Lee Konitz (born 1927 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz composer and saxophone player. 1927 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Chicago, colloquially known as the Second City and the Windy City, is the third-largest city in population in the United States and the largest inland city in the country. ... Jazz is a musical art form originally characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Saxophones of different sizes play in different registers. ...

Konitz is sometimes regarded as the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist, due to his performing and recording with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano (both are often cited as important cool jazz proponents of the mid 1940's), and Miles Davis' on his epochal Birth of the Cool, which gave the form its name. Along with the bebop movement developed during the 1940s, the 1950s ushered in a lighter, more romantic style of jazz called cool. ... Claude Thornhill (August 10, 1909 - July 1, 1965) was an American pianist, arranger, and bandleader. ... Leonard Joseph Tristano (1919 - 1978) was a jazz pianist and composer. ... Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 – September 28, 1991) one of the most influential and innovative musicians of the twentieth century, was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. ... Birth of the Cool is an LP released in 1957 by Capitol Records in the USA, collecting eleven of the sides recorded by the nonet featuring Miles Davis, Gerry Mulligan and others in 1949 and 1950. ...

Konitz has also been repeatedly noted as one of the few jazz saxophonists of the late 1940's and 1950's who did not seem imitative of the massively influential Charlie Parker. Jazz is a musical art form originally characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... A saxophonist is a musician who plays the saxophone. ... Charlie Parker Charles Parker, Jr (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. ...

In the early 1950's, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra. Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 - August 25, 1979), was an American jazz pianist, and bandleader known for his innovations in jazz music. ...

In 1961, he recorded "Motion" with Elvin Jones on Drums and Sonny Dallas on Bass. The spontanious session, widely regarded as a classic in the cool genre consisted entirely standards. The loose trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and chromaticism.

In 1967, Konitz recorded The Lee Konitz Duets, a series of duets with various musicians. The duo configurations were often unusual for the period (saxophone and trombone, two saxophones). The recordings drew on very nearly the history of jazz to date, from a Louis Armstrong dixieland number with valve trombonist Marshall Brown to two completely free duos: one with a Duke Ellington associate, violinist Ray Nance, and one with guitarist Jim Hall. Jazz is a musical art form originally characterized by blue notes, syncopation, swing, call and response, polyrhythms, and improvisation. ... Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971) (also known by the nicknames Satchmo and Pops) was an American jazz musician. ... Dixieland or Dixie is a name for the south-eastern portion of the USA; see: U.S. Southern States, Dixie. ... Never look at the trombones. ... Marshall Brown (1920 - 1983) was a jazz musician and educator. ... Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the taste of the musicians involved, and not in any particular style. ... Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy Duke Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz composer, pianist and bandleader. ... A violinist is an instrumentalist who plays the violin. ... Ray Willis Nance (1913 - 1976) was a jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. ... The classical guitar typically has 3 nylon and 3 nickel-wound strings. ... James Stanley Hall (born December 4, 1930) is a jazz guitarist and composer. ...

Konitz has been quite prolific, recording dozens of albums as a bandleader. He has also recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others. Dave Brubeck is an American jazz pianist who wrote a number of jazz standards, including In Your Own Sweet Way and The Duke. ... Ornette Coleman Ornette Coleman (born March 19, 1930) was one of the major innovators of the free jazz movement of the 1960s, and one of the most notable figures in jazz history. ... Charles Mingus Stamp issued by the USPS on September 16, 1995. ... Gerry Muligan Gerald Joseph Gerry Mulligan (April 6, 1927 – January 20, 1996) was an American jazz musician, composer and arranger best known for his baritone saxophone playing who also played the piano and the clarinet. ... Elvin Jones Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 - May 18, 2004) was a jazz drummer. ...

External links

• A 1985 interview