One of the last living proto-boppers and cools schoolers, alto saxist Lee Konitz teams up with an all-star rhythm section of Kenny Barron/p, Peter Washington/b and Kenny Washington/dr for some vintage bop and a few surprises. Of the latter, Konitz now adds wordless vocals to his repertoire, and songs along on a hip “Out of Nowhere” as well as on “Darn That Dream” that has Barron throw hip a lovely softball pitch on the intro. His tone at this stage has a hazy and rusty quality, hovering well over the mid tempo read of “Cherokee” and sounding warm and fuzzy on the hip groove of “Thingin’.” Barron is a master here as well, doing a rich solo on “Stella by Starlight” and producing a mist on “Gundula”with his regular working team. Konitz emphasizes explorative soloing at this stage in his career, using the basic themes as launching pads, and the rockets go into space very well.
Impulse! Records