
In
1975, the members of a musical appreciation society called The Danish
Jazz Exchange clubbed together to bring their two favorite American
improvisers, Warne Marsh and Lee Konitz, to their homeland. They then
listened in rapt attention as the saxophonists played a series of
concerts at Montmartre, then Copenhagen's premier jazz venue. The shadow
of blind pianist/teacher Lennie Tristano, with whom Marsh and Konitz
studied in the 1950s, and who was to die three years after these tracks
were cut, loomed large.
After the concerts in Denmark, Marsh and
Konitz stayed on in Europe to play for small but enthusiastic audiences
in Norway, Holland, Belgium, France and Britain. They then returned to
Copenhagen for more gigs and recordings at the Rosenberg Studio before
heading back to the States.
This boxed set of four CDs is the
document of their visit to Denmark. It contains more than five hours of
music, arranged in chronological order. A total of 48 numbers—standards;
works by Tristano and some of their own compositions. The two
saxophonists play together as part of a quintet, while Marsh also fronts
a trio and a quartet.
There are moments of great beauty. One
such comes on disk two with a relaxed and lyrical treatment of Willard
Robison's plaintive ballad "Old Folks." On Jimmy Van Heusen's "Darn That
Dream," which closes the same disk, Marsh and Konitz also succeed in
blending sensitive interpretation with intelligent experimentation. But
Jerome Kern's "The Way You Look Tonight" is, alas, impossible to
recognize under all the harmonic and melodic jiggery.
Charlie
Parker's "Au Privave" is an outstanding track, with Marsh at his
best—his technique under tight control—and with worthy contributions
from pianist Ole Kock Hansen and bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen,
before the two principals lock horns and take it out. Tristano's "Wow,"
once seen as the epitome of cool jazz, is given reverential treatment by
Marsh and Konitz.
British bassist Peter Ind, another former
Tristano pupil, travelled to Copenhagen to play on some of the tracks.
He is showcased on "Foolin' Myself," which also features some very nice,
understated guitar work from Dave Cliff.
Cliff returns more
assertively on Konitz's "Sound-Lee." Bach's "Two Part Intervention No 1,
Allegro" is also fun, producing a roar of approval from the usually
subdued audience.
Sometimes the improvisation degenerates into
melodic lines that doubtless make sense in musical theory, but all too
often sound like musical doodling to the untrained ear. A small price to
pay for what is, in the final analysis, an extremely rewarding and
deeply satisfying musical experience. ~
Chris
MoseyWarne Marsh (tenor
sax)
Lee Konitz (alto sax)
Ole Kock Hansen (piano)
Dave Cliff (guitar)
Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass)
Peter Ind (bass)
Alex Riel
(drums)
Sven-Erik Nørregard (drums)
Alan Lewitt (drums)
CD 1
1. Background Music
2. You Don't Know What Love Is
3. April
4. Kary's Trance
5. Subconscious Lee
6. Back Home
7. Blues By
Lester
8. You Stepped Out Of A Dream
9. Lennie Bird
CD 2
1. Just Friends
2. Little Willie Leaps
3. Old Folks; Au Privave
4. Wow
5. Kary's Trance
6. Foolin' Myself
7. Sound-Lee
8. Chi-Chi
9. Two
Part Invention No.1, Allegro
10. Two Not One
11. Darn That Dream
CD 3
1. 317 East 32nd Street
2. Two Part Invention No.13, Allegro
Tranquillo
3. April
4. Everything Happens To Me
5. Blues In G Flat
6. After You've Gone
7. The Song Is You
8. Lennie Bird
9. It's You Or
No One
10. God Bless The Child
11. The Way You Look Tonight
12.
Without A Song
13. Be My Love
CD 4
1. You Don't Know What
Love Is
2. Lennie Bird; Confirmation
3. I Can't Give You Anything But Love
4. Without A Song
5. Just One Of Those Things
6. All The Things You
Are
7. I Should Care
8. The More I See You
9. When You're Smiling
10. Taking A Chance On Love
11. Little Willie Leaps
12. Everytime We
Say Goodbye
13. I Want To Be Happy