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Lee
Konitz
is among the last living legends from the early days of cool
jazz when he was a featured soloist with Lennie Tristano and
Miles Davis. Combining his Chicagoan roots with an outstanding
sense for abstraction, he has long been hailed as an influential
American figure in the evolution of European jazz. He also
became a teacher to students worldwide, and along the way there
have been various polls won. Although Konitz is no stranger to
unusual contexts, his newest project "Strings For
Holiday" is something very special. Meeting the challenge "to
play a melody the way a singer would sing it" (Konitz),
this album is the saxophonist's thank-you for Billie Holiday's
inspiration.
And much more: Konitz paid close and
constant attention to the written score created by Daniel Schnyder
who is not only an accomplished saxophonist himself but an
experienced arranger with many compositions for orchestra,
strings, and soloists to his credit. Schnyder's charts on
"Strings For Holiday" incorporate some verbatim
quotes from Lester Young's solos, and, as Schnyder puts it, "there
are tunes on top of tunes on top of tunes in there,"
changing Billie's vocals and Prez' improvisations into voices
for strings. Listen carefully and you will find that the 12
tunes are arranged in the 12 different modes.
This new Konitz nonet (plus Schnyder in
the arranging and conducting chair) is an environment which
allows three generations to be all true to themselves and to one
another, with the whole framework fitting like a glove. Though
the newest tune here is almost 50 years old, this music has a
freshness and zing which will delight the ears of veteran Konitz
fans, Lady Day devotees, and many more. It is a new approach
from any angle, just the sort of thing that makes jazz a living
art form.
Courtesy
from
Enja Records
http://www.enjarecords.com
info@enjarecords.com | 
