Walter Lang, Lee Konitz - Ashiya

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2007
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 53:57
Size: 123,9 MB
Art: Front

(4:49)  1. Monk's Cottage
(5:55)  2. The Good Way
(3:57)  3. Open Water
(0:24)  4. Interlude I
(4:40)  5. Ashiya
(5:14)  6. Soft Wind Blowing
(4:35)  7. Way Too Early
(3:38)  8. What A Treat
(3:54)  9. Valse Elegance
(6:08) 10. Casa Do Tom
(1:08) 11. Interlude II
(7:42) 12. Farewell
(1:47) 13. Epilogue

The veteran German jazz pianist Walter Lang welcomes alto sax great Lee Konitz for this special duo session. While they had worked together on-stage several times, this marks their first CD together. It is a bit unusual to hear Konitz focusing almost exclusively on another musician's material without adding a few of his own quirky reconstructions of standards, but all goes well, as the two players fit hand in glove. The meandering opener, "Monk's Cottage," has a recurring call-and-response theme. "The Good Way" has a classical air, with Konitz making a late entrance in a very lyrical setting. The ballad "Ashiya" has a melancholy air, with Lang's piano behind Konitz suggesting a lonely person pacing the floor in despair. The lush romanticism of "Valse Élégance" and the elegant "Casa do Tom" are also highlights. The two musicians collaborated on two brief interludes and the closing "Epilogue."~ Ken Dryden http://www.allmusic.com/album/ashiya-mw0000781594

Personnel: Walter Lang (piano); Lee Konitz (alto saxophone).

Ashiya

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