Leewise

Pfff! They’re dropping like flies. The Grim Reaper has just cut the grass under the feet of another venerable musician. Lee had 92 candles on his last birthday cake. Who knows how far he’d have gotten if it hadn’t been for that infuriating virus?

His sudden demise was certainly not foreseen by the Storyville crew, who launched almost simultaneously (48 hours later) the re-release of a recording made in 1992, following the awarding of the prestigious Jazzpar prize (rewarding an eminent jazzman every year in Copenhage, from 1990 to 2004) to Konitz. As one of the first orchestras with which Konitz made a name for himself was the nonet on Miles Davis’ famous Birth of the Cool, this one comes to close the loop, so to speak. You can hear again the clear and pure timbre that was his, often in duet with some of the musicians of the ensemble, The Jazzpar All Star Nonet directed by Jens Søndergard. Which shouldn’t make us overlook that Konitz had a career as long – at 80 years old, he was still active – as it was varied, marked by many milestones, including the glory days when the alto-man had a brass clash with tenorman Warne Marsh in the quintet of pianist Lennie Tristano, his stint in Stan Kenton’s big band, his meeting with clarinettist Jimmy Giuffre, his trio album Motion with Elvin Jones, his album Crosscurrents with Warne Marsh and the Bill Evans trio, and his duet with pianist Martial Solal, to name but a few of hundreds of of memorable moments.