Subconscious-Lee

Lee Konitz | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 12, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Ojc
• ASIN: B000000YAD
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #121,982 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant solos by Konitz, Tristano, Bauer move this beyond mere historical interest, February 6, 2009

By 

Matthew Watters (Vietnam) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Subconscious-Lee (Audio CD)

I happily gave the other reviewer (jive rhapsodist) a helpful vote because his review is so funny and insightful. He doesn't just praise this music. He buries it. That said, I can't help but feel that all the music that came out of the "schools" of Lennie Tristano and Hall Overton in the late 1940s-early 1950s (see, for instance, the work of Teddy Charles) suffers from just this very sort of over-analysis, all of these over-technical explanations of why the playing doesn't adhere to typical chord changes. While it's the experiments in polytonality and the explorations in sponteneous composition and "free" improvisation nearly a decade before Ornette Coleman exploded on the scene that makes the likes of Tristano and Overton historically significant, what's it like for non-musicians listening to this music? Is Subconscious-Lee a disc that I would only listen to once or twice, out of historical interest (like, I confess, I do with Charlie Parker), or one that I actually enjoy coming back to from time to time? In this case, it's the latter. The music is still married to the simple time structures and instrumental line-ups of Sidney Bechet, with a guitar-bass-drums rhythm section chugging out a simple beat, but the slight emotional abstraction and cool, soul-less tone of the principals is highly appealing, much like the work of Paul Desmond and Dave Brubeck (or Paul Desmond and Jim Hall). That the improvisations also have a slightly spikey feeling that anticipates the avant garde gives this music a certain cerebral appeal, as well. The feeling may not be love, but it is rather like putting on your black turtleneck and hanging out with some really hip, intellectual friends. What's wrong with that?

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Classics, June 4, 2010

By 

Partanen Timo Juhana (Heredia, Costa Rica) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Subconscious-Lee (Audio CD)

A fine collection of "pure" Konitz from 1949 and 1950 in twelve tracks. Warne Marsh appears on five tracks, Tristano on other five. This represents off-Parker avant garde of its time, also memories from the times they came originally out as 78-RPM vinyls: "NOW WHAT'S THIS? WHAT KIND OF BLOWING IS THIS?" - - Lee reached the same heights with Kenton in the lyrical My Lady, but that again appears on another CD, under Kenton. A fine piece of history of improvised music, the Konitz CD.

8 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I respect this disc in the morning...but it isn't love, June 23, 2008

By 

jive rhapsodist (NYC, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Subconscious-Lee (Audio CD)

Something's missing, I don't care what you say. Something between the spiky intervals and those classic chord progressions. Some kind of disconnect - a "form/content" problem? An incomplete revolution? The improvisations rarely as forward reaching as the tunes? The anodyne role given to the rhythm section? The moments of polyphony seeming localized and not sufficiently fleshed out? And yet, you have to give it up - these guys are brilliant. Konitz' acrid tone and abrupt leaps (on the other hand) match perfectly. But - like - take Retrospection (track 3). What does it have to do with These Foolish Things? How does it "signify" on it? How does it riff on it? The chord progression feels like nothing more than a hat rack, and I don't love that. I like to feel some connection - which I feel every time Monk or Parker bases something on an already - existing progression. But you can have fun testing your ear and seeing if you can recognize all of the models. And Konitz is great at doing what he does, even if I think what he does is a little questionable.