Jazz Articles about Lee Konitz

About Lee Konitz

Album Review

Lee Konitz & Giovanni Ceccarelli French Trio: Waxin’ in Camerino

by AAJ Italy Staff
December 21, 2011

Rasentava le ottantadue primavere, al tempo di questo live marchigiano (aprile 2009), il grande Lee, eppure, ancora una volta, suonava divinamente. La sua voce di sax alto rimane una delle più fortemente identitarie del jazz moderno, anche per quel progredire allusivo e sornione, quasi sopra - più che dentro - la musica. La conferma ci arriva prontamente da una situazione neanche particolarmente meditata come può essere questa, peraltro in abbinamento con un ottimo trio, affiatato e non routiniero. I temi ...

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Album Review

Konitz / Mehldau / Haden / Motian: Live at Birdland

Read "Live at Birdland" reviewed by Kevin Davis

by Kevin Davis
August 4, 2011

It begins with a conversation between Lee Konitz's airy alto sax and Paul Motian's even more ethereal drums, and instantly the groove of this 1954 Sonny Rollins workhorse, “Oleo," feels comfortable, welcoming, and lived-in. Like much of what transpired on the December, 2009 dates from which ECM culled Live at Birdland, which plays home to this and five other post-bop standbys, the rapport between Konitz, Motian, pianist Brad Mehldau and bassist Charlie Haden is casual and offhanded, but there in ...

Album Review

Lee Konitz - Brad Mehldau - Charlie Haden - Paul Motian: Live at Birdland

Read "Live at Birdland" reviewed by AAJ Italy Staff

by AAJ Italy Staff
June 27, 2011

Si possono ancora suonare standard consunti da decenni di riproposizioni più o meno memorabili e rimanere freschi, non scadendo nel cliché e nella routine? Si può, se ci si chiama Konitz Mehldau Haden & Motian, musicisti per motivi diversi (quasi) sempre capaci di dire qualcosa di stimolante anche nelle situazioni in apparenza più riciclative. Certo, fra gli ottantadue anni del sassofonista (ai tempi dell'incisione, dicembre 2009) e i quaranta scarsi del pianista (con gli altri due decisamente più vicini al ...

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Live Review

Lee Konitz: New York, NY June 5, 2011

by Warren Allen
June 21, 2011

Lee Konitz / Bill Frisell / Gary Peacock / Joey BaronThe Blue NoteNew York, NYJune 5, 2011 Descriptions of alto saxophonist Lee Konitz often place a little too much weight on his role as a musician of yesteryear. Certainly, Konitz's contributions as one of the first cool players in the bands of Miles Davis and Lennie Tristano are part of jazz history, and he is one of the few self-made sounds from an era when ...

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Extended Analysis

Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian: Live at Birdland

by Dan McClenaghan
June 9, 2011

Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/MotianLive at BirdlandECM Records2011 The tunes are familiar, Great American Songbook and jazz standards all. So for those unfamiliar with the names involved in this quartet outing, the old complaint of “same old same old" could surface. But with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz at the top of the listing, “same old same old" gets rolled out the door. Konitz, with over 60 years of professional experience--from the 1949 Birth ...

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Album Review

Lee Konitz / Dave Liebman / Richie Beirach: KnowingLee

Read "KnowingLee" reviewed by John Kelman

by John Kelman
May 30, 2011

While there is some truth in the old adage “if it ain't broke don't fix it," it's not always bad to mess with a good thing. Saxophonist Dave Liebman and pianist Richie Beirach have been playing together for over 40 years, in ensembles ranging from the big band of Quest for Freedom (Sunnyside, 2010) and smaller ensemble of Quest and Re-Dial: Live in Hamburg (OutNote, 2010) to duo records like 1985's Double Edge, recently reissued with two early Quest albums ...

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Extended Analysis

Konitz/Mehldau/Haden/Motian: Live at Birdland

by John Kelman
May 11, 2011

Grist for what seems like an endless flow of recordings, The Great American Songbook has, ultimately, become as much a crutch as it is an inspiration. There's no denying the staying power of music that's near-Jungian in its collective familiarity, but if an artist is simply running down the tunes, à la Real Book--head, solo, head--the music too easily becomes nothing more than a tired retread, a kind of whitewashing that, rather than moving jazz forward, stops it in its ...