*How to Play Jazz Lesson* LEE KONITZ on what you hear while playing JAZZHEAVEN.COM Lesson Excerpt

Get a rare look behind the scenes of this master jazz improviser - and experience six (!) decades of Jazz History.

Lee Konitz (born October 13, 1927) is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.
Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings. Konitz was one of the few altoists to retain a distinctive sound in the 40s, when Charlie Parker exercised a tremendous influence on other players.

Like other students of pianist and theoretician Lennie Tristano, he was noted for improvising long, melodic lines with the rhythmic interest coming from odd accents, or odd note groupings suggestive of the imposition of one time signature over another. Paul Desmond and, especially, Art Pepper were strongly influenced by Konitz.

His association with the Cool Jazz movement of the 1940s and 50s, includes participation in Miles Davis' epochal Birth of the Cool sessions, and his work with Lennie Tristano came from the same period. During his long career, Konitz has played with musicians from a wide variety of jazz styles.

Konitz began his professional career in 1945 with the Teddy Powell band as a replacement for Charlie Ventura. The engagement apparently did not start out smoothly, as Ventura is said to have banged his head against a wall when Konitz played. A month later the band parted ways. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked off and on with Jerry Wald. In 1946 he first met pianist Lennie Tristano and worked in a small cocktail bar with him. His next substantial work was done with Claude Thornhill in 1947, with Gil Evans arranging and Gerry Mulligan as a composer in most part.

In 1949 he teamed up with the Miles Davis group for one or two weeks and again in 1950 to record Birth of the Cool. Konitz has stated that he considered the group to belong to Gerry Mulligan, and credits Lennie Tristano as the true forebearer of "the cool". His debut as leader also came in 1949, with the release of Subconscious-Lee on Prestige Records. He also turned down an opportunity to work with Benny Goodman that same year—a decision he is on record as regretting.

In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra. In 1961, he recorded Motion with Elvin Jones on drums and Sonny Dallas on bass. This spontaneous session, widely regarded as a classic, consisted entirely of standards. The loose trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and chromaticism.

Charlie Parker lent him support on the day Konitz's child was being born in Seattle, Washington with him stuck in New York City. The two were actually good friends, and not the rivals some jazz critics once made them out to be.

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 entire history of jazz, from Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" 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.

Konitz has been quite prolific, recording dozens 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.

Amongst his latest recordings are a pair of trio dates with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden released on Blue Note as well a live album recorded in 2009 at Birdland and released by ECM in 2011 featuring the same lineup with the addition of drummer Paul Motian.

Hope you enjoyed this How to Play Jazz Lesson

[tromboneJTS]

You can think a whole sentence or maybe even a few sentences ahead when you are talking or listening to someone else talk, so "hearing" or preparing to speak (or play a series of notes) must occur in a faster time frame than the actual speaking (or playing) in real-time.

[aunceter]

Some years back, it was listen to the bass player, that was recommended, to get the roots of the chord changes and essence of the rhythm!

[viggosimonsen]

Very interesting topic. There is definitely a difference in the subjective perception of the player at the moment of improvising - and that of the audience. Because when I record my solo and replay it afterwards, I hardly recognize anything of what I hear. It's like listening to the solo for the very first time.

[alexvanrose]

Fascinating. Will change the way I practice.

[milanthedrummer]

very good topic to speak about! kinda makes me thinkin about it all the time nowadays!

[Lanearndt]

challenge yourself while practicing to not just play what your fingers can reach but truly minimize, play less and wait for yourself to find the notes you're hearing in your head.

[yearoldwhiteboy]

See this is my problem. I hear the notes I want to play them and I even feel it at the right time.. but I don't know where it is on the piano.. I just don't know what keys to push

[noahvale]

Nothing against him personally, but this guy is, unfortunately, a feeble interviewer: inarticulate and clearly unprepared. I guess he thinks that all you have to do is invite a major jazz figure on your show and then just chat with him. Too many long pauses, too many silly questions. Sorry, that doesn't make it.