The Music Of Cole Porter Played By America's Greatest Jazzmen.

I'm gonna move some of the Cole Porter stuff from my other blog over just cause I think it is too cool to go unnoticed. Porter  just always seemed to translate well to jazz renditions.
 The first one is this Moodsville lp, which was just Prestige light, right? These recordings are smooth but swinging. There are some great performances included here that probably slipped through the cracks in the grand scheme of things. Hope everybody digs em like I do.

 I wonder what Shirley Scott thought about being billed on a record titled "America's Greatest Jazzmen?".

The Music Of Cole Porter

Played By America's Greatest Jazzmen


1. You'd be So Nice To Come Home To
2. Easy To Love
3. Love For Sale
4. Just One Of Those Things
5. I've Got You Under My Skin
6. All Of You
7. You Do Something To Me
8. Get Out Of Town
9. What Is This Thing Called Love

1. Frank Wess - flute; Dorothy Ashby - harp; Herman Wright - bass; Roy Haynes - drums
2. Gene Ammons - tenor; Richard Wyands - piano; Doug Watkins - bass; Ray Baretto - conga;
 JC Heard - drums
3. Billy Taylor - piano; Earl May - bass; Candido - conga; Percy Brice - drums
4. Steve Lacy - soprano sax; Gil Evans - piano; Louis Mucci, Jake Koven - trumpets; Jimmy
 Cleveland - trombone; Bart Varsalona - bass trombone; Willie Ruff - french horn; Dave    Kurtzer - bassoon; Lee Konitz - alto; Paul Chambers - bass; Nick Stabulas - drums
5. Stan Getz - tenor; Al Haig - piano; Tommy Potter - bass; Roy Haynes - drums
6. Modern Jazz Quartet - Milt Jackson - vibes; John Lewis - piano; Percy Heath - bass; Connie Kay - drums
7. Shirley Scott - piano; George Duvivier - bass; Artur Edgehill - drums
8. Coleman Hawkins - tenor; Tommy Flanagan - piano, Major Holley - bass; Eddie Locke -drums
9. Red Garland - piano; Paul Chambers - bass; Art Taylor - drums


Moodsville 34

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

Lee Konitz Franco D'Andrea - Inside Cole Porter

This thing is too cool to just reside on the Cole Porter blog, which has laid neglected for far too long, so I'm gonna post it on both.

These are really nice duets between Konitz and relatively unknown pianist Franco D'Andrea. I say relatively unknown because our friends at wikipedia have very little information on him but I know he has recorded several lps that are not listed there. He hails from Italy (and damn don't they have a fine jazz scene there?) but even so he rarely shows up on the Italian jazz blogs. He may be on a half dozen Horo releases but always a sideman.

Additionally this was recorded "In celebration of Lee Konitz 70th Birthday" so he takes the majority of the solos. D'Andrea steps up and rolls out some fime solos himself while tastefully accompanying Konitz on these Porter songs that I am sure he was intimately familiar with already.

Lee Konitz - Franco DAndrea

Inside Cole Porter

1. The Song Is You

2. Medley: The Song Is You (intro); What Is This Thing Called Love; Everytime We Say Goodbye (intro)

3. Everytime we Say Goodbye

4. I Love You

5. Love For Sale

6. Medley: Easy To Love (intro); Night and Day (intro); Easy To Love

7. It's All Right With Me

Lee Konitz - alto sax

Franco D'Andrea - piano

recorded at Mu Rec studio, Milano on May 2, 1996

NLJ 0967-2

Lee Konitz - Konitz

I have often seen this incorrectly cited as Live at Storyville. Not true - that lp exists I believe, but it is not this one. This is a 10" that was simply released on Storyville records. My cloth ears may be bad but I don't hear anything live on this release. And my research leads me to believe this was recorded at a couple of different sessions, one of which may have been at Storyville in Boston but is not a live date.

The Boston session comprises of Easy Living and Skylark and was recorded 08/06/54. All other sessions were recorded sometime in early 54 in NYC.

It appears these sessions also ended up on a Japanese Black Lion reissue with alternate takes of some songs.

Lee Konitz - Konitz
1. Bop Goes The Leesel
2. Easy Living
3. Mean To Me
4. I'll Remember April
5. 317 East 32nd
6. Skylark
7. Nursery Rhyme
8. Limehouse Blues

Konitz - alto
Ronnie Ball - piano
Peter Ind - bass
Jeff Morton - drums

Storyville 10" LP313

Thanks to my friend Rob who was gracious enough to loan me his copy of this slab o' vinyl.

Lee Konitz / Red Mitchell - I Concentrate On You

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!

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 a lowly 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

Prestige First Sessions 1949/50

A two-fer set of lps I have had for years.

Some great stuff on these. These lps are responsible for my love of Tristano/Konitz. I originally bought this set for the Fats Navarro tracks. While I was familiar with much of the work of several artists on here, at the time I was familiar with Tristano and Konitz in name only.

When I bought this set in the early '80s much of this stuff was unavailable. Freaking internet takes all the fun outta things! If you're like me, I prefer the vinyl any time.
And if you think there is anyway I can list fully the performers for all these tracks... you're dreaming. That's where the internet comes in. But I will cover the major bases.

Disc One:
Lennie Tristano
1. Tautology
2. Retrospection
3. Subconscious Lee
4. Judy
Lee Konitz
5. Marshmallow
6. Fishin' Around
7. Tautology
8. Sound Lee
Don Lamphere
9. Spider's Web
10. Strike Up The Band
Kai Winding
11. Broadway
12. Waterworks
Fats Navarro
13. Wailing Wall
14. Go
15. Infatuation
16. Stop


Disc Two
J.J. Johnson
1. Afternoon In Paris
2. Elora
3. Tea Pot
4. Blue Mode
Wardell Gray
5. Easy Living
Sonny Stitt
6. Fine and Dandy
Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis
7. Sweet and Lovely
8. Squattin'
Al Haig
9. Liza
10. Stars Fell On Alabama
11. Stairway To The Stars
12. Opus Caprice
Leo Parker
13. Mona Lisa
14. Who's Mad
15. Darn That Dream
16. I'll Cross My Fingers

Additional performers include Denzel Best, Duke Jordan, Warne Marsh, Shelley Manne, Brew Moore, Gerry Mulligan, George Wallington, Roy Haynes, Max Roach, Bud Powell, Wynton Kelley, and Oscar Pettiford, among others.

Prestige P-24081 (disc one)
Prestige P-24081 (disc two)