Lee Konitz, an alto saxophonist known for his commitment to the art of jazz improvisation, died on Wednesday at the age of 92. His son, Josh Konitz, told NPR that the cause was pneumonia due to COVID-19.
Today, Lee Konitz is best remembered for a series of recordings he made with the Miles Davis Nonet in 1949 and 1950. Those sessions were later collected in the 1957 compilation album Birth of the Cool, one of the most influential works of jazz or any other genre in the last 100 years. Konitz had been the last surviving member of the Nonet.
Born in Chicago on October 13th, 1927, Lee Konitz began his career as a teenager, studying improv with the blind pianist Lennie Tristano. While his early lessons were grounded in the freewheeling bebop of Charlie Parker, he went on to create spontaneous music across almost every sub-genre of jazz, performing with such titans as Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Max Roach, Stan Getz, and Chet Baker. His collaborative spirit, combined with his 75-year-career, led to a one of the largest discographies in modern music history, spanning over 70 single-spaced pages.
During all that time Konitz never had a publicist, record deal, or even an email account. And while he didn’t make the “big money”, as he told NPR, he also made a living doing exactly what he loved. He said,
“Well, it’s as modest as it could be. I never got into the big money, or the big record sales area. So I can move around as an old-timer, so to speak. And have that kind of respect and opportunity to play. It’s great.”
In 2009, the National Endowment for the Arts named Konitz an NEA Jazz Master.
Revisit the recent season of The Opus, which covered another Miles Davis classic, Bitches Brew. Episode one is streaming below, and the rest can be found here.
Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Stitcher
R.I.P. Lee Konitz, Pioneering Saxophonist and Miles Davis Collaborator Dead at 92
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