Search - Lee Konitz :: Another Shade of Blue

Another Shade of Blue
Lee Konitz
Another Shade of Blue
Genres: Jazz, Pop
 
  •  Track Listings (5) - Disc #1

This second collection of tunes from a 1996 trio engagement at California's Jazz Bakery is nearly as rigorous and rewarding as its predecessor, Alone Together. With an iconoclastic alto-sax style that blends cerebral turns...  more »

     
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CD Details

All Artists: Lee Konitz
Title: Another Shade of Blue
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: EMI Import
Original Release Date: 10/19/1999
Release Date: 10/19/1999
Album Type: Import
Genres: Jazz, Pop
Styles: Cool Jazz, Modern Postbebop, Bebop
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPCs: 724349822221, 0724349822252, 724349822252

Synopsis

Amazon.com
This second collection of tunes from a 1996 trio engagement at California's Jazz Bakery is nearly as rigorous and rewarding as its predecessor, Alone Together. With an iconoclastic alto-sax style that blends cerebral turns of phrase with a tone so dry it's practically parched, Konitz dares listeners--not to mention bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Brad Mehldau--to plumb the harmonic potential and rhythmic nuance of a handful of songs, the shortest of which clocks in at nearly 11 minutes. In an intimate, drummerless ensemble with Haden and Mehldau as sensitive sidemen, Konitz has the right mix of freedom and context to exploit his quirky relationship with the blues--he is almost always of the genre but never really inside it. Tinkering with tone and tempo, the trio derives new shapes and colors from indestructible gems like "Body and Soul" and the Johnny Mercer-Hoagy Carmichael standard, "Everything Happens to Me"; wrings out Konitz's title track; and concludes with the improvisational jam "All of Us." Haden gently guides the rhythm with his fat tone, while Mehldau, a generation or two younger than his cohorts, is harmonically sound but alternately adds a welcome froth to Konitz's implacable flow and, on occasion, disrupts the quietude of the sonic séance. --Britt Robson

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CD Reviews

This is a MUST HAVE Recording.....Beautifully Done
10/31/1999
(5 out of 5 stars)

"I attended the recording session at the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles ( Dec 1996) The first Cd was entitled Alone Together....that is a great CD.....but I noticed that a lot of the material recorded in those 2 nights was left out.....I wanted to hear more. Finally in 1999 the second installment was released....ANOTHER SHADE OF BLUE..... DO yourself the favor now.....buy both the CD's they are both truly awesome recordings"
Beautiful music - sounds easy!
Ian Muldoon | Coffs Harbour, NSW Australia | 04/20/2000
(4 out of 5 stars)

"I've always loved the sound of Mr Konitz, I confess, as much as that of Paul Desmond or Charlie Parker. Some have noted an alleged "thinness" of tone but I prefer to call his sound "distinctive and different" but also beguiling and attractive. Taste I guess. I enjoyed this album as much for the beautiful SOUND of the three instruments as for the melodic variations or swing it contains. Mr Mehldau has an exquisite touch - check out his solo on the title track - and Mr Haden, who favours always the low end of his instrument, has one of the best sounds in all bassdom, woody, full, resonant. This is not ground breaking music but a relaxed live recording of a trio of musicians very comfortable with each other and their art. They make it sound so easy. Mr Konitz's exploration of WHAT'S NEW is worth the price of admission. But all of Mr Mehldau's work on this album is a delight."
Nota bene
Stanley Booth | Brunswick, GA United States | 01/04/2000
(5 out of 5 stars)

"For the information of "editorial reviewer" Britt Robson, "Everything Happens to Me" was written by Thomas Adair and Matt Dennis, not Johnny Mercer and Hoagy Carmichael."