Customer Reviews

Real Lee Konitz

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Not much great early Konitz lying around these days... very well worth snapping up! All live from a club date that was released in 1961... no mention of the recording date. Lee just sails and sails through some originals and jazz standards with a guitarist, bassist, drummer and trumpet player you've probably never heard of, recorded by the bassist with his own machine and mikes (yes, I wrote mikes and not mics for the same reason that I write bikes and not bics). Terrific sound quality for the equipment and the period--no, take that back, excellent sound quality, period. If you like Konitz of any period, you want this. You need this. This is the second CD I've bought on the Collectables label--the other was a Jimmy Giuffre disc called The Jimmy Giuffre Clarinet, which is just as unique, and has the same sound quality. Normally I view any small reissue label with great suspicion, especially after all the clunkers I got stuck with from Fresh Sound--great music, horrible sound--but I am happy enough to find one I can trust that I needed to write about it. The only weird thing about the disc is that Konitz personally edited it to his own liking (which is why it's called The Real Lee Konitz), cutting off the solos he didn't care for, which means some of the tunes just sort of fade away before the offending passages can begin. The tunes run from 2:15 to 8:42, and there are only eight of them, so some may consider it short measure, but it's so great to have LK's alto live in Pittsburgh, right there in your lap, when he was still young and sounding so alive. This burns.

The 'Real Lee Konitz' live 1957 reissue, rewards and frustrates this long-time follower of the work of this artist. (From the liner notes written by Konitz) "It was difficult to find a tune that everyone was making it at the same time..." thus the fade-outs, made by Konitz, resulting in this hodge-podge of cuts totaling a mere 38 minutes.

Lee Konitz is one of the few improvisers who charted his own unique path. The interview/biography "Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser's Art" with commentary by three dozen additional musicians is a very entertaining and informative read.