New CD releases

The ECM label has always prided itself on the sonic detail of its recordings, but the new Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau ‘Live at Birdland‘ CD may be its most impressive technical achievement yet. Birdland is a very small jazz club in Midtown Manhattan, famous for its dry acoustics and intimate setting, yet a tantalising, almost ethereal gloss lingers around every note of this album recorded over two nights in December 2009. If jazz recordings are all about capturing spontaneous, magical musical moments in the best possible acoustical environment, this may be one of the most successful live albums of all time.

‘Live at Birdland’ sees alto sax legend Konitz, astonishingly now in his eighth decade of playing (and apparently the only living jazzman to play in all diverse addresses of the Birdland club, starting in 1949!), team up with young piano master Mehldau and the esteemed rhythm section of Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, most famous for their work with pianist Keith Jarrett. They appeared at Birdland with no rehearsal or prearranged setlist, delving into a treasure trove of standards such as ‘Lover Man’, ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ and ‘Solar’.

But these don’t sound like standards; the music is genuinely surprising and at times even unsettling – Konitz pays lip service to the famous melodies with a plaintive, melancholy and sometimes downright eerie tone, as if discovering the pieces for the first time. Mehldau frequently reverses regular jazz piano logic, at times hammering out intricate lines with his left hand while comping gently in a higher register with his right. Motian’s drum intro on the Sonny Rollins‘ standard ‘Oleo’ is gloriously artless, the sound of a musician wanting only to sound like himself. Haden’s solo on ‘Lover Man’ is beautifully phrased and typically understated, while Konitz comes close to Ornette Coleman territory on the luscious ‘I Fall In Love Too Easily’.

Highly recommended and surely one of the jazz albums of the year.

‘Live at Birdland‘ is out now on ECM Records.

Steve Khan is one of jazz’s unsung guitar heroes. He’s been a sideman for the likes of The Brecker Brothers, Steely Dan (contributing the majestic solo on ‘Glamour Profession’) and Joe Zawinul, and made over 15 solo albums in many different formats from overdubbed solo guitar tributes to Thelonious Monk (‘Evidence’) and jazz trios (‘Headline’, ‘Let’s Call This’), to Police-influenced power quartets (‘Casa Loco’, ‘Eyewitness’) and large fusion ensembles featuring Steve Gadd, Don Grolnick and David Sanborn (‘The Blue Man’). He has one of the most recognisable guitar sounds in jazz, a product of his close-interval chord voicings, obtuse sense of melody and subtle use of effects, and can surely lay claim to being up there with Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Pat Metheny and Mike Stern as one of the most influential guitarists of the last 30-odd years. Khan has also become known as a master-interpreter and reharmoniser of non-guitar jazz compositions by the likes of Wayne Shorter, Ornette Coleman, Lee Morgan and Randy Brecker.

After two recent albums featuring bassist John Patitucci and drummer Jack DeJohnette, his new CD ‘Parting Shot‘ sees him team up with the dream-team rhythm section of Anthony Jackson on bass, Dennis Chambers on drums and a trio of percussionists, Manolo Badrena, Marc Quinones and Bobby Allende. In the record’s liner notes, Khan traces his passion for Latin Jazz, and although there are plenty of authentic flavours on offer here, it’s all shot through with Chambers’ irresistible fusion/funk grooving. And there are far more harmonic curveballs than you’d usually hear in Latin music too, with an infectious cover of Monk’s ‘Bye Ya’ and two sparky takes on Ornette Coleman, ‘Chronology’ and ‘Blues Connotation’.

Khan’s own compositions are more placid affairs; the lengthy ‘Los Gaiteros’ and ‘Zancudoville’ are mood pieces based around a pretty static tonal centre. ‘Change Agent’ is a delicious blues cha-cha-cha with an unexpected polyrhythmic assault from Chambers, while ‘Maria Mulambo’ features a James Brown ‘Doing It To Death‘-style shuffle with some very slick rhythm guitar from Khan. Quinones, Badrena and Chambers spectacularly trade eights on the Steely-ish ‘Influence Peddler’, though Rob Mounsey’s keyboards and the female voices (sampled?) occasionally over-sweeten the mix. And, sadly, Anthony Jackson is strangely muted on this recording, though he isn’t given the same amount of space as he normally is on a Khan album (listen to ‘Crossings‘ for an extraordinary example of how to extend the role of the ‘bass player’ in a jazz trio).

‘Parting Shot‘ is out now on ESC/Tone Center Records.

Return To Forever were one of the most popular bands to emerge from the post-’Bitches Brew’ jazz/rock scene in the early-’70s, featuring two Miles sidemen in keyboardist Chick Corea and drummer Lenny White as well as bass innovator Stanley Clarke and guitarists Bill Connors and Al Di Meola. A successful reunion tour in 2008 featuring Di Meola on guitar led to a stripped-down acoustic tour a year later, and Connors, vocalist Chaka Khan and violinist Jean-Luc Ponty were persuaded to guest with the Corea/Clarke/White trio at their Hollywood Bowl show. The double CD ‘Forever’ documents the trio’s acoustic tour of US clubs, playing mainly jazz standards, and also the rehearsals with Khan and Ponty which feature mostly Return To Forever favourites.

The first CD of standards is workmanlike and beautifully played but fails to catch fire. Only Clarke’s gorgeous composition ‘La Cancion de Sofia’ really unites the players, and his bass feature, quoting heavily from ‘Spanish Phases for Strings and Bass’ from his classic debut album, injects some much-needed excitement. Corea is light and melodic on ‘Hackensack’ and it’s always a pleasure to hear the satisfying thok of White’s bass drum.

Disc 2 is marginally more interesting, though one has to question the logic of releasing the rehearsals for the Hollywood Bowl show rather than a sound recording of the actual show itself. It’s good to hear Bill Connors dusting off the Les Paul again but he can’t add much juice to a rather laboured ‘Senor Mouse’, while versions of ‘Armando’s Rhumba’ and ‘Space Circus’ add little to the originals. Chaka Khan’s guest spots on ‘High Wire’ and ‘I Loves You Porgy’ are rather charming, especially the latter track, featuring her excitedly meeting Ponty for the first time in the studio.

‘Forever‘ is out now on Concord Records.