1982 · Album
Live at the Berlin Jazz Days 1980
Recorded Berlin Jazz Days, 1980 · Not confirmed · Produced by Not confirmed
Konitz in the Berlin Moment
A master saxophonist playing exactly what he wanted, when he wanted it, for people who understood.
By 1980, Lee Konitz had spent three decades proving he wasn't interested in following anybody's rules. He'd moved past the cool jazz associations of his early work, past the expectations that came with his name. This Berlin performance captures him doing what he did best in his later years: playing with absolute conviction, no compromise, no attempt to please anybody but himself and the musicians on stage with him. The sound is direct and sometimes raw—Konitz's alto cuts through with that distinctive, slightly nasal tone that some people found austere and others found honest. There's no softness here, no nostalgia. These are the choices of a man who knew exactly who he was.
What matters about this record is that it documents Konitz live, which always revealed something studio sessions couldn't. There's a restlessness in his playing, an unwillingness to settle into obvious melody lines. He digs into standards and originals with the same relentless curiosity. The rhythm section locks in tight, giving him room to wander, and he takes it. Tempos breathe instead of metronomically ticking. You hear him thinking in real time, making choices that aren't always comfortable but always feel necessary.
This isn't the place to start with Konitz—earlier records like Subconscious-Lee (1949) or Lee Konitz with Warne Marsh (1955) offer easier entry points. But if you already know his music and want proof that he never phoned it in, that he was as vital playing a Berlin jazz festival in 1980 as he'd been thirty years earlier, this delivers exactly that. It's not essential, but it's real.
Who's playing
Martial Solalpiano
Lee Konitzalto saxophone
Where next?
More by Lee Konitz
All 15 albums →
The musicians on this record
Their own records, close in time
