Very cool indeed
Jazzcat | Genoa, Italy Italy | 08/25/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Gambit and Lonehill are putting our wallets under serious bankrupt risk these days, at least mine for sure. They are reissuing tons of fantastic albums from the fifties and sixties, and you know, it's becoming difficult to buy everything my jazz heart desires! These very beautiful Lee Konitz albums have been out of print for decades except for the well known and high priced japanese editions. If we were waiting Verve for the re-release of these albums probably we could have wait forever. Verve has an incredible catalog but the label is very very slow in reprinting them. Now they have started to offer some old albums on their site for download but to me this is not the way to go. They have not understood yet that the majority of the jazz collectors want to have the original edition of the albums they really love in their hands. Download is not an option (at least for me, but I know a lot of cats that are on my side). I want to own the original album, with booklet and everything. Gambit and Lonehill have understood this and are seriously offering stellar albums from the past to the jazz collectors. Onestly I would have preferred the albums on their original label (Verve in this case) but if this is the only way to own them at a reasonable price, well ok, I'll get them. By the way, who can resist to buy "Very Cool" together with "Tranquility" for few bucks? Not me for sure! Both albums are from 1957 and both are important albums, but my preference goes to "Very Cool" which has been called "One of the best 100 jazz albums of all time". Well, I don't know if you agree, every cats has HIS 100 best albums, but "Very cool" would be in many of those lists I guess. "Very Cool" is perfect from the beginning to the end there's not a single weak moment in it. The ideas flow from Lee's sax with incredibile perfection, one after another with a dry sound that is all Konitz. And the quartet he choose for this recording is way up there. Don Ferrara, Sal Mosca, Peter Ind, Shadow Wilson, everyone gave his very best here. It's a cool jazz music that is like a painting, ... extreme perfection for real. The program is various but stays between medium up tempo and ballads. But even if the time signature changes, the band still maintain a great coherence in approaching the music giving the whole album a unique personality. "Tranquility" is a different album. The line up is different and a little bit unusual, guitar (Billy Bauer), bass (Henry Grimes), drums (Dave Bailey) Lee's sax. This album due to this line up is more mellow than "Very Cool" and indulges in couterpoint here and there. The guitar in the place of the piano creates an even drier sound, underlining the specifics of Lee's music but I don't know if this is a plus. Another plus for "Very cool" is the presence of the very talented trumpet player Don Ferrara which has been a true discovery for me. "Very cool" to me is more balanced overall and more pleasing for the ear. My rating is four stars for "Tranquility" because it needs a bigger concentration to enjoy it and is less fun. But in the end together these two albums compose something that is impossible for you jazz lover, not to want. A very nice touch: Gambit inserted the beautiful "Tranquility" cover in full size too in the booklet. Ratings: "Very cool" five stars, "Tranquility" four stars."
Two excellent Verve albums by Lee
Bomojaz | South Central PA, USA | 08/30/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)
"One needs to commend Gambit Records for reissuing these two 1957 Verve dates, which for so long were available only on Japanese releases (and hard to find). Both these sessions feature musicians who were long students of the great pianist Lennie Tristano, including, of course, Konitz himself: Don Ferrara (trumpet), Sal Mosca (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar) and Peter Ind (bass). Two Ferrara originals are included on the "Very Cool" outing (SUNFLOWER and MOVIN' AROUND), and both are excellent. Lee was already establishing his masterful KARY'S DANCE as a jazz standard with this his second recording of it in only seven months.
The "Tranquility" album drops Ferrara and is a quartet date with Henry Grimes on bass and Dave Bailey on drums (along with Lee and Bauer). That a modern group such as this would pull out and play the old traditional warhorse SUNDAY, and play it so well (though a tad slower than usual) is a tribute to its self confidence. Two other standards, WHEN YOU'RE SMILING and THE NEARNESS OF YOU, also end up being swinging performances. Both sessions, as one would expect from Tristano-inspired players, are held together by the most solid of rhythm sections. Lee Konitz has had a very full career both in person and in the recording studio; having these two dates, so illusive to track down (in my experience), on one package is worthy of high praise. Definitely worth getting.
"
Track Listings (14) - Disc #1