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Lee Konitz is a quintessential American jazz composer and alto saxophonist, born on October 13, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. He was well known as one of the few alto saxophonists of his time, to remain unswayed by Charlie Parker. He was popular for his style of approach, which was more tamed and measured than that of Parker. He never felt that his approach for the alto sax in any case was superior to that of Parker.
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About Lee Konitz
Konitz is also considered as the leading 'cool jazz saxophonist', having played and recorded with Claude Thornhill and Lennie Tristano. These two were well renowned as important cool jazz exponents of the mid 1940s. Lee also worked with Miles Davis on his epochal Birth of the Cool. Lee has also claimed that he can play the alto in any key. He also stated that he was hugely influenced by the tonality of Lester Young and Johnny Hodges. Lee Konitz came from a Jewish family and began playing the saxophone at the young age of eight. During childhood his major influences were the swing big bands he and his brother listened to on the radio, specifically Benny Goodman. On the saxophone he remembers improvising before ever learning to play any measures.
Konitz started his professional career in 1945. Initially he played with the Teddy Powell band as a substitute for Charlie Ventura. The employment apparently did not begin out smoothly. After a month the band split up. Eventually he hung on from 1945 to 1947 with Jerry Wald. Then in 1946 he met pianist Lennie Tristano who himself was a teen, and worked in a small cocktail bar with him. His next significant work was done with Claude Thornhill in 1947, with Gil Evans setting up and Gerry Mulligan as a composer in most part. In 1949 he collaborated up(not needed) with the Miles Davis band for one or two weeks and again in 1950 to record "Birth of the Cool". Konitz stated that he regarded the band to belong to Gerry Mulligan, and recognizes Lennie Tristano as the true forebearer of "the cool". His first album as a lead came in 1949, with the release of Subconscious-Lee on Prestige Records.
In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and traveled with Stan Kenton's musical group. In 1961, he recorded Motion with Elvin Jones on drums and Sonny Dallas on bass. This self-generated period was widely considered as a classic in the cool genre, comprised entirely of standards. The loose trio arrangement competently featured Konitz's unorthodox diction and chromaticism. In 1967, Konitz recorded The Lee Konitz Duets, which consisted of several duets with various musicians. The recordings made a mark nearly on the entire history of jazz, from a Louis Armstrong dixieland number 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 till date is known as a prolific artist, producing dozens of albums as a band leader. He has also performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others. Konitz went on becoming more experimental as he grew older, and has released numerous free and avant-garde jazz albums. He also has been playing along with many far younger musicians.
