Alex LoRe: Motivity
Weirdear Records

Alto saxophonist Alex LoRe pays affectionate tribute to his mentor, the late Lee Konitz, on his fifth album Motivity and specifically to a Konitz release that had a huge impact on him, 1961's Motion. A year after his initial exposure to the album during his undergraduate years at the New England Conservatory, LoRe met its creator when he performed a contrafact on “I Remember You” for him during a master class and then eventually came to know him as a teacher and friend. When Konitz passed away in April 2020, it became clear to LoRe that an homage was inevitable. Mirroring the chordless trio format of his mentor's session with bassist Sonny Dallas and drummer Elvin Jones, LoRe recruited bassist Thomas Morgan and drummer Johnathan Blake for his own breezy set.

It's always fascinating to see how the balance of freedom and stability's handled by a trio, the lead soloist often being the most liberated and the bassist and drummer the grounding forces. In this case, however, it's often Blake who's the least rooted when this force-of-nature's playing's marked by the “never soloing, always soloing” concept (words Joe Zawinul used to describe Weather Report's playing); it's typically Morgan and LoRe, then, who stabilize the performances, the former with a precise and solid pulse and the latter with melodic flow and smooth acrobatics. Enhancing the appeal of his playing, the leader eschews upper-register shrieking for a refined delivery that glides across the roiling base with authority. Even when the music turns aggressive (e.g., the aptly titled “Free”), his tone is never abrasive, and it often seems as if he's channeling the Konitz sound indelibly captured on Miles's Birth of the Cool and his recordings with Lennie Tristano. Adding to the album's appeal, all of the performances are concise, with most weighing in at five to six minutes at a time.

Interestingly, only one of the seven tunes was written by Konitz (“Thingin'”)—LoRe himself is credited as the composer of two, “Like-Lee” and “Overly Sentimental”—but his spirit nevertheless permeates the album. Further to that, many of the pieces connect to Konitz in surprising ways. LoRe constructed the melodic material for his intricate “Like-Lee” from fragments of eight Konitz compositions, for example, while a treatment of Henry Nemo's “‘Tis Autumn” also was recorded by Konitz for his 1978 release Tenorlee. And just as Motion included “I Remember You,” Motivity does the same with LoRe's own robust take. The performance instantly engages when his light-as-a-feather tone's coupled with Morgan's buoyant throb and Blake's propulsive swing. The leader soars throughout, lunging and darting confidently alongside the drummer's volcanic eruptions. Here and elsewhere, LoRe seems to be putting Muhammad Ali's “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” mantra to the test.

On “Like-Lee,” the chemistry between the three is captured when their interplay fluidly connects, even when each is articulating dramatically different material. In a nice touch, LoRe overdubbed himself for “Overly Sentimental,” a furiously delivered contrafact on “I'm Getting Sentimental over You” where the coiling of alto and C melody saxophones calls to mind Konitz's playing with Warne Marsh. The trio embraces the alluring warmth of standards territory in covering the Victory Young and John Elliot composition “A Weaver of Dreams,” the performance also notable for granting Morgan a solo spotlight. As appealing is the group's euphonious treatment of “‘Tis Autumn,” especially when its ballad character suits LoRe's tone so naturally.

October 2024