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Scott Lee: Leaving

By Mark Corroto
October 4, 2010
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Maybe te annual jazz awards need to add a new category for musicians like Scott Lee. It could be titled "master musicians deserving of wider recognition." The veteran bassist has been on the New York scene since the 1970s, and a member of numerous bands including those led by titans

Chet Baker

trumpet and vocals
1929 - 1988

" data-original-title="" title="">Chet Baker,

Joe Lovano

drums
b.1952

" data-original-title="" title="">Joe Lovano, and,

Kenny Werner

piano
b.1951

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Werner. He has also been a sympathetic contributor to the careers of

Loren Stillman

saxophone, alto
b.1980

" data-original-title="" title="">Loren Stillman and

Andrew Rathbun

saxophone, tenor

" data-original-title="" title="">Andrew Rathbun. With Leaving, his followup to One Thought (SteepleChase, 2008), he dispatches a recording that blurs the lines between the compositions written and improvised.

It would be easy to identify most of the tracks here as comprehensively composed music. The improvisation is that good—or maybe its' simply a near-perfect match of sympathetic players. Lee has been working with drummer

Jeff Hirshfield

drums
b.1955

" data-original-title="" title="">Jeff Hirshfield and saxophonist Billy Drewes for over thirty years, and pianist

Gary Versace

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Gary Versace has been part of that conversation for the past eight. Versace seems to fit in nicely with any ensemble, from the large orchestras of

Maria Schneider

composer / conductor

" data-original-title="" title="">Maria Schneider and

John Hollenbeck

drums
b.1968

" data-original-title="" title="">John Hollenbeck, to

Matt Wilson

drums
b.1964

" data-original-title="" title="">Matt Wilson's Arts and Crafts, and duos with

Lee Konitz

saxophone, alto
1927 - 2020

" data-original-title="" title="">Lee Konitz.

The communication and cooperation is evident from note one. Lee writes homelike pieces that the players stretch and invigorate. The opening "Taxed" begins with an orderly melody, with Drewes's tenor coming from the

Jan Garbarek

saxophone
b.1947

" data-original-title="" title="">Jan Garbarek school—full of long lush tones. Drewes is also a skilled soprano technician, his escalating sound soaring over several tracks including the hesitant "JGB" and "Two Ways," the latter possessing an insistent theme over which

Steve Lacy

saxophone, soprano
1934 - 2004

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Lacy would have felt comfortable working. Drewes and Versace are simply dancing here to the radiant melody.

As a leader, Lee rarely steps out for recognition. His bow speaks measures on the overtly simple "Musing," where Versace and the bassist converse, while he picks/plucks his way through a slippery duo with Hirshfield on "The Connection." The pair prefers time to be liquid—morphing into varying shades and textures that are best illustrated on "Drummersome," where Hirshfield changes time signatures throughout, his partners left to react, act, and swing like hell.

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Track Listing

Taxed; Two Ways; Musing; JGB; Old Friends Talking; Choice; The Connection; Leaving; Drummersome; What's Up; Shamrock.

Personnel

Scott Lee

bass

Scott Lee: bass; Billy Drewes: tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, clarinet; Gary Versace: piano; Jeff Hirshfield: drums.

Album information

Title: Leaving | Year Released: 2010 | Record Label: SteepleChase Records

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