Lee Konitz
Alto Sax Solo on
The Song Is You

About

Lee Konitz's two-chorus alto saxophone solo opens the improvisation on this live trio performance of Jerome Kern's expansive standard. Over the 64-bar AABA form at 225 BPM in C, Konitz approaches the familiar changes with the freshness and unpredictability that had characterized his playing since his pioneering recordings with Lennie Tristano in the late 1940s. The extended 64-bar form provides a generous harmonic canvas, and Konitz's two choruses exemplify his lifelong commitment to spontaneous melodic invention, his long-breathed phrases navigating the changes with relaxed mastery.

Lee Konitz was 68 to 69 years old at the time.