Lee Konitz: "Motion": (Verve)

Possibly the finest album ever released under Lee Konitz's name, this 1961 trio recording was initially reissued on CD with three additional tracks. But in a new, magnificent, three-CD set, Verve has gilded the lily by adding a further 30 previously unreleased performances, all dating from an astonishingly productive fortnight in August that year, when it seemed that the saxophonist had merely to play to create remarkable music.

The setting - alto, bass, drums - was sparse and, for the time, unusual, but if it gave no place to hide, it also allowed the altoist somewhat greater freedom with the changes than the presence of a pianist might have permitted. The bass, played throughout by Sonny Dallas, was the harmonic fulcrum, while Elvin Jones, the drummer on the original LP and CD albums, was Konitz's polyrhythmic alter ego in a relationship crucial to the character of the performances. On a programme of standards, they gelled memorably, the altoist playing off Jones with a passion and imagination that belied the austere context in which they were working. The newly released trio tracks, however, with one exception, feature a different drummer, Nick Stabulas, whose capable but simpler style gave less to Konitz than Jones's did. But though the new trio's work has a less intense feel to it, the saxophonist conveys an urgency and sense of discovery that is still utterly compelling.