Old Songs New

Album review

True fans know that Lee Konitz is one of the last giants in the history of jazz. A REAL giant who has always taken the genre in new directions, shaking up cool jazz just as easily as the free scene... At the age of 92, the saxophonist from Chicago still has that unique alto sound that offered an alternative to the Parker revolution a long, long time ago. For the past thirty years, the saxophonist, composer and arranger Ohad Talmor has been a close friend of Konitz. Here, the two men resurrect the famous Lee Konitz Nonet, an ensemble mixing brass, wind, percussion and strings. The nonet’s origins lie in Lee Konitz’s early work for Miles Davis’ legendary album Birth of the Cool. With Old Songs New, released in November 2019, Talmor wanted to pay tribute to the sound of the 50s radio orchestras that Lee Konitz so loved. He also wanted the saxophonist to record rare and even unreleased pieces from his repertoire, particularly the works popularized by Frank Sinatra (In the Wee Small Hours), a cornerstone of Konitz’s lyrical playing. Above all, the Lee Konitz Nonet provides the perfect setting to bring the leader’s phrasing to the fore, designed to produce a deeper, darker atmosphere that counterbalances the alto sax’s bright sound. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz