playing with the tune and then returning it to the sax, is lovely.
Invitation is the longest track on the CD and is structured with several distinct sections. From all of the musicians interacting en-masse to gentle interludes from each in turn, this is a classic track, including many jazz elements discernable at different times in the number. The piano of Kenny Barron shines like a torch here. There is also a lovely short contrapuntal section between the sax and drums, slowed right down before the beat is picked up again smooth as silk. Ray Noble's Cherokee finishes the CD and is very much a swing inspired number, here given Konitz's own interpretation. The sax is inspirational, the piano ridiculously fast, the drum solo wonderful. This is a great send out to the CD.
Though these numbers are re-visited and Konitz has, by his own admission 'been pretty much doing these songs all through the years', it is testament to his mastery that here he unveils new facets, discovers new elements and different emphasis in nearly all these tunes. Konitz has that knack of taking a melody and exploring it, introducing new ideas and seeing if they work - largely they do. The CD is nothing like the improvisational music on recordings like The Birth of The Cool or Subconscious where Konitz pushes his sax, (and voice at times) and techniques to their limits, or the sessions of Marsh, Konitz and Tristano where the musicians improvised completely and Tristano tutored the young Konitz in harmonics, but Konitz has long since proved he is beyond categorising either as an improviser, standard player or putting in any musical genre-box. He is simply a born player, a musician with no limits, no boundaries and here, he is cool, he is soft, seductive; he stretches out just a little bit but he plays and he plays. Here, distilled and refined, but never boxed, is the essence of great jazz and all that followed. It is a privilege to hear this master at work. Strongly referencing the past in style and format, Konitz manages to insert a modern twist to the numbers which will have wide appeal. Tunes are re-explored, re-worked and pieced together in a cohesive manner only possible with masters of the craft. Konitz's leadership provides cohesion and his mastery of the alto is sublime. Emphatically, Lee Konitz is a leader worthy of his placement with the greats of jazz.
