Lee Konitz & Dan Tepfer - Decade

Styles: Saxophone And Piano Jazz
Year: 2018
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 46:25
Size: 106,9 MB
Art: Front

(2:33)  1. Thrill
(3:49)  2. 9/11 Suite, Part I
(2:39)  3. 9/11 Suite, Part II
(4:26)  4. 9/11 Suite, Part III
(1:34)  5. Pulsing Green
(3:10)  6. Alter Ego
(6:02)  7. Through The Tunnel
(1:08)  8. Egos Alter
(4:25)  9. Rebounds
(2:16) 10. A Place We Know
(1:39) 11. Pulsing Orange
(1:59) 12. Whirlpool
(2:42) 13. Ceaseless
(0:58) 14. Eager Altos
(7:00) 15. Body & Soul

To celebrate a decade of intense musical collaboration and friendship, the masterful 90-year-old altoist Lee Konitz and the resourceful pianist Dan Tepfer, 36, release Decade on Verve Records, an auspicious follow up to Duos With Lee (Sunnyside, 2009). The duo has been performing extensively throughout the years, but their mature sense of impromptu comes bolstered throughout these 15 spontaneous short tunes. In possession of an enviable originality in terms of sound and language, the pair takes the same direction and overcomes any possible generational gap with their modernistic facility. This aspect becomes immediately perceptible on “Thrill”, the illuminated, if enigmatic, opening piece, which shows Tepfer into a fantastic textural work while insisting on a specific note, chromatically bent at regular times. The delicate tension that arrives from it, favors Konitz's cliché-free vocabulary. Comprising three distinct parts, “9/11 Suite” kicks off with introspective piano melodies entering our ears like raindrops on a breezy spring day. The melodic lyricism conducted by the veteran saxophonist frequently takes you to the unexpected. 

If the second part of the suite, marked by scattered call-response actions, points out to an uncertain destiny by carrying a flaring turbulence and an unregulated plasticity typical of the avant-garde genre, then the touching third part is enveloped by a sequence of high-pitched piano swirls whose dreamy tones urge the saxophone to search for a hidden secret with yearning musicality. Three title puns, “Alter Ego”, “Egos Alter”, and “Eager Altos” feature Konitz’ overdubbed sax lines in a merry polyphony, but it’s with “Through the Tunnel”, an overwhelming piece of aurorean transcendence that the duo reaches a subliminal state of unearthly contemplation. If Konitz evokes the melody of “Peacocks” at an early stage and makes use of his unmistakable scat singing by the end, then Tepfer’s improvised lines have prompted responses from a programmed Disklavier piano. The saxophonist repeats the vocalization on Johnny Green’s “Ceaseless”, where circular and arpeggiated movements, typical from classical music, sustain his liberal yet never-misplaced ruminations. There are other moments of extraordinary creativity: “Body and Soul” is completely transformed through a snazzy re-harmonization and entirely fresh melody; “Rebounds” claims a contrapuntal groove that is later expanded into grandiose chords; and “A Place We Know” shapes into a more traditional song format through balladic harmonic progressions flanked by profound saxophone impressions. Wielding a delightfully quirky style, Konitz and Tepfer provide the listener with those truly magical moments that will keep them sigh with pleasure. http://jazztrail.net/blog/2018/7/29/konitz-tepfer-decade-album-review

Personnel:  Lee Konitz - Alto Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Voice;   Dan Tepfer - Piano.

Decade

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Dan Tepfer & Ben Wendel - Small Constructions

Styles: Piano And Saxophone Jazz
Year: 2013
File: MP3@320K/s
Time: 51:27
Size: 118,4 MB
Art: Front

(5:24)  1. Still Play
(4:02)  2. Pannonica
(5:39)  3. Jean and Renata
(4:21)  4. Line Up
(2:00)  5. Line
(6:23)  6. Nines
(6:04)  7. Gratitude
(5:54)  8. Ask Me Now
(2:02)  9. Rygabag
(3:04) 10. Darn That Dream
(3:59) 11. Variation 1 in D minor
(2:28) 12. Oblique Strategy

The occasion. Some days spent at the Yamaha artist-space in Manhattan with some precious tools close at hand. The raw material. Two Monk classics, one of the best known standards, Lennie Tristano, Handel, a pinch of Messiaen and some original ones. The protagonists. Dan Tepfer, a young, award-winning pianist with an open mind and excellent collaborations (Konitz on all) and Ben Wendel, co-founder of Kneebody, one of the most interesting bands of the new electro-acoustic wave coming from the big apple. The result. Small Constructions. Brick after brick Tepfer and Wendel build colorful musical houses, small houses with different profiles, moods and perfumes, each with its own story to tell, each with a world to explore and share. The use in different passages of overdubs, the instruments that multiply and are also combined boldly - the mixture of piano and Fender Rhodes adds to the Tristanian "Line Up" a vaguely naive and psychedelic - contributes to greatly expand the palette timbre available to musicians, good at preserving size, good taste, respect for shapes and, why not, elegance. The risk of slipping into mannerism or of transforming the widespread intimacy of dialogue into a cloying exercise of style is averted by the familiarity of both with the canons of classical music, their innate propensity for research, and the gifts of exquisite improvisers. Finally, curiosity. In the last song, Tepfer and Wendel exchange instruments, the first takes the alto sax, the second sits at the piano. A simple melody, an execution with few notes, almost childlike, just over two minutes of poignant beauty, directly from the heart to warm up the soul. ~ AAJ Italy Staff https://www.allaboutjazz.com/small-constructions-dan-tepfer-sunnyside-records-review-by-aaji-staff.php

Personnel: Dan Tepfer (piano, fender rhodes, alto sax in # 12); Ben Wendel (saxophones, bassoon, melodica, piano in # 12).

Small Constructions

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Judy Niemack & Dan Tepfer - Listening To You

Size: 108,1 MB
Time: 46:38
File: MP3 @ 320K/s
Released: 2017
Styles: Jazz Vocals
Art: Front

01. There Will Never Be Another You (5:09)
02. Listening To You (4:06)
03. Body And Soul (5:45)
04. Like A Butterfly (4:14)
05. You've Taken Things Too Far (5:20)
06. When Chick Came Around (4:21)
07. You're My Thrill (5:44)
08. Epistrophy (5:43)
09. All The Things You Are (6:12)

Personnel:
Judy Niemack - vocals
Dan Tepfer - piano

Jazz aficionados are often concerned with lineages within the music and the passing of the torch. There aren’t many musicians left who have witnessed and assisted in the development of jazz and improvised music as much as saxophonist Lee Konitz has. From the height of bebop to the current avant-garde, Konitz has established himself as a cornerstone and link between many adventurous musicians.

Two such musicians are vocalist extraordinaire Judy Niemack and the exceptional pianist Dan Tepfer. Both have been fortunate enough to play and collaborate with the legendary saxophonist. It was only natural that Niemack and Tepfer would find such a rapport when they finally met via Konitz. It took the duo no time to be at ease with each other and to pursue a lively recording, entitled Listening To You.

Niemack stands apart as one of her generation’s most celebrated vocalists. She is originally from California; her jazz studies began with saxophonist Warne Marsh, who famously studied and performed with piano polymath Lennie Tristano along with Konitz. Niemack moved to New York City in the late 1970s and began to make a name as a vocalist, writing lyrics for and collaborating with many well-known musicians, including Pat Metheny, Kenny Barron, Don Grolnick, Toots Thielemans, Mike Stern, and Konitz.

Dan Tepfer has become an important figure in his generation’s developments within the worlds of jazz, modern classical and improvised music. His path within jazz crossed with Konitz very early on, whereby he established a long-running collaboration with the saxophonist.

Niemack and Tepfer’s first encounter came when Tepfer and Konitz were in Berlin for a performance. While keeping a home in New York, Niemack had been teaching for many years at the Jazz Institut Berlin, and she always made the effort to hear Konitz when he performed nearby, allowing the singer and the pianist an opportunity to be introduced in this instance. In the Spring of 2012, Tepfer returned to Berlin where he met up with Niemack to rehearse at the Jazz Institut.

In September 2012, Niemack invited Tepfer to record at Acoustic Recording in Brooklyn, New York, for her first recording in nine years. There was a special emphasis on improvisation, interpretation and taking chances during the proceedings, as Niemack has always advocated the role of the vocalist as a musician. The duo took on a number of the standards they had rehearsed in Germany, though maintaining a playfulness throughout the session. The musicians relied on pure improvisation, though letting the lyrics retain their message. Tepfer doesn’t accompany as much as interact in time to Niemack. Listeners can hear the incredibly creative treatments from Tepfer and the joy that both brought to the recording.

The program begins with a light but insistent take on Harry Warren and Mack Gordon’s “There Will Never Be Another You.” Konitz’s “Listening To You” is based on the chord changes of “All The Things You Are” and features lyrics Niemack wrote at the saxophonist’s request, which she turned into a tribute to Konitz. Tepfer and Niemack perform a lilting version of the chestnut “Body and Soul,” which is followed by “Like a Butterfly,” a piece written by her friend, pianist Ronnie Mathews; Niemack’s original lyrics describe the carefree dancing of a young girl whose responsibilities are yet to come.

Niemack’s bittersweet “You’ve Taken Things Too Far” is about taking stock after the dissolution of a relationship and coming to unexpected realizations about love. “When Chick Came Around” is another composition by Konitz with lyrics by Niemack that heralds the work of the great pianist Chick Corea. Niemack revisits Gorney and Clare’s “You’re My Thrill,” with pathos and drama, having originally recorded it with Cedar Walton on her first recording. The extemporary version of Monk and Clarke’s “Epistrophy” is a true revelation and testament to the duo’s singularity. The program concludes with Kern’s “All The Things You Are,” a beautiful sendoff.

How better to celebrate one of the most creative and exploratory musicians jazz has been blessed with? Niemack and Tepfer are two fully developed, exemplary musicians regardless of instrument, who find a way to make music resonate and creativity blossom, as their hero Lee Konitz has done for decades. Listening To You is a wonderful example of the legacy being passed and beauty being made in its honor.

Listening To You

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