Lee Konitz, jazz saxophonist
Lee Konitz, jazz saxophonist
Lee Konitz, the last surviving member of the ensemble that played on the 1949 and 1950 sessions that became Miles Davis’ 1957 album Birth of the Cool, died April 15 of pneumonia, a complication of COVID-19, according to NPR. He was 92.
Over his 70-year career, Konitz put out solo albums and also collaborated with Bill Evans, Anthony Braxton, Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Bill Frisell.
Leon Konitz was born on October 13, 1927, in Chicago to Jewish parents of Austrian and Russian descent. At the age of eleven, Konitz received his first clarinet. However, he later dropped the instrument in favor of the tenor saxophone. He eventually moved from tenor to alto. His greatest influences at the time were the swing big bands he and his brother listened to on th...
