The album title Old Songs New captures something essential about alto saxophone icon Lee Konitz, still playing beautifully in his early nineties at the time of this session. With the aid of arranger Ohad Talmor, Konitz sails through a collection of standards and a representative original (“Kary’s Trance”), making old songs new via fresh, lyrical improvisations and Talmor’s highly inventive chamber-like settings for flute, clarinets, and strings. (Talmor contributes haunting tenor sax on the intro of “I Cover the Waterfront.”) Konitz’s recurrent work with nonets can be traced to the late ’40s and his breakthrough appearance on Birth of the Cool by Miles Davis’ nonet. The Konitz-Talmor collaboration itself dates back to the ’90s and has been documented on albums such as New Nonet from 2006. And Konitz’s own nonet explorations stretch back to the ’70s and such albums as Yes, Yes Nonet and Live at Laren. All the players on Old Songs New know and interpret that legacy on a high level, bringing Talmor’s deft counterpoint and rich textures to light while responding to Konitz subtly and with feeling. Bassist Christopher Tordini and drummer George Schuller offer restrained yet impeccably swinging accompaniment throughout, taking the spotlight on the bare-bones impromptu finale “Trio Blues.”