Five-Star Collection... The Down Beat Five-Star History (Part II)

In the previous post, we revisited the origins of Down Beat's first attempt to formalize its record-rating system through simple note symbols.

In this second part, we turn to the moment when the magazine tried to sharpen its critical tools with a short-lived but revealing experiment:

✤ 1951✤ 

A Brief Experiment in Precision:

Down Beat's 1951 One-to-Ten Rating Scale

By 1951, Down Beat felt the need for greater nuance in its reviews. The solution was a short-lived numerical scale running from 1 to 10, an attempt to introduce finer gradations of quality at a moment when the LP era was just beginning to reshape listening habits.

Here we revisit that transitional system and reproduce the magazine’s statement explaining its purpose and scope.

In the January 26, 1951 issue, the section "What’s On Wax"—written by Jack Tracy, Pat Harris, and George Hoefer—introduced a far more precise numerical scale ranging from 1 to 10.

Each reviewer assigned a score, and the final rating printed in the review was the average of the three.

The announcement read:

"With this issue, Down Beat inaugurates a new system for rating records. It is our hope that it will be of increased value to you in helping you choose those records you plan to add to your own collection.

Records are rated by each of the three reviewers on a scale of 1 to 10, with the rating increasing with the quality of the record. The final veredict is an average of the individual scores and will be found in front of the tittles listed at the head of each review. Albums will continue to be judged as a whole, with individual comments on those sides meriting them".

It was a clear attempt to bring greater objectivity and consistency to Down Beat's expanding review section.

Which was the first artist reviewed who received the highest score?

None... throughout the entire period that this criterion was applied, no record reached the level of excellence.

The only one who came close was Lee Koniz with 9 points.

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Lee Konitz 

9 - Rebecca

7 - Ice Cream Konitz

Jack: Lee delicately and feelingly picks his way through Rebecca (My Old Flame). He's backed only by Billy Bauer's guitar. Beautifully done, thoughtfully expressive, it's some of Lee's best recorded ballad work to date. Ice Cream has Bauer, Arnold Fishkin, drummer Jeff Morton, and pianist Sal Mosca backing Lee. It's uptempo, with Lee fleet but not as fertile as usual, and Bauer and Mosca taking choruses. 

Rating: Rebecca—9; Ice Cream—7.

George: Lee's Rebecca is a note of beauty rare in the field of jazz. The delicacy of his alto tone and phrasing is brought out in bold relief by Bauer's sympathetic guitar. The side is a study in perfect execution. Ice Cream, a Konitz original, is typical Tristano fare without the participation of Lennie. Sal Mosca takes over the piano and closes the side with a sprightly solo. Nothing outstanding happening, but nice listening. 

Rating: Rebecca—9; Ice Cream Konitz—7.

Pat: Konitz' dainty alto, cool just to the point of chillness, but not quite, traces tastefully through Konitz. Note the smooth way Sal Mosca's piano takes over after Billy Bauer's solo on this one. Rebecca, named after Lee's baby daughter, is a fine fatherly tribute. Very lovely and delicate, Lee manages to be sunny and wistful at the same time. (New Jazz 834.)

Rating: Rebecca—8; Ice Cream—7

The restored version of these tracks was included on one of the CDs in the Original Jazz Classics series.

Lee Konitz

With Tristano, Marsh And Bauer

Subconscious-Lee

Of the Lennie Tristano "school" of music, which predated the Lennie Tristano School of Music, Lee Konitz is the outstanding "pupil". Naturally Lennie's music had a great influence on Lee. Other influences are lesser and have been more completely absorbed in to the mainstream of his playing. For instance, in his rhythmic figures you can hear Charlie Parker (Bird left very few untouched and unmoved,) but whatever sources Lee has drawn on have been integrated beautifully into his personal expression. His style and sound are both highly personal. The point of excellence as an individual voice is a signal triumph for any artist.

The three sessions in this LP show Lee off in many different ways with quintet, quartet and duo. The interplay with Tristano, duetting with Billy Bauer and unisons and exchanges with Warne Marsh are all self-illuminating examples of Lee's early work in this graphic collection of Konitz.

Incidentally, the Subconscious-Lee session not only launched Lee's career but was the first recording date of this company. New Jazz was then the label. *Ira Gitler (liner notes)*

One of THE key records in the Konitz school — a full length Prestige album that brings together important material from sessions originally issued on 10" LPs! The lineup here is virtually the Konitz school — with shifting lineups that include Billy Bauer on guitar, Lenny Tristano or Sal Mosca on piano, and Warne Marsh on tenor — all working as airily and fluidly as Konitz himself! How Lee managed to achieve such unity with his groups here will forever be a mystery to us — as will the freshness of the work at the end of the 40s, especially given that it's still arguably more "modern" than much of the jazz it inspired in years to come! Titles include "Progression", "Subconscious-Lee", "Rebecca", "Sound-Lee", "Fishin Around", "Palo Alto", "Ice Cream Konitz", "You Go To My Head", and "Tautology".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

1 - Progression

(Konitz)

2 - Tautology

(Konitz)

3 - Retrospection

(Tristano)

4 - Subconscious-Lee

(Konitz)

5 - Judy

(Tristano)

6 - Marshmallow

(Marsh)

7 - Fishin' Around

(Marsh)

8 - Tautology

(Konitz)

9 - Sound-Lee

(Konitz)

10 - Rebecca

(Konitz)

11 - You Go to My Head

(Coots, Gillespie)

12 - Ice Cream Konitz

(Konitz)

13 - Palo Alto

(Konitz)

#1 to #5:

Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Lennie Tristano (piano),

Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded in New York City, November 1, 1949

#6 to #9:

Lee Konitz (alto sax); Warne Marsh (tenor sax); Sal Mosca (piano);

Arnold Fishkin (bass); Denzil Best [#6, #7], Jeff Morton [#8, #9] (drums).

Recorded in New York City, September, 1949

#9 to #13:

Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Sal Mosca (piano),

Arnold Fishkin (bass), Jeff Morton (drums).

Recorded in New York City, July 4, 1950

Tony Aless: A musical homage

An infrequently recorded pianist, Tony Aless mixed bop, mainstream and cool elements into his compositions and solos. Aless played with trumpeter Bunny Berign in the late '30s, then recorded with Teddy Powell in the early '40s. After serving in the army, Aless played briefly with Charlie Spivak, then worked and recorded with Woody Herrman in the mid-'40s. Later stints included stretches with George Auld, Flip Phillips, Chubby Jackson, Neal Hefti, Stan Getz and Charlie Parker, plus radio appearances. Aless's best-known album is the 1955 release Long Island Suite, notable for the inclusion of twin trombone dynamos J.J. Johnson and Kai Winding, and contributions from another solid, undervalued musician, alto saxophonist Dave Schildkraut. *Ron Wynn*

In 1955, Long Island was a checkerboard of farming and fishing communities. The longest island in the continental U.S., Long Island remained relatively sleepy and quaint until 1958, when the Long Island Expressway was completed and spanned 71 miles of the 118-mile length of the land mass. Before '58, Long Island towns just over the Queens border became bedroom communities, as young married war veterans who qualified for the G.I. Bill bought homes with low-interest, zero-down loans and commuted to jobs in the city on the Long Island Railroad.

During this pre-boom period in 1955, Tony Aless recorded his Long Island Suite for Roost, dedicated to towns that were little more than sleepy villages back then. The only distant exceptions on the album were Riverhead and Greenport way out on the east end.

Aless's eight town tunes were Levittown, Corona, Aqueduct, Riverhead, Valley Stream, Greenport, Fire Island and Massapequa. Most were near Long Island's Route 27 along the southern shore. Other than that connection, it's hard to know why Aless chose these specific towns.

It's also unclear why Aless composed a musical valentine to Long Island, but his ability to write and arrange swinging work is evident here. What's even stranger — given his ability to compose, arrange, contract top musicians and conduct — is that Long Island Suite was his only leadership album. *Marc Myers*

Tony Aless

Long Island Suite

Introducing Seldon Powell

This album is a happy musical trip to eight Long Island communities written by Tony Aless (1921-1985). A pianist of broad big band experienceBunny Berigan, Teddy Powell, Georgie Auld, Charlie Spivak, Woody Herman, Charlie Ventura, Neal Hefti, Chubby Jackson, George Siravohe also worked on networks and independent stations around New York and recorded with the groups of Stan Getz, Charlie Parker, George Handy, Seldon Powell and John Plonsky. These years of iron-clad, elite experience not only inform his authoritative playing, but are also distilled in this impressive project into a personal musical credo. More than anything else, he said, my concern was swinging. I think we got that across.

Besides his persuasive contributions as player, composer and arranger on what was the only album released under his own name, there is much to admire; in a first-rate rhythm section of Billy Bauer, Arnold Fishkin and Don Lamond, Bauer is also one of the better soloists on the date; of the others, Nick Travis is crisply vibrant, and Dave Schildkraut swings hard and Bird-like. Tenorman Seldon Powell, imaginative, visceral, with a fine, full sound, is best of all. Also effective in their brief appearances are the alternating trombones Kai & J.J.

But even the most casual hearing of the Long Island Suite will confirm Alesss judgment: it swings all the way. And it is, as he hoped it would be, simple, like Basie. Because, as far as I am concerned, thats the only thing, to swing all night-long. *Jordi Pujol*

One of the few albums ever cut as a leader by pianist Tony Aless — an unsung hero of the big band years, especially in the Woody Herman group — and a great arranger too! This set's an all-original outing — a suite of tracks dedicated to Long Island, and played by a very hip group that has tenorist Seldon Powell in the lead — serving up work that's every bit as great here as on his own albums for Roost from the time! The record's got a slightly largish group — a tentet that's stuffed with great players — including Billy Bauer on guitar, J. J. Johnson and Kai Winding on trombones, and Nick Travis on trumpet — all modernists who really bring in the sound you'd expect. Titles include "Fire Island", "Valley Stream", "Levittown", and "Massapequa".  *Dusty Groove, Inc.*

1 - Levittown

2 - Corona

3 - Aqueduct

4 - Riverhead

5 - Valley Stream

6 - Greenport

7 - Fire Island

8 - Massapequa

(All compositions by Tony Aless)

Nick Travis (trumpet); J.J. Johnson, Kai Winding [as "Moe and Joe"] (trombones);

Dave Schildkraut (alto sax), Seldon Powell, Pete Mondello (tenor saxes),

Tony Aless (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, July 1955

Zoot Sims on Prestige (IV)

In the following collection from the Blue Moon label (not all of them are released for the Prestige label, as is the intention of this series), we find the two albums that complete Zoot Sims' Prestige recordings as a leader. Although the sound quality, unfortunately, is not as good, this is an interesting collection of Zoot Sims recordings from the early 1950s.  Sims was at his peak, and here he is in exceptional company, especially with guitarists Johnny Smith and Chuck Wayne.The CD contains only the master takes of the originally issued records, and therefore all alternate takes have not been included in order to offer the collector those that were considered to be the definitive performances.

The sessions that make up this CD cover a little more than a year's activity and show yet again Zoot's tremendous versatility. In all, he made six visits into the recording studios, two of them leading his own group and the other four as the only horn soloist in quintets all led, curiously enough, by guitarists. 

With Johnny Smith, who in that same era also recorded with Stan Getz, our saxophonist once more demonstrates his ever-increasing ability to exquisitely express a profound and reflective lyricism which reaches its maximum intensity in the ballads "Ghost Of A Chance" (Lester Young again!) and "My Funny Valentine". With Chuck Wayne (another ex-Hermanite and, a little while before this date, a member of the George Shearing Quintet), the atmosphere is much more lively, and they also interpret a rhumba made famous in 1946 by Woody’s Second Herd, plus the "obligatory" ballad, "While My Lady Sleeps". 

Of the two sessions under his own name, the first (Zoot Sims All Stars) constitutes an early intimation of what would later become a duo Zoot would form with Al Cohn from 1957 onwards. Backed by a splendid rhythm section, both tenors improvise at leisure in "Zootcase", the only theme in which Kai Winding does not appear. Note that in the four titles (except "The Red Door") Zoot is the first soloist. In the original liner notes, Ira Gitler indicated:

The stars of this LP are Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, two tenormen who have very few peers in jazz today. They have often been allied before: in Woody Herman's great "Four Brothers" band, briefly with Artie Shaw, a stint in a short lived three tenor group with Stan Getz, the memorable "Five Brothers" recording date and numerous private sessions. During this long association, an enjoyment of, and respect for each other's playing was engendered. Therefore, it was not surprising that this session, with the two complementing and inspiring one another brought forth music of multi-faceted merit.

Both Al and Zoot play in the tradition of the already inmortal Lester Young, but rather than producing carbons of Pres, they show they have learned from him and integrated the qualities they heard into their playing without subverting their individual personalities. Zoot is the free wheeler. His short, booting, momentum gathering phrases are joined adroitly by longer lines. Al possesses a wonderful change of pace. His swing comes up from behind the beat. The solos have marvelous structure. Occasionally he will punctuate with long plaintive note. This characteristic led one observer, "on" the jazz scene, to state "no one can moan like Al Cohn".

The "magic" sound belongs to Zoot. His solos have a consistency of textura. Al's sound voices his ideas with a finish. At times, it becomes so large that it seems to go though and envelop you all at once.

Rhythm sections are sometimes taken for granted. This one swings so insistently that there is no danger of this happening. Art Blakey's infectious drumming, George Wallington's booting chords and Percy Heath's persuasion of swing are blended into a dynamic base that contributes tremendously to the excellence of these sides.

The session of the 23rd of January 1953 is a genuine rarity. In the first place, for the obscure quartet which backs Zoot on this occasion, beginning with an unknown organist in what could be said was an anticipation of the kind of groups with organ that Jimmy Smith would make all the rage a couple of years later. But above all because the four themes recorded that day were put out originally on a 7" EP disc, and have never been reissued until 1995.

Zoot Sims

The Complete 1944 -1954 Small Group Sessions

Volume 3 • 1952 - 1953

1- A Ghost Of A Chance

(Crosby, Washington, Young)

2 - Vilia

(Franz Lehar)

3 - Tangerine

(Schertzinger, Mercer)

4 - Zootcase

(Zoot Sims)

5 - The Red Door

(Zoot Sims)

6 - Morning Fun

(Sims, Cohn)

7 - There, I've Said It Again

(Evans, Mann)

8 - Jaguar

(Johnny Smith)

9 - Dream

(J. Mercer)

10 - Baby Won't You Please Come Home

(Clarence Williams)

11 - Sidewalks Of Cuba

(Oakland, Parish, Mills)

12 - Prospecting

(Chuck Wayne)

13 - Tasty Puddin

(Al Cohn)

14 - While My Lady Sleeps

(Bronislaw Kaper)

15 - My Funny Valentine

(Rodgers, Hart)

16 - Cavu

(Johnny Smith)

17 - I'll Be Around

(Alec Wilder)

#1, #2: Johnny Smith Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Sanford Gold (piano),

Johnny Smith (guitar), Eddie Safranski (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, April, 1952

#3 to #6: Zoot Sims Sextet

Zoot Sims, Al Cohn (tenor saxes); Kai Winding (trombone);

George Wallington (piano); Percy Heath (bass); Art Blakey (drums).

Recorded in New York City,September 8, 1952

#7 to #10: Zoot Sims Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Chester Slater (organ),

Chauncey "Lord" Westbrook (guitar), Peck Morrison (bass), Tim Kennedy (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 23, 1953

#11 to #14: Chuck Wayne Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Harvey Leonard (piano),

Chuck Wayne (guitar), George Duvivier (bass), Ed Shaughnessy (drums).

Recorded in New York City, April 13, 1953

#15: Johnny Smith Quintet

Zoot Sims (tenor sax), Sanford Gold (piano),

Johnny Smith (guitar), Eddie Safranski (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, June 6, 1953

#16, #17: Johnny Smith Quintet

Johnny Smith (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Don Lamond (drums).

Recorded in New York City, July, 1953

Lennie Tristano - Classics 1947–1951

When Lennie Tristano's enclosed Capitol recordings were reissued in the mid-eighties, Alun Morgan noted that the music "is still a most remarkable piece of mind-reading and it presaged the Free Form movement which was still several years away". 

Leonard Joseph Tristano was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 19 1919. He began playing piano as a child. At the age of nine, he lost his eyesight and spent the next ten years in a home for the blind. During these years Tristano took up the clarinet, saxophone and also practiced on cello. In addition, he played trumpet and could easily sit in as a drummer. 

Lennie Tristano received further musical education at the American Conservatory in Chicago from which he graduated as a Bachelor of Music (in piano and composition) in 1943. From the early forties on Tristano worked as a tenor saxophonist and clarinetist with various bands in his native city. In addition, he taught at the Christiansen School of Popular Music until 1945. Lee Konitz and Bill Russo were among his first and foremost students. The following year Tristano moved to New York where he appeared with a trio including another two of his pupils, Arnold Fishkin and Billy Bauer. In late 1946 Lennie Tristano also played on the West Coast before returning to New York. In 1947 he played in a band organized by critic Barry Ulanov alongside Charlie Parker. During the late forties Tristano mainly worked with his trio in New York but occasionally also played with Charlie Ventura and others. In addition, he continued to teach and a group of young musicians, including Warne Marsh and Ted Brown formed around him. In June 1951 he opened his own music school where Tristano and his circle were able to pratice and play their music, quite independently from any influences of more established institutions. After giving up his school in 1956, he taught disciples at his home on Long Island. After the mid-fifties Tristano only rarely appeared on stage or in clubs. In the late-sixties Tristano made trips to Britain and Canada for a number of solo concerts but then returned to the self-sought seclusion of his home. He died in New York, on November 18, 1978. *Anatol Schenker (liner notes)*

This anthology of Lennie Tristano from his Capitol and Prestige recordings is where the mature composer and improviser appears from his former skeleton. Beginning with the original version of "Dissonance", featuring guitarist Billy Bauer and bassist Arnold Fishkin, the set concentrates on Tristano's emerging and very complex ideas about melodic improvisation. The masters for early tracks here come from a session cut on New Year's Eve in 1947, and include clarinetist John LaPorta on such visionary compositions as "Through These Portals", with its dual melodic front line playing an extrapolated harmonic counterpoint via the piano and guitar, then being bridged by a common third line played by LaPorta, whose solo is almost a tag upon the two entwining solo lines played throughout. "Speculation" is pure chordal genius, with rhythms cascading in two directions against a nearly expressionistic melodic integration of variously shaded harmonics. The first sessions of both the quintet and quartet with Lee Konitz are here, too, with Konitz's unique phrasing on the shimmering bop of "Progression", "Tautology", and, of course, "Subconscious-Lee". Tristano was a giant of the intellect, and his knotty approach to deconstructing harmonics and creating new melodies from the ruins appealed to Konitz, who was, and remains, a melodist. Later that same year, in 1949, Tristano added second saxophonist Warne Marsh to the mix, and that magical pairing found its voice on the front lines of "Crosscurrent", "Intuition", and the stellar "Marionette". Finally, the 1951 trio sides with Roy Haynes and Peter Ind make clear that these new architectures Tristano was building could be erected by himself and a rhythm section, and in some ways were even bigger as a result of that. These ideas have never been fully integrated into the jazz canon as they should be, but nonetheless, with recordings like this abounding now, it cannot be long before they are. 

*Thom Jurek*

1 - Dissonance

(Tristano) 

2 - Through These Portals

(LaPorta)

3 - Speculation (Ear, Eyes)

 (Tristano)

4 - New Sound

(Tristano)

5 - Resemblance

(Tristano)

6 - Tautology

(Konitz)

8 - Retrospection

(Tristano)

9 - Subconscious-Lee

(Konitz)

10 - Judy

(Tristano)

11 - Wow

(Tristano)

12 - Crosscurrent

(Tristano)

13 - Yesterdays

(Tristano)

14 - Marionette

(Bauer)

15 - Sax Of A Kind

(Konitz, Marsh)

16 - Intuition

(Tristano)

17 - Digression (Intuition II)

(Tristano)

18 - Ju-Ju

(Tristano)

19 - Passtime

(Tristano)

#1 to #5:

Lennie Tristano (piano), John LaPorta (clarinet [#2 to #5]), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass).

Recorded in New York City, December 31, 1947.

#6 to #10:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums).

Recorded in New York City, January 11, 1949.

#11, #12:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Harold Granowsky (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 4, 1949.

#13:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Harold Granowsky (drums).

Recorded in New York City, March 14, 1949.

#14 to #17:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Denzil Best (drums).

Recorded in New York City, May 16, 1949.

#18, #19:

Lennie Tristano (piano), Peter Ind (bass), Roy Haynes (drums).

Recorded in New York City, October 30, 1951. 

Lee Konitz - Subconscious-Lee

Of the Lennie Tristano "school" of music, which predated the Lennie Tristano School of Music, Lee Konitz is the outstanding "pupil". Naturally Lennie's music had a great influence on Lee. Other influences are lesser and have been more completely absorbed in to the mainstream of his playing. For instance, in his rhythmic figures you can hear Charlie Parker (Bird left very few untouched and unmoved) but whatever sources Lee has drawn on have been integrated beautifully into his personal expression. His style and sound are both highly personal. The point of excellence as an individual voice is a signal triumph for any artist.

The three sessions in this LP show Lee off in many different ways with quintet, quartet and duo. The interplay with Tristano, duetting with Billy Bauer and unisons and exchanges with Warne Marsh are all self-illuminating examples of Lee's early work in this graphic collection of Konitz.

Incidentally, the Subconscious-Lee session not only launched Lee's career but was the first recording date of this company. New Jazz was then the label. * Ira Gitler*

One of THE key records in the Konitz school – a full length Prestige album that brings together important material from sessions originally issued on 10" LPs! The lineup here is virtually the Konitz school – with shifting lineups that include Billy Bauer on guitar, Lenny Tristano or Sal Mosca on piano, and Warne Marsh on tenor – all working as airily and fluidly as Konitz himself! How Lee managed to achieve such unity with his groups here will forever be a mystery to us – as will the freshness of the work at the end of the 40s, especially given that it's still arguably more "modern" than much of the jazz it inspired in years to come! *dustygroove.com*

A debut for both Lee Konitz and the Prestige label, Subconscious-Lee brings together many of the students who came through Lennie Tristano's idiosyncratic "school" of jazz during the immediate postwar years. Forging a heady approach to Charlie Parker's innovations, full of lithe and at times super fast solo lines, Tristano and his favorite pupil Konitz in particular nurtured an introverted, wan, yet still swinging alternative to the frenetic muscle of bebop. Other students like tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh, pianist Sal Mosca, and bassist Arnold Fishkin staked claims as well and show up prominently here. And while Tristano's "Judy" and "Retrospection" get mired in somewhat tired contemplation, Konitz' "Subconscious-Lee" and Marsh's "Marshmallow" stand out with brisk tempos, cascading horn lines, and fetching head statements. Avoiding the meandering course of his originals, Tristano shines at the piano with a bevy of exciting and substantial solos; Mosca and guitarist Billy Bauer keep up the good work with fine contributions of their own. Good for both mind and feet and chock-full of groundbreaking work by Konitz and Marsh especially, this 1949-1950 recording makes for essential jazz listening. One bonus track, "Progression," is added to thisversiónn of  Subconscious-Lee. *Stephen Cook *

Recorded during the prime of bebop, between 1949 and 1950, Lee Konitz' Subconscious-Lee seems practically at odds with itself. It lacks the peculiarity and the exuberance that pours from the recordings of Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and other post-swing experimentalists. It simultaneously seems old-fashioned and futuristic. Lee Konitz, who developed under the tutelage of pianist and pedagogue Lennie Tristano, was perhaps equally influenced by the technical fireworks of bebop, and Tristano's firm mindset. Tristano held that the rhythm section occupied a secondary role, and that improvisation should avoid overt sentimentality. Instead, Tristano and his students valued complexity andprecisiónn of harmony and rhythm. Their pursuit of pure musical devices, unaccompanied by emotional expression, is clearly evident on Subconscious-Lee, on which a sense of cool and detached concentration encircles the performances. The combination of impressive and inventive playing with a generally uncaring approach can be likened to the grunge rock movement of the late 1990s, when bands like Nirvana appeared to have no interest in winning over an audience, and all the while delivered powerful and deeply moving music. In other words, Konitz, Tristano, and frequent collaborator Warne Marsh, sound too cool for school. Tristano believed that a rhythm section's role was simply to provide the structure over which the improvisers could drape their melodies. He counseled drummers and bassists not to interact with soloists, and not to take the lead in musical events, such as swells in intensity. For this reason, much of this album, like others by Tristano, Marsh, and Konitz, sounds similar to antiquated practices of the hot jazz era, when the only instrumentalists given license to elaborate were the trumpeter and clarinetist. On the other hand, the rhythmic activity that Konitz and Marsh use to create winding and unpredictable lines sound as if they fit better into jazz from the 21st century. In fact, the contemporary jazz practice of disguising formal structure and steering clear of well-worn harmonic paths may have been in part influenced by this very school of improvisation.

Subconscious-Lee has one foot stubbornly planted in the past, and the other dangling in the capricious future. *Jacob Teichroew*

1 - Subconscious-Lee

(Lee Konitz)

2 - Judy

(Lennie Tristano)

3 - Progression

(Lee Konitz)

4 - Retrospection

(Lennie Tristano)

5 - Ice Cream Konitz

(Lee Konitz)

6 - You Go To My Head

(Fred Coots, Haven Gillespie)

7 - Marshmallow

(Warne Marsh)

8 - Fishin' Around

(Warne Marsh)

9 - Tautology

(Lee Konitz)

10 - Sound-Lee

(Lee Konitz)

11 - Palo Alto

(Lee Konitz)

12 - Rebecca

(Lee Konitz)

#1 to #4:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Lennie Tristano (piano), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Shelly Manne (drums [#2, #3 out]).
Recorded in New York City, January 11, 1949.
#7, #8:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Sal Mosca (piano), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Denzil Best (drums).
Recorded in New York City, June 28, 1949.
#9, #10:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Warne Marsh (tenor sax), Sal Mosca (piano), Arnold Fishkin (bass), Jeff Morton (drums).
Recorded in New York City, September 27, 1949.
#5, #6, #11, #12:
Lee Konitz (alto sax), Billy Bauer (guitar), Sal Mosca (piano [#6 out]), Arnold Fishkin (bass [#12 out]), Jeff Morton (drums [#12 out]).
Recorded in New York City, April 7, 1950.