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Lee Konitz

Born in Chicago, IL

Lee Konitz's Genre:

Cool, Saxophone Jazz, Jazz Instrument, Post-Bop, Jazz, Trumpet Jazz, Modern Creative

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

AOL Radio Stations Lee Konitz is Featured on (4)

Classic Jazz

Classic Jazz aims to touch on the whole story of Jazz. From the art of the early masters like Louis Armstrong to the trailblazers of today, the entire arc of this uniquely American music unfolds daily. Examples of early Swing, Big Band, Bebop, Hard-bop, Cool, Modal, Fusion, Latin Jazz, Bossa Nova, and Avante-garde merge into a a rich medley of timeless music.

Classic Jazz [Non-Voc]

Singers need not at apply on Slacker's Classic Jazz Non-Vocal. This is where the masters of jazz instrumentation live. Tune in and break it down with the greats. You'll hear Louis Armstrong, Lester Young, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and more!

Lee Konitz's Selected Discography (50)

1954 Jazz Masters

2013 Stardust Records201315 Songs

Easy Living

2012 Mocking Bird201214 Songs

Toot Sweet

Universal19916 Songs

Artists Related to Lee Konitz (50)

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	Stan Getz	One of the all-time great tenor saxophonists, Stan Getz was known as "The Sound" because he had one of the most beautiful tones ever heard.
	Bill Evans	With the passage of time, Bill Evans has become an entire school unto himself for pianists and a singular mood unto himself for listeners.
	Sonny Rollins	Sonny Rollins will go down in history as not only the single most enduring tenor saxophonist of the bebop and hard bop era, but also as one of the greatest contemporary jazz saxophonists of them all.
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	Joe Henderson	Joe Henderson is proof that jazz can sell without watering down the music; it just takes creative marketing.
	Horace Silver	From the perspective of the 21st century, it is clear that few jazz musicians have had a greater impact on the contemporary mainstream than Horace Silver.
	Kenny Burrell	One of the leading exponents of straight-ahead jazz guitar, Kenny Burrell is a highly influential artist whose understated and melodic style, grounded in bebop and blues, made him in an in-demand sideman from the mid-'50s onward and a standard by which many jazz guitarists gauge themselves to this day.
	Thelonious Monk	The most important jazz musicians are the ones who are successful in creating their own original world of music with its own rules, logic, and surprises.
	Hank Mobley	One of the Blue Note label's definitive hard bop artists, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley remains somewhat underappreciated for his straightforward, swinging style.
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	Clifford Brown	Clifford Brown's death in a car accident at the age of 25 was one of the great tragedies in jazz history.
	Oscar Peterson	Oscar Peterson was one of the greatest piano players of all time. A pianist with phenomenal technique on the level of his idol, Art Tatum, Peterson's speed, dexterity, and ability to swing at any tempo were amazing.
	Coleman Hawkins	Coleman Hawkins was the first important tenor saxophonist and he remains one of the greatest of all time.
	Dizzy Gillespie	Dizzy Gillespie's contributions to jazz were huge. One of the greatest jazz trumpeters of all time (some would say the best), Gillespie was such a complex player that his contemporaries ended up copying Miles Davis and Fats Navarro instead, and it was not until Jon Faddis' emergence in the 1970s that Dizzy's style was successfully recreated.
	Wes Montgomery	Wes Montgomery was one of the great jazz guitarists, a natural extension of Charlie Christian, whose appealing use of octaves became influential and his trademark.
	Dexter Gordon	Dexter Gordon had such a colorful and eventful life (with three separate comebacks) that his story would make a great Hollywood movie.
	Charlie Parker	One of a handful of musicians who can be said to have permanently changed jazz, Charlie Parker was arguably the greatest saxophonist of all time.
	Lester Young	Lester Young was one of the true jazz giants, a tenor saxophonist who came up with a completely different conception in which to play his horn, floating over bar lines with a light tone rather than adopting Coleman Hawkins' then-dominant forceful approach.
	Zoot Sims	Throughout his career, Zoot Sims was famous for epitomizing the swinging musician, never playing an inappropriate phrase.
	Ornette Coleman	One of the most important (and controversial) innovators of the jazz avant-garde, Ornette Coleman gained both loyal followers and lifelong detractors when he seemed to burst on the scene in 1959 fully formed.
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	Oliver Nelson	Oliver Nelson was a distinctive soloist on alto, tenor, and even soprano, but his writing eventually overshadowed his playing skills.
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	Count Basie	Count Basie was among the most important bandleaders of the swing era. With the exception of a brief period in the early '50s, he led a big band from 1935 until his death almost 50 years later, and the band continued to perform after he died.
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	Cannonball Adderley	One of the great alto saxophonists, Cannonball Adderley had an exuberant and happy sound that communicated immediately to listeners.
	Rahsaan Roland Kirk	Arguably the most exciting saxophone soloist in jazz history, Kirk was a post-modernist before that term even existed.
	Donald Byrd	Donald Byrd was considered one of the finest hard bop trumpeters of the post-Clifford Brown era. He recorded prolifically as both a leader and sideman from the mid-'50s into the mid-'60s, most often for Blue Note, where he established a reputation as a solid stylist with a clean tone, clear articulation, and a knack for melodicism.
	Johnny Hodges	Possessor of the most beautiful tone ever heard in jazz, altoist Johnny Hodges formed his style early on and had little reason to change it through the decades.
	Shelly Manne	Shelly Manne made a countless number of records from the 1940s into the '80s but is best-known as a good-humored bandleader who never hogged the spotlight.
	Art Tatum	Art Tatum was among the most extraordinary of all jazz musicians, a pianist with wondrous technique who could not only play ridiculously rapid lines with both hands (his 1933 solo version of "Tiger Rag" sounds as if there were three pianists jamming together) but was harmonically 30 years ahead of his time; all pianists have to deal to a certain extent with Tatum's innovations in order to be taken seriously.
	Kenny Barron	A thorough examination of Kenny Barron's musical accomplishments over a span of 50 years necessitates a discography of more than 200 pages.
	Bud Shank	Bud Shank began his career pigeonholed as a cool schooler, but those who listened to the altoist progress over the long haul knew that he became one of the hottest, most original players of the immediate post-Parker generation.
	Sonny Stitt	Charlie Parker has had many admirers and his influence can be detected in numerous styles, but few have been as avid a disciple as Sonny Sitt.
	The Modern Jazz Quartet	Pianist John Lewis, vibraphonist Milt Jackson, bassist Ray Brown and drummer Kenny Clarke first came together as the rhythm section of the 1946 Dizzy Gillespie & His Orchestra and they had occasional features that gave the overworked brass players a well-deserved rest.
	Steve Lacy	One of the great soprano saxophonists of all time (ranking up there with Sidney Bechet and John Coltrane), Steve Lacy's career was fascinating to watch develop.
	Shirley Scott	An admirer of the seminal Jimmy Smith, Shirley Scott has been one of the organ's most appealing representatives since the late '50s.
	George Shearing	For a long stretch of time in the 1950s and early '60s, George Shearing had one of the most popular jazz combos on the planet -- so much so that, in the usual jazz tradition of distrusting popular success, he tended to be underappreciated.