Lee Konitz

is among the last living legends from the early days of cool jazz when he was a featured soloist with Lennie Tristano and Miles Davis. Combining his Chicagoan roots with an outstanding sense for abstraction, he has long been hailed as an influential American figure in the evolution of European jazz. He also became a teacher to students worldwide, and along the way there have been various polls won. Although Konitz is no stranger to unusual contexts, his newest project "Strings For Holiday" is something very special. Meeting the challenge "to play a melody the way a singer would sing it" (Konitz), this album is the saxophonist's thank-you for Billie Holiday's inspiration.

And much more: Konitz paid close and constant attention to the written score created by Daniel Schnyder who is not only an accomplished saxophonist himself but an experienced arranger with many compositions for orchestra, strings, and soloists to his credit. Schnyder's charts on "Strings For Holiday" incorporate some verbatim quotes from Lester Young's solos, and, as Schnyder puts it, "there are tunes on top of tunes on top of tunes in there," changing Billie's vocals and Prez' improvisations into voices for strings. Listen carefully and you will find that the 12 tunes are arranged in the 12 different modes.

This new Konitz nonet (plus Schnyder in the arranging and conducting chair) is an environment which allows three generations to be all true to themselves and to one another, with the whole framework fitting like a glove. Though the newest tune here is almost 50 years old, this music has a freshness and zing which will delight the ears of veteran Konitz fans, Lady Day devotees, and many more. It is a new approach from any angle, just the sort of thing that makes jazz a living art form.

May 1999 release with Steve Swallow & Paul Motian: THREE GUYS (ENJ-9351 2