Biography
Born on 13 October 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, Konitz took up the clarinet first and pursued formal classical training before turning to the alto saxophone. By the middle and later 1940s he was performing in the ensembles of Jerry Wald and Claude Thornhill, appeared on jazz sessions alongside Miles Davis, and was studying at the same time with Lennie Tristano, with whom he also made recordings. Early in the following decade he joined Stan Kenton, remaining until shortly before the close of 1953; by then his profile and worldwide standing were firmly established. From the middle 1950s forward he generally directed his own groups for both concerts and recordings, made a short return engagement with Tristano, and began to teach. Over the ensuing years his commitment to instruction expanded into clinics, workshops, private lessons, and correspondence courses that reached students around the globe. In the middle 1970s several albums recorded with Warne Marsh won prompt praise and strong sales; around the same period he assembled a nine-piece group patterned after the one led by Davis three decades earlier.
Among the scarce alto saxophonists of his era who remained untouched by Charlie Parker, Konitz steered clear of every stylistic template except the one he fashioned himself. Where many contemporaries stayed fixed, he demonstrated repeated adaptability, absorbing fresh ideas as they arose. His tone itself evolved: at first deliberately lean, it grew fuller while he was with Kenton so that the orchestra’s volume would not overwhelm him. (“It was not easy playing alto in that band. Next time around, I’d rather be the drummer.”) Deeply engaged with jazz pedagogy, he urges students to honor their material and uses his courses to instill solo improvisation as a disciplined practice comparable to ensemble performance. His own work continues to exemplify the reflective branch of contemporary jazz that prizes considered thought over spontaneous reflex. In 2002 he received the DownBeat critics award as alto saxophonist of the year.
Among the scarce alto saxophonists of his era who remained untouched by Charlie Parker, Konitz steered clear of every stylistic template except the one he fashioned himself. Where many contemporaries stayed fixed, he demonstrated repeated adaptability, absorbing fresh ideas as they arose. His tone itself evolved: at first deliberately lean, it grew fuller while he was with Kenton so that the orchestra’s volume would not overwhelm him. (“It was not easy playing alto in that band. Next time around, I’d rather be the drummer.”) Deeply engaged with jazz pedagogy, he urges students to honor their material and uses his courses to instill solo improvisation as a disciplined practice comparable to ensemble performance. His own work continues to exemplify the reflective branch of contemporary jazz that prizes considered thought over spontaneous reflex. In 2002 he received the DownBeat critics award as alto saxophonist of the year.
Albums
