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Solar 11:23
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Just Friends 13:12
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Bupkes 11:43
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about

This is the fourth duo album Lew and I have recorded together. The first three comprised Ornette Coleman compositions. Volumes 1 and 2 are available here on Bandcamp. Volume 3 will be available eventually. Here, as Lew will explain further, we were inspired by a pair of duos saxophonist Lee Konitz played with the distinguished European pianists Frank Wunsch and Martial Solal. We were especially drawn to their oblique improvisations on jazz standards, so we picked out a few of our own favorites and went a similar route. As always, playing with Lewis was a joy. He's as spontaneous an improviser as anyone I've ever played with. We're playing tunes, we're playing free—what could be better? Thanks Lew, and thanks listener!

Chris Kelsey


It seems like Chris Kelsey and I had an instant personal and musical rapport from the day we met some 15 years ago. He takes out one of his saxophones and we start to play, and--boom!-- the music happens. It's that easy! The same process resulted in these tracks--each of these was done in one take. Six are based on familiar songs, and there's one totally free improvisation, with nothing planned, which Chris appropriately entitled "Bupkes" (for you non-Yiddish speakers, that means "nothing").

For inspiration, in addition to the Konitz and Solal recording, we watched a Konitz duet on Youtube from 1995 with German pianist Frank Wunsch. I first met Lee in 1979 to talk about Lester Young, and the next year or so he was a guest artist with the big band that I directed at Tufts. We kept in touch over the years, and performed together 6 or 7 times, including at Harvard, Tufts, and Rutgers. When my wife and I married and moved in together in 2014, I quickly realized that Lee lived 6 blocks away in his long-time apartment on West 86th Street in Manhattan. I made my way over there a few times to hang out and jam.

Lee was a quick wit. During our first-ever conversation, I commented that on his earliest recordings his playing sometimes used polytonality. He quipped self-deprecatingly, "That wasn't polytonality--that was 'Polly want a cracker'!!"

Lee was brilliant, cantankerous, and funny--a true original. We happily dedicate this album to him.

THANKS CHRIS!
All the best,
Lewis

credits

released July 7, 2022

Chris Kelsey—soprano sax
Lewis Porter—digital grand piano
Recorded: December 29, 2021 in Pawling, NY.
Cover Illustration by Chris Kelsey

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Chris Kelsey New York, New York

Chris Kelsey grew up in central and western Oklahoma. He moved to New York City in the mid-1980s. In the years since, he's made something of a name for himself playing, composing, teaching, and writing about strange and obtuse forms of modern jazz. He's recorded and produced upwards of twenty albums for the C.I.M.P and Unseen Rain labels, as well as his own Saxofonis and Tzazz Krytyk imprints. ... more

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