Jazz Articles about Lee Konitz

About Lee Konitz

Extended Analysis

Live in Schauburg, Bremen, Germany, 1983

by Jakob Baekgaard
April 28, 2020

The history of jazz is not only a story of great individuals, but also a narrative of partnerships that have shaped the development of the music. Just think of Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong and Earl Hines and Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. There's also a proud tradition of combining saxophone and piano with beautiful results. Art Pepper lifted his playing in the company of George Cables and Kenny Barron elevated the late style of Stan Getz.

Album Review

Lee Konitz: Prisma

by Ian Patterson
June 19, 2018

Though Lee Konitz has played in a wide variety of settings and styles since his first professional engagement with Teddy Powell in 1945, recordings with full-blown orchestras have been few and far between. Recorded in Frankfurt in 2000, with the Brandenburg State Orchestra conducted by Christoph Campestrini, Prisma captures Konitz interpreting Gunter Buhles' concerto for alto saxophone and orchestra. Composed in four-parts, as opposed to the concerto's more traditional three-part format, Buhles's working title for the project--composed especially for Konitz--was ...

Album Review

Lee Konitz: Frescalalto

Read "Frescalalto" reviewed by Ian Patterson

by Ian Patterson
May 22, 2018

For over seven decades, since his participation in Miles Davis's 1949-1950 Birth of the Cool sessions, Lee Konitz has carved out a tireless path as one of jazz's most illuminating improvisers. Recorded at the tail end of 2015, when he was already 87 years old, Frescalalto sees Konitz in a straight-ahead session effectively marshalled by the trio of Kenny Barron, Peter Washington and Kenny Washington, who provide bags of rhythmic momentum. Standards and Konitz originals make for familiar fare, with ...

Live Review

Lee Konitz 90th Birthday Celebration at Regatta Bar

by S.G Provizer
February 13, 2018

Lee Konitz Regatta Bar 90th Birthday Celebration Boston, MA January 26, 2018 Not many jazz musicians active in the 1940's are still around, never mind on the road, gigging. Last Friday at the Regatta Bar one of these rare jazz birds, alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, came through town, celebrating his 90th birthday. Konitz was an early experimenter with Lennie Tristano, an important member of Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool ...

Catching Up With

Cathing up with Lee Konitz

by Lazaro Vega
April 23, 2017

This interview was first published at All About Jazz in May 1999 and is part of our ongoing effort to archive pre-database material. The Lee Konitz Trio, Mother's Day, May 9th At 4 P.M. In The 165 Seat Urban Institute For Contemporary Arts Theater, 41 Sheldon Blvd. Ne, Grand Rapids, Mi. The Alto Saxophone Master With Bassist Jeff Halsey Of Bowling Green University And Drummer Pete Siers Of Ann Arbor. Tickets Are $15. All About ...

Album Review

Lee Konitz: Frescalalto

Read "Frescalalto" reviewed by Luca Canini

by Luca Canini
March 20, 2017

Lo sfizio del primo disco su Impulse! se l'è tolto alla soglia dei novanta, ennesima tappa di una carriera che per raccontarla non basterebbero due Treccani con relative appendici. Una vita in jazz come poche ce ne sono state, e come mai più (forse) ce ne saranno, quella di Lee Konitz. Dagli esordi alla corte di Lennie Tristano al leggendario Birth of the Cool di Miles, da Claude Tornhill e Stan Kenton al sodalizio fraterno con Warne ...

Album Review

Lee Konitz, Dan Tepfer, Michael Janisch, Jeff Williams: First Meeting

Read "First Meeting" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
September 23, 2014

Ogni tanto arrivano a farci compagnia nuove incisioni live pescate in giro per il mondo nel periodo immediatamente precedente l'interruzione dell'attività (per fortuna non definitiva) da parte di Lee Konitz, il cui attempato cuore si è messo a un certo punto a far le bizze. Quando, come in questo caso, il contesto è assolutamente decoroso e il Nostro suona da par suo (oltre tutto, generosamente, anche il soprano, cosa non poi così frequente), il regalo è quindi quanto mai gradito. ...