Dead at 92 of the ‘rona.
The last remaining member of the groundbreaking 1949 Miles Davis “Birth of the Cool” Nonet, member of the Lennie Tristano Sextet, and bandleader in his own right.
Probably the best jazz show I ever saw was Lee Konitz with Paul Bley and Steve Swallow, at the Regattabar, Cambridge, Mass. I think it was September of 2000. Sat maybe 10 feet from the stage. What a trio!
Lordy, did they ever record together? There’s a trio I’d want to hear (alto sax, piano, and bass, for th’ squares).
First time I heard Konitz, he was leading his Nonet at the Jazz Forum, a 12th floor loft at the corner of Broadway and Great Jones Street. Summer of 1981. Great venue, closed a year later. Floor-thru loft space, stage in the middle facing the bar on the other side, long stretches of comfy sofas where you could lean back and light up a reefer.
Jimmy Knepper (trombone) was in the band, with Charli Persip on drums. The trumpet was a very young Tom Harrell, the paranoid schizophrenic…Lee was very fatherly toward him, watching over him carefully when he soloed. At one point, Tom freaked out in the middle of a chorus and left the stage, and Lee very smoothly stepped up and took over the solo. We were impressed.
Not that I’m aware of. There is this, which is just fine, and another called Pyramid, which I haven’t heard.