****Lee KonitzRHAPSODY
(Evidence)
On this quiet and quirky album,
saxophonist Konitz
picks up where he left off on his masterful 1968
Duets. That recording featured Konitz treading the line between "inside"
and "outside" with breathtaking assurance in several duet pairings. This time
he works in ad-hoc duos, trios, and quartets, featuring vocalists on three of
the album's seven tracks. Each singer's performance (Helen Merrill,
Jay Clayton,
and Judy Niemack) is followed by free instrumental improvisations.
After Merrill's almost deadpan "I Hear a Rhapsody," the quartet of Konitz, Joe
Lovano,
Bill Frisell,
and Paul Motian
perform sly variations on the melody and
subtle transformations of one another's ideas. Likewise, the
Konitz/Paul Bley/Jimmy Giuffre/Gary Peacock
quartet extends "All the Things You Are" (sung
with stately tenderness by Niemack) in a discursive yet oddly coherent
improvisation. The free playing of baritone saxophonist
Gerry Mulligan on "Trio
#1" and the hilarious vocalization of trumpeter
Clark Terry on the short and
outrageous "Flyin' -- Mumbles and Jumbles" also provide some of the album's
biggest surprises.
-- Ed Hazell
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