Konitz — with his endlessly flowing melodic inventions — sounds newly inspired by the trio. Yes, there are the Konitz rewritings of standards: the title track, based on "How Deep Is the Ocean," and "W 86th," a take-off on the Miles Davis/Bill Evans "Solar." And yes, there's the umpteenth Konitz rendition of "Stella by Starlight." But Konitz also does several originals by the band, among them Weber's Bach-inspired "Three Part Suite." Ravitz: "With Lee, we go more into the 'standards' world and he comes into our world."
When we talked for the June 19 "Giant Steps," Steve Swallow warned me that his memory was, uh, fallible. So I should have checked when he talked about listening to Supremes records in 1961 at Carla and Paul Bley's house. Sure enough, a couple of readers instantly got in touch to inform me that the Supremes barely existed in 1961, and that their string of #1 hits didn't begin until 1964's "Where Did Our Love Go."
Says Swallow by e-mail: "Oops! Come to think of it, Carla played the Supremes for me in her composing room in the apartment on Hudson Street in New York City she shared with Paul Bley. This would make it '63/'64 rather than earlier. Carla was obsessed with 'Where Did Our Love Go' and years later wrote a wonderful song called 'Baby Baby' that borrowed a phrase from the background to Diana Ross's vocal."
One other correction: Swallow recalled seeing the Beatles at Shea Stadium in 1965, but he also clearly remembered hearing Bobby Hebb ("Sunny") open for them, which would make it the 1966 Shea show. For a complete transcript of my conversation with Swallow, go to this column on-line at thePhoenix.com.
LEE KONITZ + MINSARAH | Regattabar, Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge | July 8 at 7:30 pm | $24 | 617.395.7757 or www.regattabarjazz.com
