Saxophonist Lee Konitz was a student of pianist and composer Lennie Tristano, a pivotal figure of cool jazz and bebop who did his part linking those traditions to the avant-garde. The two ended up recording together.
Konitz’s music, like Tristano’s, is fleet and dense, with lots of hairpin turns and dizzying runs. It’s kinetic and packed with detail. Charlie Parker’s innovations were cerebral from the start, and Konitz, along with Tristano, took some of the puzzle-logic of the tunes and attacked them with an impressive mix of energy, restraint and a willingness to push counterpoint and melodic invention to extremes. In its way, the playing reflected the fragmented reality of 20th century urban life.
Konitz is an eminence. He played on Miles Davis’s landmark “Birth of the Cool” sessions from 1949 and 1950. You can hear the influence of Konitz any time you listen to Paul Desmond and the timeless sound of “Take Five.” Fans of Bob Brookmeyer, Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Hodges and Jimmy Giuffre know that Konitz is a member of that same pantheon.
Konitz turned 91 this month! Go see him.
The Lee Konitz Quartet plays The Side Door, 85 Lyme St., Old Lyme, Oct. 19 and Oct. 20 at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $45. 860-434-0886 or thesidedoorjazz.com.