Lee Konitz R.I.P.

[ghost of miles]

2 hours ago, BillF said:

Saw him in Leeds in the 60s in a small club and sat a few feet in front of him with my bassist friend Danny Padmore. Danny, intrigued by Lee's Tristanoesque improvisations on standards was impelled to sing a few licks himself. Lee took the horn out of his mouth and sang a few back! I guess there was a connection between them as Danny was taught bass by leading Tristanoite Peter Ind, then teaching at Leeds College of Music.

Wasn’t that part of the Tristano teaching method—having his students sing notable jazz solos? 

[JSngry]

8 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

...Hearing Al and Lee together ...

Yes, let's be doing that, albeit from an unlikely(?) source!

 

[Larry Kart]

31 minutes ago, JSngry said:

Yes, let's be doing that, albeit from an unlikely(?) source!

 

Famous Tom Brokow quote re: The New Millllenium: "Yes, those events only come along about every thousand years."

[BillF]

8 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Wasn’t that part of the Tristano teaching method—having his students sing notable jazz solos? 

Yes indeed.

[Steve Reynolds]

Saw Lee in France (forget the City) in maybe 1994 with Reggie Workman and a drummer I was unfamiliar with. Lew Tabackin was in the audience.

it was the first or second jazz show I ever saw. 
 

RIP, Sir!!

[Larry Kart]

No Konitz obit in the Chicago Tribune today -- at least none that I could find. There was a link to a brief paid obit among the death notices. Geez! A native Chicagoan in addition to everything else. There is a big tribute to Brian Dennehy on the front page of the Arts section, though.

[Larry Kart]

A top notch latter-day  (2001) Konitz album. He's in great form, and Perry is an excellent frontline partner. Fine rhythm section: Harold Danko, Jay Anderson, Billy Drummond.

 

[Д.Д.]

9 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

A top notch latter-day  (2001) Konitz album. He's in great form, and Perry is an excellent frontline partner. Fine rhythm section: Harold Danko, Jay Anderson, Billy Drummond.

 

Yes! 

[Milestones]

I'm very partial to this record, especially their rendition of "Lover Man."

[Peter Friedman]

On 4/16/2020 at 6:29 AM, John Tapscott said:

Saw him once in Toronto with a local rhythm section. Just played one of his excellent Nonet records last week. I generally preferred his earlier music to some of his later things. But a real giant of the music, for sure. R.I.P. Lee Konitz.   

The last time I saw Lee Konitz was also in Toronto with a local rhythm section. A friend from Chile was visiting our mutual friend John Norris in Toronto. John had another commitment, so Pepe and I headed over to see Konitz.

I had previously seen Lee in Detroit way back (in probably the 50's) when he and Warne Marsh had a quintet (with maybe Tristano???). They were part of a touring jazz show with a variety of other groups.

I share the opinion of John Tapscott in that I prefer his earlier music compared with some of his later recordings.

[JSngry]

 

Sublimest of the sublime. Desert Island material, although time standing still on a desert island might not be something everybody would appreciate. That notion makes some people nervous, or so I've observed over some time and no desert islands.

However, if - then, ok?

On ‎4‎/‎16‎/‎2020 at 8:58 AM, bresna said:

I actually liked this a lot more than i thought I would when it first came out. My thinking was, "If it was so good, why did it take so long to come out?". How wrong I was. I was able to get Lee to sign it at one of the many times I saw him perform.

God only knows what's survived, but if they got 34 tracks for the Warne record...if all of those (and more?) are still around, you're talking a helluva historically and immediately profound document waiting to be unleashed on an unworthy world, aural quantum mechanics you can pat your foot to.

Besides, Bill Evan is relevant to this gig like a freaking donkey is to the Grand Canyon.

[duaneiac]

On 4/16/2020 at 11:27 AM, John Tapscott said:

It wasn't the big Innovations Orchestra, but the slightly later "New Concepts" band,  mid '52-early 54.  Lee's playing with Kenton was excellent IMO. The Bill Russo and Bill Holman charts were ideally suited to him. And yes, Lennie was angry with Lee for going with Kenton, but Lee had a family and needed a lot more money than Lennie could pay.  

Lee Konitz joined the Kenton band in August of 1952.  This Aug. 26, 1952 broadcast is supposedly his first night with the band.

You can hear Mr. Kenton welcome and introduce Lee Konitz at around the 7:30 mark.

[Al in NYC]

Even though he once told my father to go to hell, I dearly loved Lee Konitz, and I think my dad loved him even more.  He could be a cantankerous man, in the best sense of the word, and sure didn't suffer fools (a confrontation with some chatty idiots at a Jazz Standard show a few years back was especially memorable, and hilarious), but he was also caring, generous, curious, and would play with all sorts of musicians he respected.  Hence all of the great recorded collaborations pointed out by many here. 

I have been listening today to several of his recordings from the late '60s through the '70s.  During this period it feels like he was breaking out of the Tristano/bop/cool box he'd been in since the earlier years of his career, either through his own affiliations or the pigeon-holing of record companies and critics, and really stretching out and using his considerable talents and the vocabulary he came with to make really adventurous music.  Beyond the compelling musical conversation and challenges he continued with Warne Marsh during this period, I have always particularly been attracted to his ongoing collaborations with Martial Solal.  From the wonderful Impressive Rome and European Encounter forward, particularly the amazing Satori with Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette from 1974.

I was fortunate enough to have several opportunities to see him perform, from a show at the West End way back when I was first at Columbia to the last time I saw him at the Charlie Parker festival in Harlem a couple of years ago. His playing was always always magnificent and compelling and reflective of a deep engagement with both other musicians and jazz history. Of course, he was a part of so much of that history, and with Lee's passing we move further on from a direct connection with a lot of that history, from Claude Thornhill to Bird and bop, Birth of the Cool, and the whole cool jazz moment of the 1950s (to which Lee may have been somewhat wrongly attached, but attached he certainly was, and he played with most of the important figures). Even though he was in his 90s, this one really hurts, especially because its a reminder our human and artistic connections to one of the most pivotal and exciting moments in American musical history are now being forever severed.

Bye Lee...

[Peter Friedman]

This memory regarding Lee Konitz just came to mind. My good friend,  the late George Ziskind , a jazz pianist lived in Manhattan. He told me the story of how he ran into Lee Konitz one day, roughly 6 or 7 years ago. They arranged to get together one day at Lee's apartment. George told me how much fun he had playing duets all afternoon with Konitz.

[Ken Dryden]

I used to trade broadcast recordings with George Ziskind, I think that I met him through drummer Mat Marucci. 

[Larry Kart]

On the Swedisc LP "Sax of a Kind --"Lee Konitz in Sweden, 1951/3" there's a 1953 Konitz with the Kenton Band concert performance in Gothenberg of "Lover Man" that must have been an out-of-body experience for Lee.  The album is o.o.p.; I see there's a copy on eBay.

The other tracks on the album are with simpatico Swedes.

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

Can it be said Konitz is one of the few American musicans who could not just be "backed up" by europeans, but was fully compataible with collaborating with Europeans and improvising together w/ europeans as easily as he could fit in doing the same w/ american musicians- konitz and keith jarrett are the first two and only two that come to mind, though theres probably others i dont know about

[clifford_thornton]

43 minutes ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

Can it be said Konitz is one of the few American musicans who could not just be "backed up" by europeans, but was fully compataible with collaborating with Europeans and improvising together w/ europeans as easily as he could fit in doing the same w/ american musicians- konitz and keith jarrett are the first two and only two that come to mind, though theres probably others i dont know about

For sure. Slide Hampton, Barre Phillips, and Stu Martin also come to mind, as do Mal Waldron and Nathan Davis.

[Justin V]

Between 2012 and 2017 (when I saw him the day after he turned 90), I managed to catch Lee Konitz in 5 states and DC.  Whatever the setting, I was always spellbound by the melodic beauty of his improvisations.  I'm grateful to have experienced his playing live and to have overcome my nerves to briefly chat with him once and shake his hand.

Thank you for the music, Mr. Konitz, and rest in peace.

[ghost of miles]

Back when the Take 2 series was yielding musical treasure on CD:

[chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez]

he was at the height of his career always  unlike literally all other musicans, jazz or rock-- he never had a career "slump"- he just was always getting better and continually excellent

[Dmitry]

I took these on October 19, 2018 at The Side Door, in Connecticut [one of the best jazz clubs in the world, imho].

He was frail, forgetful,cantankerous, and wonderful that night in Old Lyme.

 

Good bye, Lee!

[Guy Berger]

I really love Lee’s music, especially the post-1965 music.  I was enjoying the Birdland recording on ECM last night - with a killer rhythm section of Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian.

I saw Lee only one - at the Blue Note in NYC, with Bill Frisell, Gary Peacock, and Joey Baron.  Great gig.

Btw JSngry once said about the cover picture on a LK Btw JSngry once said about the cover picture on a LK album:

”If I didn't know who they were and saw that photo, I'd still think it was a bunch of crazyass old men.

 

And I do mean that as a compliment.”

Edited April 18, 2020 by Guy Berger

[Dmitry]

Tonight, I wasn't drinking alone.

 

[RiRiIII]

Revisiting his Verve records:

6 hours ago, ghost of miles said:

Back when the Take 2 series was yielding musical treasure on CD:

Absolutely. Marvelous series. I would never have had access to these recordings without these series. Viva the CD!

So, your post made me revisit my japanese Lee Konitz collection:

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by RiRiIII
correction