LEE KONITZ - Parallels (2001) APE (tracks+.cue), lossless

The veteran alto saxman isn't doing gospel music anymore, but the staff at Chesky set Konitz and the other members of his quartet up in the perfect acoustic environment of St. Peter's Church in the Chelsea area of New York City. Sonics aside, this is a solid, though fairly laid-back date which displays the formidable ensemble and solo talents of each member. Drummer Bill Goodwin and acoustic bassist Steve Gilmore provide an increasingly swinging rhythm line for Konitz to dance over on an inventive arrangement of "How Deep Is the Ocean." Guitarist Peter Bernstein adds some subtle Wes Montgomery style harmony lines, but the band plays it close to the vest for most of the tune. Bernstein's crisp improvisational solo section is the highlight. With the exception of that tune, a smoky rendition of "Skylark," and Lenny Tristano's "317 East 32nd Street," the collection offers a glimpse of Konitz's strong composing skills. One of the most remarkable aspects of this date is the joyful give and take interaction between Konitz's alto and guest tenor saxman Mark Turner on the bouncy "317 East 32nd" and the ballad "Eyes," which the two co-wrote. On the latter, Konitz and Turner sometimes engage in a witty repartee, and sometimes they fuse for a cool horn section effect. In his liner notes, Konitz says that the nature of this music is filled with possibilities to be creative. Working with cohorts like this, there's no possibility of anything else. Jonathan Widran  
Tracklist :
1     How Deep Is the Ocean? 8:06
Irving Berlin
2     For Hans 6:14
Lee Konitz
3     Skylark 7:20
Hoagy Carmichael / Johnny Mercer
4     Lt 7:39
Lee Konitz
5     317 East 32nd Street 8:32
Lennie Tristano
6     Palo Alto 8:02
Lee Konitz
7     Eyes 6:19
Lee Konitz / Mark Turner
8     Subconscious Lee 6:16
Lee Konitz
Credits :
Acoustic Bass – Steve Gilmore
Alto Saxophone – Lee Konitz
Drums, Producer – Bill Goodwin
Guitar – Peter Bernstein
Producer – David Chesky
Tenor Saxophone – Mark Turner

MARK TURNER | ETHAN IVERSON - Temporary Kings (2018) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

With Temporary Kings two of the most distinct voices on today’s jazz scene present their debut on record as a duo: Engaging in inspired dialogue Mark Turner and Ethan Iverson here explore aesthetic common ground in the atmosphere of a modernist chamber music-like setting at the Auditorio Stelio Molo RSI, Lugano. The saxophonist and the pianist had begun their association in the Billy Hart Quartet, where the two players featured sympathetically on two ECM albums by that band. The new duo album now contains six originals by Iverson (among them the nostalgic solo tune “Yesterday’s Bouquet”) and two by Turner (including “Myron’s World,” which has acquired near-classic status among contemporary jazz players). There’s an off-kilter blues (“Unclaimed Freight”) and a strikingly melodic, almost Ravelian opening track dedicated to the town where the album was recorded under ideal sonic conditions (“Lugano”), plus an interpretation of Warne Marsh’s playfully serpentine “Dixie’s Dilemma.” ecm
Tracklist :
1    Lugano 5'00
(Ethan Iverson)
2    Temporary Kings 5'04
(Ethan Iverson)
3    Turner?s Chamber of Unlikely Delights 5'54
(Ethan Iverson)
4    Dixie?s Dilemma 6'00
(Warne Marsh)
5    Yesterday?s Bouquet 4'44
(Ethan Iverson)
6    Unclaimed Freight 6'49
(Ethan Iverson)
7    Myron?s World 7'15
(Mark Turner)
8    Third Familiar 4'24
(Ethan Iverson)
9    Seven Points 7'54
(Mark Turner)
Credits :
 Mark Turner   Tenor Saxophone
Ethan Iverson   Piano 

MARK TURNER QUARTET - Lathe of Heaven (2014) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Saxophonist Mark Turner has steadily built a career as one of the lesser ballyhooed if no less talented jazz saxophonists of his generation. Indebted to such icons of musical intellectualism as Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane, and Warne Marsh, Turner has a fluid, egoless style, grounded in motivic, harmony-based improvisation that's always understated yet never fails to grab your attention. Borrowing the title from Ursula K. Le Guin's 1971 dystopian science fiction novel in which a person's dreams may or may not alter our reality, Turner's 2014 ECM release, Lathe of Heaven, is a measured, thoughtfully precise album that blurs the lines between post-bop jazz, classical chamber music, and free improvisation. Working with his pianoless quartet featuring trumpeter Avishai Cohen, bassist Joe Martin, and drummer Marcus Gilmore, Turner has developed an ensemble-based approach to jazz that sidesteps both traditional and avant-garde jazz conventions at every turn. In fact, while the aesthetics of Turner's songs lean toward free jazz (and there are certainly moments of unbridled free improv and group interplay on the album), Lathe of Heaven is noticeably devoid of the instrumental skronk and squelch often associated with freer forms of jazz. Instead, Turner's music is formal, minimalist, lacking in frenetic bebop or blues-based inflection, and primarily focused on long-form melodic statements that Turner and Cohen often play in harmonized counterpoint. This is deeply meditative, intellectual music that defies categorization while at the same time bringing to mind such disparate touchstones as '70s Kenny Wheeler, '60s Ornette Coleman, and the lyrical '50s West Coast cool of the Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan pianoless quartet. Ultimately, in much the same way that the layers of our dreams are stripped back to reveal a deeper, more profound, and at times unsettling truth in Le Guin's novel, with his Lathe of Heaven Turner strips back layers of jazz style and language to reveal a sound that is both familiar and utterly new. Matt Collar  
Tracklist :
1    Lathe of Heaven 6'40
(Mark Turner)
2    Year of the Rabbit 12'20
(Mark Turner)
3    Ethan’s Line 8'01
(Mark Turner)
4    The Edenist 8'11
(Mark Turner)
5    Sonnet for Stevie 12'57
(Mark Turner)
6    Brother Sister 10'09
(Mark Turner)
Credits :
Mark Turner   Tenor Saxophone
Avishai Cohen   Trumpet
Joe Martin   Double Bass
Marcus Gilmore   Drums