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Lee Konitz & Michel Petrucciani - Toot Sweet (1982) {OWL 0134322 rel 2001}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 258 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 114 Mb
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© 1982, 2001 Owl Records / Universal | 013 432 2
Jazz / Post Bop / Alto Saxophone / Piano

This 1982 meeting between the veteran alto saxophonist Lee Konitz and the young pianist (19 at the time of the session) Michel Petrucciani is a success on all counts. Konitz's fragile alto is complemented by Petrucciani's lush backing in "I Hear a Rhapsody," while their abstract approach to "'Round Midnight" and "Lover Man" are both very refreshing. Konitz is unaccompanied for his wandering "Ode," while the pianist is featured alone on his complex portrait "To Erlinda," which is dedicated to his first wife. Petrucciani and Konitz wrote the brief closer, the lively blues "Lovelee," during which they initially play apart from one another before joining forces to close with a flourish. This was only Petrucciani's third recording, yet he plays far beyond his years; this recommended CD will be difficult to find due to the demise of the Owl label.

The two piano concertos of Dmitry Shostakovich may be treated as rare examples of light humor in Shostakovich's output, which requires connecting the mordant Concerto for piano, trumpet, and orchestra in C minor, Op. 35, to the more genuinely humorous Piano Concerto No. 2 in F major, Op. 102. Many performers, naturally enough, connect the two in some way, but Russian pianist Valentina Igoshina takes a different approach: she divorces the two concertos quite thoroughly. In the Concerto No. 1 she emphasizes the manic quality of the music.