Lee Konitz

Steve Arguelles: Here

by Vincenzo Roggero
November 27, 2023

In che modo ci si approccia ad una registrazione di solo batteria, se sei un batterista che non crede negli assoli di batteria? Su questa domanda le note di copertina argomentano in modo brillante, lucido, esaustivo. Il musicista in questione è Steve Arguelles veterano della più vivace scena britannica, membro fondatore dei fondamentali Loose Tubes e Human Chain, collaboratore di musicisti come Lee Konitz, Kenny Wheeler, Hugh Masekela, Chris McGregor. La registrazione avviene nella chiesa luterana di ...

Lennie Tristano Personal Recordings, 1946-1970

by Peter Rubie
February 24, 2022

They called it the Cool School, but what's in a name?In this case, quite a lot as it happens. The Cool School included musicians like Chet Baker, John Lewis and the Modern Jazz Quartet, and Dave Brubeck. Under the guidance of arranger and composer Gil Evans, it established itself in an unquestionable way with the release of Miles Davis' album Birth of the Cool (Capitol Records) in 1957, though the music had actually been recorded some eight or ...

Stan Kenton and His Orchestra: In a Lighter Vein

by Jack Bowers
December 13, 2020

Stan Kenton was a man of many moods, as was his intrepid and popular orchestra, which endured until his passing in August 1979 and whose renown is kept alive even today by the Stan Kenton Legacy Orchestra. Kenton dons his carefree hat on In a Lighter Vein, an assortment of straight-ahead themes from the orchestra's jazz library, preserved in five concert performances from 1953-55 beneath the umbrella of NBC radio's All Star Parade of Bands. Original compositions ...

Lee Konitz Tribute and New Releases

by Bob Osborne
May 21, 2020

On this edition a celebration of the music of jazz giant Lee Konitz together with some new releases: Denman Maroney brings an inventive and creative approach to the piano with his new album. Exploring different aspects of the keyboard with his “hyperpiano" he delivers a fresh and exciting sound. JUNO-nominated Canadian jazz quartet, Peripheral Vision release a new double album with producer Jean Martin creating a bigger sound for the record, adding layers of overdubs and ...

Lee Konitz: Il Ricordo di D'Andrea, Fasoli, Giuliani, Pieranunzi, Rava e Tommaso.

by Paolo Marra
April 30, 2020

Il sassofonista Lee Konitz è stato una delle figure più influenti del jazz moderno non solo per il suono unico al contralto e un senso dell'improvvisazione senza eguali, ma anche per essere rimasto nell'arco della sua lunga carriera sempre fedele a sé stesso ponendo la musica come protagonista assoluta della sua espressività, senza inutili esibizionismi. Dopo aver militato nell'orchestra del pianista e compositore Claude Thornhill a Chicago entra a far parte del nonetto di Miles Davis—conosciuto anche con ...

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.

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 ...

Video: Bill Evans and Lee Konitz, 1965

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
November 25, 2022

To my American readers in the U.S. and abroad, Happy Thanksgiving. To the rest of the world, Happy Thanksgiving. Today is one of our favorite holidays. It's nondenominational and celebrates cooperation with others for the sake of mutual survival. And like all great holidays, a robust meal is the focus and consumed with family and friends as we say thanks for all that is good and kind. In this spirit, I thought I'd serve up a video of Bill Evans ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Lee Konitz

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2022

All About Jazz is celebrating Lee Konitz's birthday today!

Konitz is sometimes regarded as the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist, because he performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano (both often cited as important cool jazz proponents of the mid 1940s), and with Miles Davis on his epochal Birth of the Cool, which gave the form its name. Konitz has also been repeatedly noted as one of the few jazz saxophonists of the late 1940s and 1950s who did not ...
read more

Jazz Musician of the Day: Lee Konitz

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2021

All About Jazz is celebrating Lee Konitz's birthday today!

Konitz is sometimes regarded as the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist, because he performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano (both often cited as important cool jazz proponents of the mid 1940s), and with Miles Davis on his epochal Birth of the Cool, which gave the form its name. Konitz has also been repeatedly noted as one of the few jazz saxophonists of the late 1940s and 1950s who did not ...
read more

Lee Konitz in Spain, 2018

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
June 30, 2021

On March 26-28, 2018, Lee Kontiz was in Almeria, Spain, on a limited 12-day tour of Europe. He was 90 and starting to feel the effects of his age and fatigue. But that didn't stop him. Like all great artists, Lee was determined to power through and create and explore until the very end, leaning into life's winds. In Spain, Lee spent time at the residence of the Valparaíso Foundation in Mojácar. While he was there, Manuel Rubio filmed a ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Lee Konitz

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2020

All About Jazz is celebrating Lee Konitz's birthday today!

Konitz is sometimes regarded as the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist, because he performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano (both often cited as important cool jazz proponents of the mid 1940s), and with Miles Davis on his epochal Birth of the Cool, which gave the form its name. Konitz has also been repeatedly noted as one of the few jazz saxophonists of the late 1940s and 1950s who did not ...
read more

Jazz musicians silenced by coronavirus (updated)

Source: Ken Franckling's Jazz Notes
April 19, 2020

Here's a listing of jazz-related deaths from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), updated as we receive them. Our profound sympathies to their families, friends and fans as we remember the musical legacies they have given us. Argentina-born jazz saxophonist Marcelo Peralta, died in Madrid on March 10. He was 59. Peralta moved to Spain in 1996. Congolese singer Arlus Mabele, the king of soukous, an Afro-Caribbean dance rhythm similar to the rhumba, died March 19 in Paris. He was 66. New ...
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Lee Konitz (1927-2020)

Source: JazzWax by Marc Myers
April 17, 2020

Lee Konitz, an alto saxophonist who helped develop an East Coast jazz style in the late 1940s that writers labeled “cool jazz" and went on to establish a sound in Stan Kenton's early 1950s orchestra while exploring free jazz in small groups throughout his career, died on April 15. He was 92. Lee's cool jazz was marked by a drier sound and an absence of the blues. As Lee mentioned to me over a 2013 breakfast during an interview for ...
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Lee Konitz, 1927-2020

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
April 17, 2020

Lee Konitz died today in a New York City hospital. He was 92. Known primarily for the individualism of his alto saxophone work, Konitz in his later years also played soprano saxophone. Using aspects of phrasing, rhythm and tonal quality adapted from the great tenor saxophonist Lester Young, Konitz in the 1940s developed into one of the most distinctive soloists in jazz. His mid-forties recordings with pianist and composer Lennie Tristano influenced dozens of musicians who wanted to develop apart ...
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At 92, Lee Konitz Has A New Album

Source: Rifftides by Doug Ramsey
November 4, 2019

Seeking consideration, albums arrive by the dozens. The reviewer must decide which ones will get his attention. Wearing a blindfold and searching randomly through the burgeoning stacks of incoming CDs (and occasional LPs), is not productive. So, we fall back on name recognition, listening experience and trust, hoping to do justice to a few of the hordes of discs that the post office, FedEx, DHL and UPS deliver in ceaseless profusion. So…onward. Over the next few days, we shall consider ...
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Jazz Musician of the Day: Lee Konitz

Source: Michael Ricci
October 13, 2019

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