These are impressions of some of the music I heard before I returned to Rifftides<\/em> world headquarters: <\/p>\n Young Lions Revisited is a band of players in their twenties and thirties, mostly based in Portland and devoted to the spirit of the hard bop revival that Wynton Marsalis spearheaded in the early 1990s. Its co-leaders are tenor saxophonist Devin Phillips, who moved to Portland from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, and drummer Christopher Brown, a Portland native. Pianist Matt Tabor is a student and prot\u00c3\u00a9g\u00c3\u00a9 of Portland pianist and educator Darrell Grant. Bassist Dylan Sundstrom from Tacoma, Washington, lives in Portland. Their PDX concert included two guest tenor saxophonists, the veteran New Yorker Ralph Bowen and Kamasi Washington, who is based in Los Angeles. (Pictured left to right, Opening for Lee Konitz, The Young Lions began with Marsalis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Delfeayo\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Dilemma.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Phillips and Washington demonstrated contrasting conceptions within the post-Coltrane tough-tenor tradition; Washington gruff and headlong, Phillips with equal urgency and smoother phrasing. Bowen joined in for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Summertime\u00e2\u20ac\u009d with a searching solo that seemed based in a mode rather than in Gershwin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s harmonies. Tabor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s solos on this and other pieces suggested an intriguing sense of touch and dynamics. He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s someone to keep an ear on. <\/p>\n The three tenors lined up for a tune whose title was unannounced but whose harmonies hinted at Miles Davis\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Milestones.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In their solos, Washington and Phillips chattered through the changes. Bowen came closer to spinning out a story. The high point was in their three-way tenor sax coda, a collective triumph. The mini-concert ended with Paul Barbarin\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Bourbon Street Parade.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Phillips the New Orleanian, not surprisingly, nailed the street feeling, abetted by Brown\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s parade-beat drumming. It was a joyful ending to a short set.<\/p>\n Konitz, 87, brought Dan Tepfer, the 33-year-old pianist with whom he has collaborated so intriguingly over the past few years. Portland bassist Tom Wakeling and drummer Alan Jones rounded out the quartet. With no rehearsal and an unwritten tune list based on a pre-concert conversation, the four played as if they had been together for months. Konitz (pictured with Jones) was feeling elocutious. He opened He took the advice to heart himself, abstracting \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Stella By Starlight\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in a duet with Tepfer. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Improvisation means it should be different from the last time you did it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he explained before they began. In the course of his solo, he took a pause and a few people in the audience began to applaud. Konitz removed the horn from his mouth and extended both hands palms out as Tepfer continued to outline the harmonies. Then, with the audience instructed in listening etiquette, Konitz finished the solo. It was not the final lesson of the evening. <\/p>\n![\"Young](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Young-Lions-2-.jpg\")
<\/a>Bowen, Phillips and Washington.) <\/p>\n![\"Konitz](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Konitz-and-Jones.jpg\")
<\/a> with the first of several monologues. It had to do with Russia and ended with advice for Vladimir Putin; \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He should try something new.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n
![\"Dan](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Dan-Tepfer.jpg\")
<\/a>In \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll Remember April,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Konitz vocalized in harmony with Tepfer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s introduction before he began playing his horn. He was sitting in a chair center stage, and it was possible to see that he kept time with both feet, the right one on all four beats, the left one on 2 and 4. After Konitz made new melodies, he and Tepfer vocalized, singly and in counterpoint. It was the first installment of what amounted to ear training that continued on and off through the rest of the concert. Konitz urged the audience to hum a basic note that he provided. He and Tepfer played \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Alone Together.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d He then asked if anyone would like to improvise. Midway in the theater, two women took him up on it and scatted alternating phrases, in tune and with good time. Konitz ended the piece vocalizing like a cantor. <\/p>\n![\"Tom](\"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/rifftides\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/Tom-Wakeling.jpg\")
<\/a> played walking bass as Tepfer and Jones found one another\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time feeling, then produced a diversionary phrase that Konitz adapted and refashioned, and the quartet was off on an adventure. Through \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Body and Soul,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d there was more vocalizing by Konitz and Tepfer, exquisite brush work by Jones behind Tepfer\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s piano solo and Konitz calling forth the huge tone that he has developed in his later years. Jones made dynamic use of sticks to introduce \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cherokee,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in which Konitz played random phrases and Jones had a full-out solo. <\/p>\n