Lee Konitz / Alan Broadbent - Live-Lee

[Nate Dorward]

Someone in the Konitz thread in Speak Out said this disc was the subject of some controversy. Not sure why this'd be--seems much of a piece with Konitz's latterday work: drummerless, mostly at an easy tempo, with a pace & tone that can oddly suggest talk rather than abstract line-spinning. No trace of sentimentality or taking it easy, even (or especially) on ballads. The standout for me was "Cherokee", which opens with a remarkable unaccompanied Konitz solo which might well be studied next to his extended reading on the old solo disc Lone-Lee. & his statements of the heads of ballads like "Easy Living" & (especially) "If You Could See Me Now" are excellent examples of Konitz's instant recomposition.

[shrugs]

Fascinating session. I think the poster on the Konitz thread who didn't like it at first later came around.
That Cherokee is indeed very fine. I'll have to pull out Lone Lee sometime and revisit the lengthy version of it.

[jazzfiend]

Thanks, fellas! Just found this at half.com for 3.95!!!

[shrugs]

yep.
the promo copies are popping up like crazy!!
guess most of the reviewer folk can't be troubled with greatness.........

[Nate Dorward]

Incidentally, perhaps someone sharper-eared than I am can confirm this: am I right to think that "Cherokee" on Live-Lee is probably edited at the start? It sounds to me like it starts in the middle of the B section of one chorus, then has a second complete chorus before moving on to Broadbent's opening solo. I find it a little hard to quite be certain, though, given Lee's penchant for inserting harmonic information & tags from one place in a tune into a quite different place--this can be quite disorienting, even when it's not an a capella performance!