Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre, 1982 Verve Records – 23MJ 3172 Japan Vinyl

It's as if Charlie Parker never existed! Back in the late-1940s, there were many – especially throughout Europe and Scandinavia – who preferred the cool cerebral approach of Lee Konitz's pure toned alto sax much more than Bird's blistering blues-based bebop. Flash forward to 1959. During his tenure with Verve, Jimmy Giuffre was called upon to create sympathetic settings for a number of the label's artists including Anita O'Day, Sonny Stitt, Herb Ellis and, in this instance, two contrasting projects featuring Lee Konitz. Guiffre's equally cool approach proved a perfect match on the first album where Konitz was meticulously framed by four (often contrapuntal) saxes and a rhythm section featuring Bill Evans (‘Moonlight In Vermont’). For a second encounter – ‘You And Lee’, the saxes were replaced by cinematique-sounding brass for a selection of unhackneyed standards such as ‘Ev'rything I've Got (Belongs To You)’. Exactly, half-a-century has elapsed between the Giuffre sessions and an 82-year old Konitz taped live last year at New York's Village Vanguard with feisty German-based trio Minsarah. Though ‘Subconscious-Lee’ is revisited, in no way is this a nostalgia run. Such is pianist Florian Weber's two-fisted attack, that there's no hint of soft peddling from an invigorated Konitz throughout a performance where all four players work as a cohesive contemporary unit.