Search - Lee Konitz, Ohad Talmor :: Lee Konitz - Ohad Talmor String Project: Inventions

Lee Konitz, Ohad Talmor
Lee Konitz - Ohad Talmor String Project: Inventions
Genres: Jazz, Special Interest, Pop, Classical

Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
1. Qu'est-ce Que C'est
2. Pretty Peace
3. Moon
4. Lied Im Herzen
5. General Cluster
6. Chunks
7. FeeBeMe
8. Alone In Cologne
9. Struttin' With Some Barbeque

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CD Details

All Artists: Lee Konitz, Ohad Talmor
Title: Lee Konitz - Ohad Talmor String Project: Inventions
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: Omnitone Records
Original Release Date: 1/1/2006
Re-Release Date: 8/8/2006
Genres: Jazz, Special Interest, Pop, Classical
Styles: Avant Garde & Free Jazz, Cool Jazz, Modern Postbebop, Vocal Jazz, Bebop, Vocal Pop, Chamber Music
Number of Discs: 1
SwapaCD Credits: 1
UPC: 686281521528

Synopsis

Album Description

"After all these years, the brilliantly original alto saxophonist, who came up with Thornhill and Tristano, continues to surprise." -VILLAGE VOICE Breakthrough concept for the ever-inventive jazz legend, who has never shied away from contexts unusual to jazz throughout his sixty-year career. Combines the classical sound of a string quartet with the dual reeds of Konitz and international powerhouse reedman/composer Talmor, who also provides striking, ear-catching arrangements of Konitz originals and a Louis Armstrong classic. All members are accomplished improvisers ? like the Kronos or Turtle Island String Quartets, but with a grittier groove and more exploratory air to their sound. Appeals to adventurous jazz and classical listeners.

CD Reviews

Charming and entertaining

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 11/03/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Konitz was responsible (with Bill Russo) for one of the first & best jazz-with-string-quartet albums, _An Image_, five decades ago. In the 1990s he returned to the format with _Plays French Impressionist Music_, an album of arrangements of keyboard music by Ohad Talmor for Konitz plus the Axis String Quartet. _Inventions_ is a sequel to the Impressionist album, with Talmor this time both arranging and playing tenor sax and clarinet on the album; this time it's all-original material by Konitz and/or Talmor, and the ensemble is Austria's Spring String Quartet. Unlike the ultra-moody, austere modernism of _An Image_, or the astringent beauty of _Plays..._, the new album is what you'd least expect of this kind of project: swinging and funky, and almost entirely fast-moving material rather than ballads. Yes, there _are_ some ballads--Talmor even includes a wonderful rewrite of "Body & Soul" which juxtaposes the lush strings with Konitz's wry, conversational improvising. But a lot of these tracks really move: the opening "Qu'est-ce que c'est" has some James Brown-worthy moments, and "Chunks" puts Konitz in the unlikely context of a "Sidewinder"-style boogaloo! But the greatest surprise is the final track, an arrangement of "Struttin' with Some Barbeque" which is like a love-letter to Louis Armstrong from Konitz and Talmor.

I suspect this album will get less press than the co-released _New Nonet_ album, but it's by some distance the better release. Check it out."