Lee Konitz is a remarkably self-sufficient player, a jazz pilgrim who travels light – just a trusty handful of standards and originals, and a soft, chewing-things-over approach to the alto sax. He travels ceaselessly from record label to record label, from playing partner to playing partner; like Derek Bailey, he’s suspicious of staying in one place. As far as I know he’s never had a “working band,” and though sometimes arrangers construct ambitious one-off projects around him (with-strings projects or big bands), on the whole he prefers just to set his budget of favourite tunes down and see what happens. More Live-Lee, like its predecessor (guess the title), is familiar Konitz territory: a fresh partnership – this time with the remarkable pianist Alan Broadbent, who though a former Tristano student had never played with Konitz before – ; well-worn repertoire like “You Stepped Out of a Dream,” “How Deep Is the Ocean?” and a minor-key “Pennies in Heaven”; a delicate unsentimental delivery, calm and undramatic and perfectly centred. As on Live-Lee the ballads are disconcertingly talky and dry – “Body and Soul” is positively parched – but the midtempo pieces are more engaging, especially the opening run through “Invitation”. Broadbent gets a nice solo spot on “You Go to My Head,” injecting some warmth and good humour into an otherwise slightly chilly album. More Live-Lee will be meat and drink to Cool School addicts; the less committed may find it just a little too ineffable.

Nate Dorward

Coda, Jan/Feb 2005