USA: Lee Konitz Nonet-Old Songs New (Sunnyside Records 2019)

As artists mature, the circumstances that allow them to perform optimally become more and more explicit. Occasionally, it falls upon a collaborator to find these spaces that allow the other to shine. The challenge for the arranger/composer is to create a fit for the featured performer and to get the performer to fully invest in the setting provided. Nonagenarian saxophonist Lee Konitz has been a featured soloist for many decades and has become a legend for his intriguing contributions to many well-known jazz dates with a wide variety of ensembles. Woodwind player, composer and arranger Ohad Talmor has been an important part of Konitz’s musical sphere for the past three decades, providing the elder statesman numerous opportunities to contribute his celebrated alto sound. Konitz and Talmor have reunited a version of the Lee Konitz Nonet to release a new recording, Old Songs New, where the unique ensemble of winds, strings and percussion comes together to anchor Konitz’s flights of fancy.