S'Nice

Lee Konitz has had a long and profitable association with European musicians, including the Italian Enrico Rava, Swede Lars Gullin, and Austrian Franz Koglmann. Europeans have paid more heed to and were quicker to absorb the more self-consciously cerebral approach to modern jazz promoted by Konitz's teacher, Lennie Tristano, and further developed by Konitz himself. This 1990 recording finds the saxophonist paired with German pianist and composer Frank Wunsch. As with other European encounters, this session draws Konitz out of his usual repertoire of a few dozen choice standards. Here Wunsch contributes three originals, each informed by European classicism. The wistful "February Waltz" is especially poignant, giving Konitz a chance to show off his aching, melancholy tone. Not that Konitz forgets his roots; the session has solid renditions of "Ev'ry Time We Say Goodbye" and "The Nearness of You." The latter is bookended by more open-ended tracks — a free pianoless trio and "Impression," a series of cadenzas by each player. S'Nice provides an overview of his work at this point in his career.