REISSUES : In Brief

* * *1/2 Gil Evans and Lee Konitz, “Heroes,” “Anti-Heroes,” Verve. Evans refused to allow these two duet sessions with alto saxophonist Konitz to be released during his lifetime. Always his own most severe critic, he felt that his sometimes awkward piano playing was simply not good enough for public presentation in such a stark setting.

He was wrong. The repertoire, ranging from spontaneous improvisations to standards such as “All the Things You Are” and offbeat items such as Charles Mingus’ “Reincarnation of a Lovebird,” triggered remarkably pure, constantly fascinating interaction between two of the jazz world’s most pristine talents. Like the Bach Partitas and Sonatas for unaccompanied violin, this is music refined to its core elements.