Jazz Articles about Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz / Gary Versace: Organic-Lee

by Budd Kopman
January 2, 2007

Lee Konitz, born in 1927, has been creating his own distinctive sound and playing in many different situations for about twice as many years as Gary Versace is old. The age gap, however, did not prove an obstacle to the production of this outstanding record, which pairs the two players on alto and Hammond B-3, respectively. Konitz has made many duo records with piano, but he hesitated to play with a Hammond organ. Versace, however, is quite ...

Lee Konitz - Ohad Talmor String Project: Inventions

by Glenn Astarita
October 11, 2006

Celebrated alto saxophonist Lee Konitz works with multi-reedman Ohad Talmor and a string section, but not a conventional rhythm section, on this studio set. Inventions is not particularly groundbreaking within the realm of classical-jazz music, yet it's alluring and musically stimulating nonetheless, featuring mid-tempo, string-based bop movements and fluid soloing atop unison choruses or skewed frameworks. Tuneful themes and abstracts coexist nicely.

Konitz's large phraseology looms as the primary voice, while Talmor wears many hats, given his polytonal ...

Lee Konitz: New Nonet

by Andrey Henkin
October 7, 2006

Lee Konitz New Nonet OmniTone 2006

The latter part of the '70s found alto saxophonist Lee Konitz leading a nonet (after a couple of unofficial and partial attempts in 1959 and 1967). The group made albums in 1976 (Roulette), 1977 (Chiaroscuro) and 1979 (SteepleChase and Soul Note). In 2003, a new version of the group was convened for New York and international festival appearances. The current incarnation has peformed on occasion, most recently at ...

Lee Konitz / Martial Solal: European Episode / Impressive Rome

by AAJ Italy Staff
September 15, 2006

Per la gioia dei numerosi appassionati di Lee Konitz, viene pubblicata per la prima volta in CD questa duplice incisione romana del 1968, in cui l’altosassofonista di Chicago è alla testa di un quartetto davvero stellare. Lo compongono Martial Solal al pianoforte, Henry Texier al contrabbasso e Daniel Humair alla batteria. Come ben sanno i jazzofili più esperti, dai dischi di Konitz non ci si attendono esplorazioni di nuovi linguaggi. Memorabile e perfettamente riconoscibile è però il suo stile, fondato ...

Cool Konitz

by Russ Musto
January 22, 2005

Lee Konitz is cool. He was cool even before it was cool to be cool and he was cool even when it wasn't cool to be cool. And he's still cool. Since his earliest days performing Gil Evans' innovative arrangements with the Claude Thornhill Orchestra in 1947, the alto saxophonist has played with a distinctive sound that earned him a reputation for being the only alto saxophonist of the day who wasn't trying to imitate Charlie Parker. Konitz readily cites ...

Lee Konitz with Alan Broadbent: More Live-Lee

by AAJ Staff
December 30, 2004

Tristano disciples Lee Konitz and Alan Broadbent paired together back in 2000 at the Jazz Bakery for two nights of improvisational wizardry. Their first release, Live-Lee, was of such high quality that the remaining tracks have been assembled on the encore release. If anyone knows anything about these two souls, there is no such thing as a “leftover" performance; each song has here has the same merits and magic as the initial Live-Lee.

Broadbent and Konitz paint quite the picture ...

Lee Konitz Past and Present

by Jeff Stockton
December 18, 2004

You'd think that by now the influence and relevance of someone present at the Birth of the Cool might be frozen in time, but for Lee Konitz, after sixty years of alto innovation and excellence, reissues, first-time releases and new projects continue to appear at a steady clip.

Lee Konitz Peacemeal Milestone 2004 (1969)

Peacemeal , initially recorded and released in 1969, demonstrates that while Konitz never abandoned his trademark cleverness and laid back ...