#GreatAlbums1950s - #LeeKonitz – Subconscious-Lee (1955). These 1949-50 sessions were a key document in the so-called Tristano school – students of pianist/ teacher Lennie Tristano who carved their own niche in 40s-50s bop. Konitz, whose alto sax also graced Miles’s Birth of the Cool, plays with clean melodicism against Tristano’s cool chords and Billy Bauer’s lean guitar. The solos, including Warne Marsh’s tenor sax on some tracks, are like fluid conversations among friends.

#GreatJazzAlbums

Sunshine & blazing heat is perfect for some West Coast #jazz. So I’m #NowSpinning #LeeKonitz Plays with the Gerry Mulligan Quartet & it’s a swinging, toe-tapping delight. Carson Smith, in particular, is stand out, particularly on the opening track. Oh, & Chet Baker makes an appearance.

This is another #TonePoet cut by #KevinGray & it really is well done. Great SQ, well put together & this particular copy cost me £3.99. Yep you read that right.

#NowPlaying #NowListening #VinylRecords #Vinyl

#LeeKonitz and his famed commitment to youth. Here with what was then a young outstanding German trio led by 🎹 Walter Lang. One of Lee’s finest quartet outings. He starts at levels good players can only dream of.

Chilling, hard. #jazz #leekonitz #jackdejohnette #dickkatz #marshallbrown

This is one of the first #jazz tunes I ever heard. It was recorded on a 78 with #buddydefranco’s ‘Good For Nothing Joe’ on the B side. ‘#Wow’:
#LennieTristano, p;
#LeeKonitz, as;
#WarneMarsh, ts;
#BillyBauer, g;
#ArnoldFishkin, b;
#DenzilBest, d.
‘Wow’ is usually played at a blistering tempo and involves a tricky 16th note chorus.

Just on that photo: Backrow trumpet: #Miles. #Dizzy, #FatsNavarro! #CharlieParker. #LennieTristano. #BillyBauer (Tristano grp) guitar. #PeteRugolo, one of the great arrangers. Arranged for Kenton. Missing until next year: #StanGetz for #CharlieVentura and #LeeKonitz for #Bird. #jazz. ICYI @grimethorpeband

I think #LennieTristano wrote two ‘heads’ over the standard ‘Back Home in Old Indiana’:
• Back Home
• No Figs
At the end of the full statement of ‘No Figs’ Tristano (1949-50, Metronome All Stars)) #LeeKonitz and Lennie play this mental coda. Lee and #Bird (shown) just alternated years!

#LeeKonitz

@vromans @classicalmusic Voted DAP due to circumstances. Started out on 78s #leekonitz. Then those really clay-pigeon type LPs. Then vinyl. My first vinyl was Kohon Qrt, #Schoenberg Str. Qrt. No.1. Reel to Reel. Cassettes (easily the worst ever). Reluctantly having repeated ‘Over my dead body’ CDs. Then everything through smartphone iTunes. My 9yo nephew said way back: Name a tune! I said ‘Hi Beck’, Lee Konitz. He found them (all different versions)I was like 🤗🫢

Lee Konitz.
Peer and friend - pause on that – of #CharlieParker #Bird #LeeKonitz
The #AltoSaxophone was not ideally suited to jazz. It’s difficult to say why. The existence of the C-Melody saxophone may go some way. I have a point of view which I might share sometime. It’s a bit contentious. Will need to check on things (though sources are rare). But in the modern era of #bebop the alto fitted in well (it could hardly have failed to) as the C-Melody seemed to fade. 🎷

@gthomson They had some spiritual thing going on. #LennieTristano was linked with #WilliamReich. The latter was stark staring mad and should’ve been incarcerated in my opinion. #Tristano did’t play like he did because of #orgones. The late Ind suggests getting on board. My view: get taught by Lennie: then let go = #LeeKonitz.

#Jazz #StanKenton paid well. He was deemed progressive in the financially precarious big band realm (compare Woody Herman). His orchestral sound was so powerful, with brass sections rising up in unison, like a battleship’s 15” guns (deliberate theatrics) threatening to blast the concert hall windows out. Somehow he attracted #LeeKonitz to the 1st alto chair. #Tristano was outraged. Lee always claimed he gained a stronger alto saxophone sound at Kenton. 🎷 #8thnotes

#jazz musicians whose identity could be determined by hearing just one note*
#LeeKonitz
#CharlieHaden
#DeweyRedman
#CharlieRouse
*NB Players like #Bird #CharlieParker & #MilesDavis suffer here because they were ripped off. Tough for pianists too (no embouchure).

#PaulMotian 25/3/31 — 22/11/11
#LennieTristano said to Paul (who adored Lennie’s percussive piano playing & also played with #LeeKonitz & #WarneMarsh #Quintet when #BillEvans sat in for the ever elusive #Tristano) "Your 4s sound like a drunk falling down the stairs". People mistook this for an insult. Motian had this remarkable open, almost slack time. It was quite deliberate and Lennie was kidding though Lennie played RIGHT ON the beat. That in turn bugged #KeithJarrett a little. #jazz #drums

We have to distinguish between commercialising one’s output (Moody’s Mood, Getz’s Jazz Samba?) & developing the #jazz form. #MilesDavis never compromised a note despite the foray into #fusion & #jazzrock. #ManfredSchoof, once l’enfant terrible with #SteveLacy & #MalWaldron turned to pop! In many ways this is about jazz’s cultural stock! The 70s were difficult for people like #LeeKonitz & #LennieTristano, #CharlieMingus. #Pioneers. Jazz missed a beat in the #1970s.

I think my favourite #LeeKonitz #photo. I’m guessing: 1965, backstage Carnegie Hall, 10th #CharlieParker Memorial. Lee Konitz, the Other Alto Player, was asked to perform an impromptu ‘Blues for #Bird’, an insight into how far Lee had established himself in the heavens. Lee began hesitantly: "I feel a little presumptuous standing all alone up here. If anyone wants to join in please do". The resulting performance was as if Bird stood at his side. #Jazz #AltoSaxophone.

#Bebop represented the key shift from popular music to #art from. Stan Getz was initially lambasted for #JazzSamba. #Bird too for recording with strings! #LeeKonitz, of all people, was accused of abandoning the ‘true path’! James Moody, arguably among the finest players of bebop with #Gillespie’s 1965 Quintet, totally hammed it up. Un derrated #JohnHandyIII too. My view is that Bird,Moody, Handy worked through appalling, humiliating civil rights abuses. So, #SoWhat

Until #Coltrane it’s possible to conceive of the jazz tenor #saxophone as essentially tributaries around two massive, distinct deltas: #ColemanHawkins, the rabble-rouser & Lester ‘The President’ or ‘Pres’ Young ⬇️. #Pres, #BillieHoliday’s friend, mentor & favourite sax player, defined a largely cross-accenting, vibrato-less style focusing on phrasing rather than timbre to determine improvisation approach. #LesterYoung, from which 2 significant tributaries #LeeKonitz & #WarneMarsh (=> #MarkTurner)

Until #Coltrane it’s possible to conceive of the jazz tenor #saxophone as essentially tributaries around two massive, distinct deltas: #ColemanHawkins, the rabble-rouser & Lester ‘The President’ or ‘Pres’ Young ⬇️. #Pres, #BillieHoliday’s friend, mentor & favourite sax player, defined a largely/accenting vibrato-less style focusing on phrasing rather than timbre to determine improvisation approach. #LesterYoung, from which 2 significant tributaries #LeeKonitz & #WarneMarsh (=> #MarkTurner).

I’d like to have written an esteemed #jazz book. Generally jazz writing is poor, lazy. Can’t think of anything good in the general works since #IraGitler. I remember buying them all during the 1980s. Even #LeeKonitz could barely get a mention let alone #LennieTristano and #WarneMarsh. I’d flick through the index first. And yet all 3 are historically significant. Interesting that an appreciation of #Tristano et al’s music underwent a total renaissance during the 1990+s by players & writers.