Lee Konitz

Lee Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American composer and alto saxophonist.
He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's association with the cool jazz movement of the 1940s and 1950s includes participation in Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool sessions and his work with pianist Lennie Tristano. He was one of relatively few alto saxophonists of this era to retain a distinctive style, when Charlie Parker exerted a massive influence.
Like other students of Tristano, Konitz improvised 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. Other saxophonists were strongly influenced by Konitz, such as Paul Desmond and Art Pepper.
Konitz died at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City on April 15, 2020, as a result of pneumonia brought on by Coronavirus.
== Links to Peel ==
Peel played a few tracks from Lee Konitz's recorded work in 1982, taken from albums released in the 1950's, which the DJ obtained from the BBC library. In addition, in the same year the DJ played a track from Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool, perhaps the most famous of all the recordings on which the saxophonist was featured. 
Konitz was a "musician's musician" who paid no attention to commercial trends such as jazz-rock or fusion. This explains why he was less well-known by the non-jazz public than some of his contemporaries, but even if Peel paid little attention to his work, producers John Muir and John Walters, both jazz-lovers, would have been aware of it. 
== Shows Played ==
;thumb|330x330px1982
*29 November 1982: Reiteration (LP - Lee Konitz Collates) Esquire
*01 December 1982: Subconscious Lee (album- Subconscious-Lee) Prestige LP 7004
*19 December 1982 (BFBS): Subconscious Lee (album- Subconscious-Lee) Prestige LP 7004
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
Category:Artists