Lee Konitz - Frescalalto (2017)

At 89, Lee Konitz has nothing left to prove, but the legendary saxophonist, who began his long recording career on Miles Davis’ Birth of the Cool back in 1949, proves here nonetheless that he remains one of the most original and truly improvisatory talents in jazz.

Konitz has always sounded like a man searching for the least obvious path through a standard, and here – with long-standing associates pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Peter Washington and drummer Kenny Washington – on a set of hoary old chestnuts including Stella by Starlight, Darn that Dream and Out of Nowhere, he steadfastly avoids cliché once more.

Frescalalto is the sound of a venerable musical mind – one of the last living links with jazz’s classic period – still sharp, still searching, still capable of the sound of surprise.