Lee Konitz / Red Mitchell - I Concentrate On You

There are a bunch of great lps loaded up my Cole Porter blog. Some I never posted here because they didn't fit in or they may have been too readily available. I'm gonna keep that blog open and updated albeit at a snail's pace, but I am also gonna move some of the cooler shit over here.

If you didn't know about the CP blog but would like to, there is a link in the list to the right. It is open for the time being again.

On to the music...

I had been searching for this baby for quite sometime and wouldn't you know, between the time I located it and actually had it sent, someone slipped it into the blogosphere. C'est la Vie! (edit - wouldn't you know I ran across a copy in a small music store, all outta the way in Hayseed, NC. just a couple of weeks later.)

I know the cat that put it up recently (a great guy) and we both agreed that there was room for both. His, if you locate it, is a flac copy from a cd. Mine once again is mp3 from the lp spinning on my turntable as I type.

I love way way these two work on this record. I love that Konitz treats the alto almost like a tenor, giving way to slow languorous lines instead of quick flights usually associated with the smaller horn. This lp is as sophisticated as anything Porter portrayed. Both players take this to heart in the probing, sensuous lines that follow along closely with the original melodies. And yet they still manage to not sacrifice the irreverence and wit that Porter cultivated in his songwriting.

And let it be said that this version of "I Concentrate On You" is one of the great seduction tracks of all time. A sure winner any time, but best during the cool down.

Lee Konitz/Red Mitchell
I Concentrate On You
a tribute to Cole Porter

1. Just One Of Those Things
2. Easy To Love
3. It's Alright With Me
4. Ev'rytime We Say Goodbye
5. You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To
6. Love For Sale
7. In The Still Of The Night
8. Night and Day*
9. I Love You
10. I Love Paris
11. I Concentrate On You

Lee Konitz - alto sax
Red Mitchell - bass, piano*

Recorded 7/30/74, Copenhagen

IC 2018