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Rifftides

Doug Ramsey on Jazz and other matters...

Recent Listening: Kamuca and Konitz

July 19, 2010 by Doug Ramsey

Richie Kamuca & Lee Konitz, Live at Donte’s 1974 (Cellar Door)
It’s a hoot to hear the saxophonists channel their hero Lester Young in this recently discovered session recorded at the lamented Los Angeles club. “Lester Leaps In” begins and ends as a unison duet, complete with stop-time breaks, Kamuca Konitz.jpgreproducing Young’s 1939 solo on the master take of the piece with Count Basie’s Kansas City Seven. In their own solos, Kamuca and Konitz leave no doubt about where they came from. Kamuca, the tenor player, is clearest in his fealty to Young. Konitz, on alto, is more abstract in his Prezcience, but it has always been a major element in his work. The other tunes are standards in the gig books of musicians of Kamuca’s (1930-1977) and Konitz’s (1927- ) generation—”Just Friends,” “Star Eyes,” “All The Things You Are” and Bobby Troup’s “Baby, Baby All The Time.” Solos are long and exploratory; the shortest track is 7:41. The set has the exhilaration, rough edges, chance-taking and surprises that make for satisfying live performance.
Support for the two Ks is by the solid L.A. rhythm section of pianist Dolo Coker, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Jake Hanna, all of whom solo to great effect. Vinnegar goes beyond his customary walking bass for a couple of bowed solos and a bit of unexpected wildness in his “Lester Leaps In” solo, to the evident amusement of his colleagues and the audience. Coker, an under-recognized high achiever among Bud Powell admirers, has impressive moments throughout. Hanna cooks along, fueling the swing. Toward the end of the last track, “Lester,” he finally takes a solo. What he saved up is worth the wait. The sound of this session, exhumed from reel-to-reel tapes, won’t turn Rudy Van Gelder green with envy, but it’s perfectly acceptable; you can plainly hear what everyone is doing. Unearthing and releasing it is a feather in the cap of Cellar Door’s Bill Reed. On the CD box, it says, “Limited Edition.” The 300 copies probably won’t last long because there is nothing limited about the music.

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Comments

  1. Bruce Armstrong says

    July 19, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    Doug, Thanks for letting us know about this release. To me, Richie was one of the all-time tenor greats. His memory has (unfortunately) faded somewhat among a newer jazz audience since his untimely passing, but those of us who were privileged to hear him in person or on his many recordings in a variety of settings–big band, small group, etc.–still remember him well. Hopefully this CD will help to bring him the attention he greatly deserves.

  2. Jud Warren says

    July 21, 2010 at 1:24 pm

    Does anyone know whether a discography on Richie K has ever been put together? I for one would be interested…
    (Below is the address of an online Kamuca discography. It is woefully incomplete and undetailed, but it’s a start. —DR)
    http://www.discogs.com/artist/Richie+Kamuca

  3. Charlton Price says

    July 21, 2010 at 9:34 pm

    Doug’s comprehensive description of what went on that evening will be welcomed especially by Donte’s alumni. He evokes for me the customarily happy atmosphere in the club, all of us wishing most evenings that the music would never end. The most rewarding track on this CD for me is “Just Friends.” Here Richie makes a preliminary sketch for a stunning sound portrait that he painted on another Donte’s evening, with the Bill Berry LA Big Band — in a Roger Pemberton arrangement. For that version, everybody in the all-star Berry bunch soloed (e.g. the five-trumpet section, in 8s and 4s and 2s). Then Richie stood up and took charge, with with four or five lyrical, flowing yet hard-swinging, magisterial choruses. You had to be there. I was. I got it on cassette tape!

  4. Willie says

    July 21, 2010 at 11:17 pm

    Here are some more albums:
    Kamuca,Richie West Coast Jazz in HiFi HiFi(OJC) 609
    Kamuca,Richie Jazz Erotica HiFiRecord(FS) 500
    Kamuca,Richie The Richie Kamuca Quartet 1957 Mode 102
    Kamuca,Richie Richie Kamuca Quartet 1976 Jazzz 104

  5. Greg Lee says

    July 29, 2010 at 11:52 am

    Great post, I would definitely like to hear this recording. I spent many, many nights at Donte’s hearing the best of L.A.’s jazz musicians come blow off steam after a day taping sessions for commercials or local TV shows with live bands (Tonight Show, Merv Griffin, etc.). What a great club. I particularly enjoyed catching Supersax there, where the horn section could accommodate substitute players when the regulars coudn’t make it — Marsh, Migliori, Menza, Christlieb, etc. Med Flory with his dry humor between songs, razzing Conte Candoli or Lou Levy or Jake Hanna (or Nick Ceroli!)…..okay, enough nostalgia for today. Thanks, Doug!

Doug Ramsey

Doug is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award of the Jazz Journalists Association. He lives in the Pacific Northwest, where he settled following a career in print and broadcast journalism in cities including New York, New Orleans, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, San Antonio, Cleveland and Washington, DC. His writing about jazz has paralleled his life in journalism... [Read More]

Rifftides

A winner of the Blog Of The Year award of the international Jazz Journalists Association. Rifftides is founded on Doug's conviction that musicians and listeners who embrace and understand jazz have interests that run deep, wide and beyond jazz. Music is its principal concern, but the blog reaches past... Read More...

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Doug's most recent book is a novel, Poodie James. Previously, he published Take Five: The Public and Private Lives of Paul Desmond. He is also the author of Jazz Matters: Reflections on the Music and Some of its Makers. He contributed to The Oxford Companion To Jazz and co-edited Journalism Ethics: Why Change? He is at work on another novel in which, as in Poodie James, music is incidental.

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