11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mainstream jazz from a lateral-thinker, February 27, 2001
Lee Konitz has so frequently avoided "ordinary" jazz situations that it's actually a rare treat to hear him do an album like this, with a roster of jazz standards performed by a straightahead American rhythm section--the great Kenny Barron on piano, James Genus on bass & Kenny Washington on drums. Konitz's playing is wonderfully unflashy--precisely because he's not interested in letting prefabricated licks fall under his fingers. When he lets a quick series of triplets fall out of his horn towards the end of "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" it's a small surprise, & a sly response to the fleet lines of Barron. Unexpectedly for a player who started out under Tristano's wing, Konitz's tone is keening, alternately wry and plangent; it's like a distant cousin of Art Pepper. It's a nicely varied album: "Everything Happens to Me" is a sax-piano duo, which gives Barron a chance to show off his gentle stride-piano style; "Body and Soul" moves from duo to full quartet to a lovely acapella coda; "Alone Together" lets Lee stroll around with just bass and drums for a bit before the quartet digs in. Lee pulls out his soprano for two ballads, "Misty" & "My Funny Valentine". The renditions of standards are absolutely straightahead but without any sense of routine. It's a very warm, relaxed album, with four musicians palpably enjoying themselves.
Not one of Konitz's most adventurous performances, but certainly one of his most enjoyable.
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