Lee Konitz Quartet at Jazz at Kitano

Lee Konitz has performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s includes participation in Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions and his work with pianist Lennie Tristano. He was notable during this era as one of relatively few alto saxophonists to retain a distinctive style when Charlie Parker exerted a massive influence.

Like other students of Tristano, Konitz was noted for improvising long, melodic lines with the rhythmic interest coming from odd accents, or odd note groupings suggestive of the imposition of one time signature over another. Other saxophonists were strongly influenced by Konitz, notably Paul Desmond and Art Pepper....

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Lee Konitz has performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s includes participation in Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions and his work with pianist Lennie Tristano. He was notable during this era as one of relatively few alto saxophonists to retain a distinctive style when Charlie Parker exerted a massive influence.

Like other students of Tristano, Konitz was noted for improvising long, melodic lines with the rhythmic interest coming from odd accents, or odd note groupings suggestive of the imposition of one time signature over another. Other saxophonists were strongly influenced by Konitz, notably Paul Desmond and Art Pepper.

Lee Konitz - Sax
Frank Kimbrough Piano
Jeremy Stratton Bass
Georg
Alto saxophonist Lee Konitz combined 1940s stints in Claude Thornhill's orchestra and Miles Davis-Gil Evans led "Birth Of The Cool" nonet playing alongside tenor saxophonist Warne Marsh and pianist Lennie Tristano to create a unique post-bebop sound that has been described both as dry and cool, and passionate and angular. Konitz later parlayed gigs with Stan Kenton and Elvin Jones into a solo career that has spanned five decades and marks him as one of the living masters of the saxophone.

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