20 Standards (Quartet) 2003 is a live album 4CD box set by American composer and saxophonist Anthony Braxton recorded in Europe in 2003 and released on the Leo label in 2005.[1][2]
...one is struck by the multifaceted balance of the album as a whole... Braxton pays a loving tribute to each tune, respecting the melody, pushing it beyond the composer's wildest dreams, taking it apart and reassembling it in the most natural-sounding way. ...These are masterfully creative revisitations of chunks of jazz history, big and small.
Much of the repertoire featured here was integral to the cool jazz of the fifties, but the quartet tears into it like it was written yesterday. ...If you want to hear your favorite old standards sounding brand new again, this set fits the bill.
Recorded on February 19 at De Singel in Antwerp, Belgium (Disc Three: tracks 1, 3, & 5 and Disc Four: track 5), on February 22 at Flagey in Brussels, Belgium (Disc Three: track 4), on November 11 at Teatro Central in Sevilla, Spain (Disc Four: track 1), on November 12 at New Morning in Paris, France (Disc Two: track 5 and Disc Four: track 2), on November 13 at Nevers Jazz Festival in Nevers, France (Disc One: tracks 1 & 3-5), on November 14 at The Vooruit in Gent, Belgium (Disc Two: tracks 1-4, Disc Three: track 2 and Disc For: track 3), on November 17 at Teatro Filarmonico in Verona, Italy (Disc Four: track 4), and on November 20 at Auditorio da Universidade de Minho in Guimaraes, Portugal (Disc One: track 2)