E.E.R.
Lee Konitz/Steve Swallow/Paul Motian, Three Guys (50:42)
ENJ-9351 2, 1999
Enja Records
P.O. Box 19 03 33
D-80603 Munich, Germany
Cyberhome: www.enjarecords.com
Altoist Lee Konitz, who gets top billing on this record, has a
sparse, cryptic improvisational style that lends itself well to the
left-of-center, quasi-free aesthetic favored by bassist Steve Swallow
and drummer Paul Motian. Recently Konitz led a very different, yet
equally provocative, trio project with Brad Mehldau and Charlie
Haden, which resulted in two live albums for Blue Note. This time
there's a drummer, no piano, and a bassist who couldn't be more
unlike Charlie Haden. In addition, unlike the Blue Note trio's
exclusive focus on standards, most of the program on Three
Guys consists of originals. Konitz's distinctive voice is there,
but we hear it against a background of very different moods and
colors.
Konitz's "It's You" opens the album cleverly: Each player
takes a 32-bar unaccompanied solo before all join in together, making
the moderate swing tempo explicit. Konitz also contributes
"Thingin'," based on the chord changes to "All the Things You Are,"
and the final track, "A Minor Blues in F." On both the opener and the
closer, Swallow and Konitz play weaving eighth-note melodies in
unison, but their execution could be tighter - toward the end of the
blues cut they even run off the rails at one crucial point.
Swallow penned the well-known and beautiful "Eiderdown," as
well as "Ladies' Waders," a medium swing tune that might be based on
a standard. The simple, rubato lyricism of the two Motian
compositions, "From Time to Time" and "Johnny Broken Wing," brings to
mind the Motian/Frisell/Lovano trio. Swallow's chordal, guitaristic
approach to the electric bass makes this association even stronger.
Two non-originals are also featured - "Come Rain or Come Shine" and
Jobim's pretty "Luiza." Swallow's tasteful accompaniment on the
latter is noteworthy.
A collaboration between these "three guys" seems natural, and
so does the overall concept of the record in light of recent projects
they've each undertaken. Swallow is a member of Motian's Electric
Bebop Band, for one thing. Both Konitz and Motian have been exploring
permutations of the trio concept, the former with Mehldau and Haden,
the latter with Gary Peacock and Paul Bley. In addition, the
standards-oriented material on the disc recalls Swallow's whimsical
yet inspired reworkings of standard repertoire on his two brilliant
albums for the Xtrawatt label, 1994's Real Book and 1996's
Deconstructed.
But despite the compatibility and heavy-hitter status of the
three guys, some of these performances have a thrown-together
quality. The idea, I'm sure, was to keep it loose. But at times it's
a little too loose.
~David R. Adler, 1/18/00
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