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Complete-Lee: Konitz's 80th Birthday Bash in New York June 25th Print E-mail
Written by Don Berryman   
Monday, 18 June 2007
Image
Lee Konitz © Andrea Canter
"Konitz is a master of the art of jazz improvisation. The alto saxophonist on Miles Davis' historic Birth Of The Cool sessions, both sideman and leader in an extraordinarily wide range of contexts, Konitz is a musician of unshakable integrity who has continued to develop and refine his craft." -David Kastin, Downbeat Magazine

On Monday, June 25th JVC Festival New York presents Lee Konitz's 80th Birthday Celebration at Zankel Hall, 57th Street & 7th Avenue in New York, starting at 8:30 PM. Mr. Konitz will be playing in various configurations, performing with Orquestra Jazz Matoshinos, with the New None, with a String Quartet, and special guests Paul Motian and Steve Swallow. Tickets at the Carnegie Hall box office and www.carnegiehall.org.


The New Nonet features arrangements of Kontiz's compositions arranged by internationally recognized composer/saxophonist Ohad Talmor, who also directs the ensemble. This incarnation represents the third time Lee Konitz has assembled his fabled Nonet in his sixty-year career. Their 2005 live recording, featuring a band of top improvisers from New York and Rio, captured the energy and spontaneity of a six-night gig at NY’s Jazz Standard, and has received critical acclaim. The set includes "ChromaticLee Suite," a six-part invention by Konitz and Talmor that pays homage to Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool. Talmor and Konitz also collaborated on the string quartet project that produced the brilliant Inversions CD, released last year.


Lee Konitz © Howard A. Gitelson
Lee Konitz © Howard A. Gitelson
The last survivor of Miles Davis' The Birth of Cool sessions, Lee Konitz is regarded as the preeminent cool jazz saxophonist. Despite the 'cool' label, and his age, Konitz plays with a fiery passion usually associated with youth. Lee Konitz performed and recorded with Claude Thornhill, Lennie Tristano, and with Miles Davis on The Birth of the Cool, which gave the genre its name. In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra. Known for his unique phrasing and chromaticism, Konitz is an iconoclast who was one of the few alto saxophonists of the late 1940s and 1950s who was not a Charlie Parker imitator. Always a trail-blazer, Konitz also collaborated on what is considered the first free jazz recording (Crosscurrents, 1949).

Konitz has been extremely prolific, recording scores of albums as a band leader. He has also recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others. Over his 60 plus year career he has become ever more adventurous and expansive in his playing. Konitz has a fondness for jazz standards, but he really turns them inside-out, exploring and expanding harmony and melody in a way that reveals new and sometimes startling beauty. In recent recordings, including After Hours and Alone Together with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden, Konitz continues to push toward more free and avant-garde expressions. He also leads a nonet that plays his compositions.

Lee Konitz's Beautiful 80th Birthday Party 6/25

Lee Konitz with Orquestra Jazz Matoshinos
Lee Konitz with New Nonet
Lee Konitz with String Quartet
plus Special Guests
Paul Motian & Steve Swallow
Directed by Ohad Talmor

Zankel Hall
57th Street & 7th Avenue
New York, NY
8:30pm

 

Tickets at the Carnegie Hall box office and www.carnegiehall.org

 
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