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Lee Konitz

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Lee Konitz has moved in and out of public view and popular acclaim over the course of more than 50 years as a professional musician. He came of age in an era dominated by jazz great Charlie Parker. However, unlike most of his contemporaries, Konitz eschewed Parker’s style, determined to forge his own. He gained early popularity playing with pianist Lennie Tristano and later as a member of Miles Davis’ famous Birth of the Cool nonet. After virtually giving up performing in the 1960s, Konitz re-emerged with a burst of recording and concert activity in the 1970s. He has remained a sought-after headliner and sideman.

Born on October 13, 1927, in Chicago, Illinois, Konitz grew up listening to big bands on the radio. Early on he was taken with the music of Benny Goodman, and when he was eleven years old, Konitz asked his parents to buy him a clarinet. Realizing that he would be able to find more opportunities to play if he knew the saxophone, a year later he persuaded his parents to give him a tenor saxophone. Konitz made fast strides on the instrument. By 1944, the United States was deeply involved in World War II. With most able-bodied men in the armed services, dance bands looked high and low for capable musicians. When he was 16 years old, Konitz received an offer to play in the Chicago-based Jerry Wald Orchestra. All Konitz had to do was switch from tenor to alto saxophone. He did, and stayed with the instrument for most of his performing life.

An encounter that would significantly influence Konitz’s musical development took place just before he joined the Wald band. Konitz was playing in a Chicago club, and another member of the band took him across the street where a rumba band was playing. "I could hear all these fantastic locked-hands chords over the music," Konitz later told Whitney Balliett of American Musicians, describing a piano player who turned out to be Tristano. Konitz got his saxophone, sat in with Tristano’s group, and afterward asked Tristano if he would become his teacher. The older man agreed and Konitz became Tristano’s most celebrated pupil, and until the early 1950s, a regular sideman. What did Konitz learn from Tristano? "There was an extraordinary impetus to be very dedicated to this premise, this subject [playing jazz], and that’s probably the biggest thing," Konitz told WE magazine. In 1996, Konitz admitted that he had not yet attained Tristano’s level of discipline.

In 1947, Konitz joined the Claude Thornhill Orchestra. "I joined Thornhill in Chicago, and I stayed with him ten months," Konitz told Balliett. "It was my first big-time situation. I was nervous and impetuous, and I had wise-guy tendencies, like wearing brown suede shoes, yellow socks and a tuxedo." The band’s charts at the time were being written by legendary arranger Gil Evans. One night, overwhelmed by the lush sound of Evans’ arrangement, Konitz took his stripped down

soloing style to its logical extreme: he walked to the microphone to solo, stood there and listened to the Thornhill rhythm section play a chorus, then returned to his seat without blowing a single note.

Konitz stayed with Thornhill for ten months, long enough to get to New York City where Tristano had moved. There he hooked up with the pianist once again and began performing with him. In 1949 and 1950, he took part in the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool sessions/with young luminaries-to-be such as Davis, Gerry Mulligan, Max Roach, J.J. Johnson, John Lewis, Kai Winding, Kenny Clarke, and John Carisi. The group and the album that resulted are now part of jazz legend. Years later Konitz said the nonet was under-rehearsed and sounded sloppy, even on its one studio recording. "But because there was such substance to the music and the musicians, it still was … a significant record," Konitz told WE.

In 1980, after Konitz formed his own Lee Konitz Nonet, he was asked by the Smithsonian Institutes to recreate the Birth of the Cool charts. When Miles Davis displayed a complete lack of interest in the project, Konitz realized he needed to transcribe all the pieces from the recordings. After hours and hours of laborious transcription work, aided by Mulligan, Lewis, and Carisi, Konitz phoned Miles again. "So I said, ‘Miles, remember my asking you for the arrangements to the Cool sessions? Well, we’ve transcribed them and rewritten them and put them together again.’" Konitz recalled for Balliett. "He said, ‘Man, you should have asked me. Those motherf***ers are all in my basement.’"

By 1950, Konitz was popular with a broad audience. That year he was voted Fans’ Choice on alto saxophone in a poll held by the magazine Metronome, beating out Charlie Parker. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Konitz deliberately chose not to imitate Parker’s playing, the dominant style of the day. Instead he worked at developing a style of his own, one that was sparse, melodious, and which came to be seen as an alternative to Parker. So single-mindedly did Konitz pursue his own way that for a long time he refused to listen to Parker’s music. "I was avoiding some of the similar routes that other guys were taking by being influenced by so strong a force as Charlie Parker," he told Downbeat. Eventually, however he went back and studied Parker’s solos carefully.

Konitz continued to work with Tristano during the early 1950s. However, his relationship with the pianist was irreparably damaged when, in Tristano’s eyes, Konitz betrayed him by joining the Stan Kenton Orchestra in 1952. Konitz remained with Kenton for two years, but his increasingly complicated home life—Konitz had gotten married in 1947 and six years later he was the father of five—led him to leave the group in 1954 and settle in at his home on Long Island, New York. During the rest of the 1950s, he recorded for the Verve and Atlantic labels, played regular concerts, and taught students of his own.

The Sixties were a difficult time for Konitz, at least musically. "J wasn’t hustling enough for myself," he told WE, "and they weren’t tearing down the lines to get to me." He recorded little, supporting himself by teaching and different non-musical day jobs. In 1962 he moved out to California. When he returned to New York two years later, a completely different kind of avant garde jazz was in vogue, led by players like Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, John Coltrane, and the Association of Advanced Creative Musicians in Chicago. This blaring, emotive free music was far from the measured melodies created by Konitz. The shift in public taste, or at least critical taste, probably also contributed to the lean years Konitz experienced around this time.

Konitz kept playing, though, searching out available musicians and playing duets with them. "That started as a very pragmatic enterprise and had nothing to do with recording," he told Downbeat "I just wanted to play with different people. I realized there were so many nice players that I never get to play with and never will. So I made myself available to come to their houses—’cause I know you can’t get anybody to come to your house—and just picked whoever came into my mind." Those pieces later became an album for Konitz.

Konitz’s career took a turn for the better in the Seventies. He moved to a new apartment in Manhattan, directly across the street from the jazz club Strykers where he began playing twice a week. Another club, Gregory’s, asked him to play and before long he was a regular there as well. "I realized it was possible to blow four nights a week in my home town, the first time that ever happened," he told Downbeat "The word got around that I was out and working, and that made me a viable product." In the latter half of the 1970s, Konitz made more than 12 albums under his own name, nearly all of them for small labels.

In 1976, he got a call out of the blue from Ronnie Scott’s, a club in London, England, asking if he could fill a three-week bill another artist had dropped out of. Three weeks became eight months and Konitz was playing gigs all over Britain and Europe. By the mid 1970s, he had rejoined Warne Marsh, who had also played with Tristano in the early 1950s, for a reunion tour that yielded a number of albums. By the mid-1980s, his career was running at full steam once again. In the 1990s, he was performing regularly with his quartet, his nonet, and with various duo partners, including Clark Terry, Charlie Haden, John Scofield, Marian McPartland, and Mark Feldman.

Konitz composed music of his own now and then, but essentially he built his career in jazz the old-fashioned way: he concentrated on a handful of standards, songs like "Body and Soul," "All The Things You Are," and "Cherokee," until he knew them inside out. "Basically my repertoire is a few dozen tunes," he told WE. "And if I’m not setting up a special set of material for a record, I will choose those songs I like best and try ’em again, without the melody, say, just using the structure of the song…. It doesn’t matter what tunes you play. The process is the same, and if it works then it’s like a new piece, you know. And it is a fact that the better you know the song the more chances you might dare take. And so that’s why Bird [Parker] played a dozen tunes all his life, basically…. Similar to Monet painting the lily pond at all times of the day, catching the reflection of the light."

Selected discography

As leader
Lee Konitz, Prestige, 1949.
Konitz, Black Lion, 1954.
Inside Hi-Fi, Atlantic, 1956.
The Real Lee Konitz, Atlantic, 1957.
Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre, Verve, 1959.
Motion, Verve, 1961.
The Lee Konitz Duets, Milestone, 1967.
Chicago ’N All That Jazz, Denon, 1975.
Figure and Spirit, Progressive, 1976.
From Newport to Nice, Philology, 1992
Engaging Lee, Verve, 1994.
Jazz Nocturne, Evidence, 1994
Free With Lee, Philology, 1995.
Leewise, Storyville, 1995.
Rhapsody II, Evidence, 1996.
In Harvard Square, Black Lion, 1997.
Self Portrait, Philology, 1998
Dig Dug Dog, Columbia, 1998.
Sound of Surprise, RCA, 2000.

With Lennie Tristano
Intuition, Capitol, 1949.
Wow, Jazz Records, 1991.
Lennie Tristano, Lee Konitz, & Warne Marsh: The Complete Atlantic Recordings, Mosaic, 1997.

With Others
(With Warne Marsh) Lee Konitz/Warne Marsh, Atlantic, 1956.
(With Miles Davis nonet) The Birth of the Cool, Capitol, 1948.
(With Stan Kenton Band)New Concepts of Artistry in Rhythm, Capitol, 1952.
(With Gerry Mulligan Quintet) Konitz Meets Mulligan, Blue Note, 1953.
(With Charlie Haden)>A/one Together, Blue Note, 1996.
(With Kenny Wheeler) Angel Song, ECM, 1997.

Sources
Books
Balliett, Whitney, American Musicians II, Oxford University Press, New York, 1996.

Periodocals
Downbeat, January 1980.

Online
Lee Konitz discography, http://www2.pcom.net/sminer/Sessions.html (July 28, 2000).
Lee Konitz interview, WE magazine, http://www2.pcom.net/sminer/xunknown.htm (August 13, 2000).
Lee Konitz interview with John Gray, http://www2.pcom.net/sminer/x10_18_82.htm (August 13, 2000).

Lee Konitz interview with Tom Everett, at http://www2.pcom.net/sminer/x4_28_77.htm (August 13, 2000).
"The Miracle of Improvising," http://www2.pcom.net/sminer/MR_interview.html (August 21, 2000).
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Lee Konitz

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  • Genres: Jazz

Biography

One of the most individual of all altoists (and one of the few in the 1950s who did not sound like a cousin of Charlie Parker), the cool-toned Lee Konitz has always had a strong musical curiosity that has led him to consistently take chances and stretch himself, usually quite successfully. Early on he studied clarinet, switched to alto, and played with Jerry Wald. Konitz gained some attention for his solos with Claude Thornhill & His Orchestra (1947). He began studying with Lennie Tristano, who had a big influence on his conception and approach to improvising. Konitz was with Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool Nonet during their one gig and their Capitol recordings (1948-1950) and recorded with Lennie Tristano's innovative sextet (1949), including the first two free improvisations ever documented. Konitz blended very well with Warne Marsh's tenor (their unisons on "Wow" are miraculous) and would have several reunions with both Tristano and Marsh through the years, but he was also interested in finding his own way; by the early '50s he started breaking away from the Tristano school. Konitz toured Scandinavia (1951), where his cool sound was influential, and he fit in surprisingly well with Stan Kenton & His Orchestra (1952-1954), being featured on many charts by Bill Holman and Bill Russo.

Konitz was primarily a leader from that point on. He almost retired from music in the early '60s but re-emerged a few years later. His recordings have ranged from cool bop to thoughtful free improvisations, and his Milestone set of Duets (1967) is a classic. In the late '70s Konitz led a notable nonet and in 1992 he won the prestigious Jazzpar Prize. He kept a busy release schedule throughout the '90s and dabbled in the world of classical music with 2000's French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century. The Mark Masters Ensemble joined him for 2004's One Day with Lee, and in 2007 he recorded Portology with the Ohad Talmor Big Band. He has recorded on soprano and tenor but has mostly stuck to his distinctive alto. Konitz has led consistently stimulating sessions for many labels, including Prestige, Dragon, Pacific Jazz, Vogue, Storyville, Atlantic, Verve, Wave, Milestone, MPS, Polydor, Bellaphon, SteepleChase, Sonet, Groove Merchant, Roulette, Progressive, Choice, IAI, Chiaroscuro, Circle, Black Lion, Soul Note, Storyville, Evidence, and Philogy. In 2011, he released his own trio album Knowinglee and appeared on the live ECM date Live at Birdland (recorded in 2009) with pianist Brad Mehldau, bassist Charlie Haden, and drummer Paul Motian. ~ Scott Yanow, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Lee Konitz

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Lee Konitz
Background information
Birth name Lee Konitz
Born October 13, 1927 (1927-10-13) (age 84)
Origin Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres Jazz
Cool jazz
Occupations Saxophonist, Composer
Instruments Alto saxophone
Labels RCA Red Seal
Atlantic Records
Verve Records
Prestige Records
Palmetto Records
Associated acts Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Jim Hall, Elvin Jones, Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden

Lee Konitz (born October 13, 1927) is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.

Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings. Konitz was one of the few altoists to retain a distinctive sound in the 40s, when Charlie Parker exercised a tremendous influence on other players.

Konitz, like other students of pianist and theoretician Lennie Tristano, was noted for improvising long, melodic lines with the rhythmic interest coming from odd accents, or odd note groupings suggestive of the imposition of one time signature over another. Paul Desmond and, especially, Art Pepper were strongly influenced by Konitz.

Konitz's association with the Cool Jazz movement of the 1940s and 50s, includes participation in Miles Davis' epochal Birth of the Cool sessions, and his work with Lennie Tristano came from the same period. During his long career, Konitz has played with musicians from a wide variety of jazz styles.

Contents

Life and career

Konitz was born in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. At age eight Konitz received his first instrument—a clarinet—but later dropped the instrument in favor of the tenor saxophone.

Konitz eventually moved from tenor to alto. His greatest influences at the time were the swing big bands he and his brother listened to on the radio, in particular Benny Goodman. Hearing Goodman on the radio is actually what prodded him to ask for a clarinet. On the saxophone he recalls improvising before ever learning to play any standards.[1]

Konitz began his professional career in 1945 with the Teddy Powell band as a replacement for Charlie Ventura. The engagement apparently did not start out smoothly, as Ventura is said[who?] to have banged his head against a wall when Konitz played.[citation needed] A month later the band parted ways. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked off and on with Jerry Wald. In 1946 he first met pianist Lennie Tristano and worked in a small cocktail bar with him. His next substantial work was done with Claude Thornhill in 1947, with Gil Evans arranging and Gerry Mulligan as a composer in most part.[2][3]

In 1949 he teamed up with the Miles Davis group for one or two weeks and again in 1950 to record Birth of the Cool. Konitz has stated that he considered the group to belong to Gerry Mulligan, and credits Lennie Tristano as the true forebearer of "the cool". His debut as leader also came in 1949, with the release of Subconscious-Lee on Prestige Records. He also turned down an opportunity to work with Benny Goodman that same year—a decision he is on record as regretting.[4]

In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra. In 1961, he recorded Motion with Elvin Jones on drums and Sonny Dallas on bass. This spontaneous session, widely regarded as a classic, consisted entirely of standards. The loose trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and chromaticism.

Charlie Parker lent him support on the day Konitz's child was being born in Seattle, Washington with him stuck in New York City. The two were actually good friends, and not the rivals some jazz critics once made them out to be.[5] He has also had problems with his heart which he has received surgery for in the past.[6]

In 1967, Konitz recorded The Lee Konitz Duets, a series of duets with various musicians. The duo configurations were often unusual for the period (saxophone and trombone, two saxophones). The recordings drew on very nearly the entire history of jazz, from Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" with valve trombonist Marshall Brown to two completely free duos: one with a Duke Ellington associate, violinist Ray Nance, and one with guitarist Jim Hall.

Konitz contributed to the film score for Desperate Characters (1971).

Konitz has been quite prolific, recording dozens of albums as a band leader. He has also recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others. Amongst his latest recordings are a pair of trio dates with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden released on Blue Note as well a live album recorded in 2009 at Birdland and released by ECM in 2011 featuring the same lineup with the addition of drummer Paul Motian.

Konitz has become more experimental as he has grown older, and has released a number of free and avant-garde jazz albums, playing alongside many far younger musicians. He has released albums on contemporary free jazz/improv labels such as hatART, Soul Note, Omnitone and the aforementioned ECM.

He was scheduled to appear at Melbourne's Recital Centre as a key attraction of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. However he fell ill causing the last minute cancellation of the performance.

Discography

As leader

  • 1949-50: With Tristano, Marsh and Bauer (Prestige)
  • 1953: Konitz Meets Mulligan (With Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker) (Pacific)
  • 1954: Konitz (Storyville)
  • 1954: Jazz At Storyville (Storyville)
  • 1954: In Harvard Square (Storyville)
  • 1954: Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh (Atlantic)
  • 1956: Lee Konitz Featuring Hans Koller, Lars Gullin, Roland Kovac (Swingtime)
  • 1956: Inside Hi-Fi (Atlantic)
  • 1957: Tranquility (Verve)
  • 1957: The Real Lee Konitz (Atlantic)
  • 1958: Very Cool (Verve)
  • 1958: An Image: Lee Konitz with Strings (Verve)
  • 1959: Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve)
  • 1959: You and Lee (Verve)
  • 1961: Motion (Verve)
  • 1965: Trio and Quartet (Magnetic)
  • 1966: Modern Jazz Compositions from Haiti (Impulse!)
  • 1967: The Lee Konitz Duets (Milestone: OJC)
  • 1968: Impressive Rome (CAM)
  • 1968: European Episode (CAM)
  • 1969: Peacemeal (Milestone)
  • 1970: Lee Konitz Sax Duets (Music Minus One)
  • 1971: Spirits (Milestone: OJC)
  • 1974: Jazz A Juan (SteepleChase)
  • 1974: Satori (Milestone: OJC)
  • 1974: Lone-Lee (SteepleChase)
  • 1974: I Concentrate on You (A Tribute to Cole Porter) (SteepleChase)
  • 1975: Warne Marsh Quintet: Jazz Exchange (Storyville)
  • 1975: Hal Galper: Windows (SteepleChase)
  • 1975: Trio: Oleo (Sonet)
  • 1975: Chicago 'n' All That Jazz (Denon: LaserLight)
  • 1976: Lee Konitz Meets Warne Marsh Again (PAUSA)
  • 1976: Figure and Spirit (Progressive)
  • 1977: The Lee Konitz Quintet (Chiaroscuro Records)
  • 1977: The Lee Konitz Nonet (Chiaroscuro)
  • 1977: Tenorlee (Candid)
  • 1977: Pyramid (Improvising Artists)
  • 1979: Seasons Change (Circle Records (Germany), with Karl Berger)
  • 1979 Nonet: Live at Laren (Soul Note)
  • 1979: Yes, Yes Nonet (Steeple Chase)
  • 1980: Martial Solal: Live at the Berlin Jazz Days (MPS)
  • 1980: Heroes (Verve)
  • 1980: Anti-heroes (Verve)
  • 1982: Toot Sweet (Owl)
  • 1983: Glad, Koonix! (Dragon)
  • 1983: Martial Solal: Star Eyes, Hamburg 1983 (HatOLOGY)
  • 1983: Dovetail (Sunnyside)
  • 1983: Dedicated To Lee: Lee Konitz Plays The Music of Lars Gullin (Dragon)
  • 1983: Art of the Duo (Enja)
  • 1984: Wild as Springtime (GFM)
  • 1986: Quartet: Ideal Scene (Soul Note)
  • 1986: Medium Rare (Label Bleu)
  • 1987: Quartet: The New York Album (Soul Note)
  • 1988: The Space Jazz Trio: Blew (Philology)
  • 1988: Solitudes (Philology)
  • 1989: In Rio (MA)
  • 1989: Konitz in Denmark (Rightone)
  • 1989: Round and Round (Music Masters)
  • 1990: Frank Wunsch Quartet: S'Nice (Nabel)
  • 1990: Zounds (Soul Note)
  • 1990: Once Upon a Line (Musidisc)
  • 1991: Lars Sjosten Quartet: Friends (Dragon)
  • 1991: Lullaby of Birdland (Candid)
  • 1992: The Jazzpar All Star Nonet: Leewise (Storyville)
  • 1992: Jazz Nocturne (Evidence)
  • 1992: Lunasea (Soul Note)
  • 1992: From Newport to Nice (Philology)
  • 1992: Frank-Lee Speaking (West Wind)
  • 1993: Rhapsody (Evidence)
  • 1993: Renato Sellani: Speakin' Lowly, Volume 1 (Philology)
  • 1993: So Many Stars (Philology)
  • 1993: Rhapsody II (Evidence)
  • 1993: Italian Ballads, Volume1 (Philology)
  • 1993: Brazilian Rhapsody (BMG: Music Masters)
  • 1994: Orchestra Il Suono Improvviso: A Venezia (Philology)
  • 1994: Swiss Kiss (TCB)
  • 1995: Haiku (Nabel)
  • 1995: Umberto Petrin: Breaths and Whispers (Homage to Alexandr Skrjabin) (Philology)
  • 1995: John Pl Indreberg: Step Towards a Dream (Odin)
  • 1995: Don Friedman: Attila Zoller: Thingin' (HatOLOGY)
  • 1995: Move (Moon)
  • 1995: Free with Lee(Philology)
  • 1996: Alone Together (Blue Note)
  • 1996: Live at the Manhattan Jazz Club (GAM)
  • 1996: Guarana (AxolOtl Jazz)
  • 1996: Unaccompanied Live in Yokohama (PSF)
  • 1996: Strings for Holiday: A Tribute To Billie Holiday (Enja)
  • 1996: Lee Konitz Meets Don Friedman (Camerata)
  • 1996: It's You (SteepleChase)
  • 1997: Twelve Gershwin in Twelve Keys (Philology)
  • 1997: Out of Nowhere (SteepleChase)
  • 1997: The Frankfurt Concert (West Wind)
  • 1997: Dearly Beloved (SteepleChase)
  • 1997: Body and Soul (Camerata)
  • 1998: Saxophone Dreams (Koch)
  • 1998: Inside Cole Porter (Philology)
  • 1998: L'Age Mur (Philology)
  • 1998: Tender Lee (for Chet) (Philology)
  • 1998: Self Portrait (Philology)
  • 1998: Dialogues (Challenge)
  • 1999: Dig-It (SteepleChase)
  • 1999: Three Guys (Enja)
  • 1999: Trio: Another Shade of Blue (Blue Note)
  • 2000: The Axis Quartet: Play French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Palmetto)
  • 2000: rich Perry: RichLee! (SteepleChase)
  • 2000 Quartet: Sound of Surprise (RCA Victor)
  • 2000: Pride (SteepleChase)
  • 2001: Franco D'Andrea: Inside Rodgers (Philology)
  • 2001: Renato Sellani: Minority, Volume 2: All The Way (The Soft Ways) (Philology)
  • 2001 Trio: Some New Stuff (DIW)
  • 2001 Quintet: Parallels (Chesky)
  • 2002: Matt Wilson: Gong with Wind Suite (Steeplechase)
  • 2002: Irio De Paula: Duas Contas (Philology)
  • 2002: Barbara Casini: Outra Vez (Philology)
  • 2002: At the New Mississippi Jazz Club (Philology)
  • 2003: Live-Lee (Milestone)
  • 2003: Stephano Bollani: Suite for Paolo (Philology)
  • 2003: Kenny Werner: Unleemited (Owl)
  • 2003: A Day in Florence (Philology)
  • 2004: BargaLee (Philology)
  • 2004: Sound-Lee (Membran International)
  • 2004: One Day With Lee (Capri)
  • 2006: Ohad Talmor String Project: Inventions(OmniTone)
  • 2006: New Nonet (directed by Ohad Talmor) (OmniTone)
  • 2007: Riccardo Arrighini: The Soprano Sax Album: Standards (Philology)
  • 2007: Brian Dickenson: The Glen Gould Session (Philology)
  • 2007: Ohad Talmor Big Band: Portology(featuring the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos) (OmniTone)
  • 2008: Lee Konitz & Minsarah: Deep Lee (Featuring Jeff Denson, Florian weber, Ziv Ravitz) (ENJA)
  • 2009: Lee Konitz / Dan Tepfer: Duos with Lee (Sunnyside)
  • 2009: Lee Konitz New quartet: Live at the village Vanguard (Featuring Jeff Denson, Florian weber, Ziv Ravitz) (ENJA)
  • 2011: Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Live at Birdland (ECM)

As sideman

With Stan Kenton

  • City Of Glass
  • This Modern World
  • New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm
  • Sketches On Standards
  • Portraits On Standards
  • Kenton Showcase

With Gerry Mulligan

  • Lee Konitz And The Gerry Mulligan Quartet
  • Lee Konitz Plays With The Gerry Mulligan Quartet

With Miles Davis

With Bill Evans

With Gil Evans

With Max Roach

With Lennie Tristano

With others

With Arkadia Jazz All Stars

  • Thank You, Gerry!

With Kenny Wheeler

  • Angel Song

Television appearances

Public television series in the late 50"s with Warne Marsh,Billy Taylor, Bill Evans,Mundell Lowe and others.

Further reading

Andy Hamilton: *Lee Konitz: Conversations on the Improviser's Art* (University of Michigan Press, 2007).

Crafted out of numerous interviews between the author and his subject, the book offers a unique account of Konitz’s life and music, detailing his own insights into his musical education and his experiences with such figures as Miles Davis, Stan Kenton, Warne Marsh, Lennie Tristano, Charles Mingus, Bud Powell and Bill Evans.[8]

Compositions

Lee Konitz's compositions included "Subconscious-Lee", "Thingin'", "Sound-Lee", "Palo Alto", "Kary's Trance", "Riffin'", "Self Portrait in Blues", "Back and Forth", "Figure and Spirit", "Ice Cream Konitz", "Dream Stepper", "Without You Man", "Rebecca", "Mr. 88", "Hi Beck", "Tautology", "Sax of a Kind", "Progression", and "Gundula".

References

  1. ^ Robinson, Michael. "An interview with Lee Konitz". Archived from the original on 2011-07-20. http://web.archive.org/web/20110720025727/http://www.sawf.org/Newedit/edit09182000/musicarts.asp. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  2. ^ "Ibid"; Gordon, Jack
  3. ^ "Ibid"; Billy Taylor's Jazz at the Kennedy Center
  4. ^ "Ibid"; Gordon, Jack
  5. ^ "Ibid"; An Interview with Lee Konitz
  6. ^ Jung, Fred. "A Fireside Chat With Lee Konitz". http://www.jazzweekly.com/interviews/konitz.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  7. ^ http://www.solosjazz.com/a_lee.php
  8. ^ http://www.press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=130264

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

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Comparison of General lee androbert lee?
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Pierre Blanchard (Jazz Artist, '80s-2000s)
Altissimo 1974 (1974 Album by Jackie McLean)
The Lee Konitz Quartet: Live at the Village Vanguard (1984 Music Film)
It's You (1996 Album by Lee Konitz)
Oleo (1975 Album by Lee Konitz)
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