Solos – The Jazz Sessions – Lee Konitz

SOLOS: the jazz sessions is a 39 part television music profile/performance series. Each episode features complete musical pieces, interviews and behind-the-scenes footage with some of today’s most notable jazz artists. Shot in HDTV with multiple moving cameras and a medley of elegant, cinematic lighting designs, SOLOS: the jazz sessions showcases an exciting and dynamic variety of jazz styles – from the blues and boogie-woogie to bebop and beyond.

One of the most individual of all alto saxophone players, the cool-toned Lee Konitz has always had a strong musical curiosity that has led him to consistently take chances and stretch himself, usually quite successfully. 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.

• Generally considered one of the driving forces behind ‘Cool Jazz’
• Konitz was with Miles Davis’s Birth of the Cool Nonet during their one gig and their Capitol recordings (1948-1950)
• In 1992, he won the prestigious Jazzpar Prize
• He kept a busy release schedule throughout the ’90s and dabbled in the world of classical with 2000’s French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century.

Tracks:

• · Thinking · Kary’s Trance · The Rebirth of Cool · Subconscious · Improvisation #1 · What’s New