Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

 

Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html

Home

Events 

E-mail

Purchase CDs

| Stan Getz | Getz | Charles McPherson McPherson |  | Steve Lacy | Lacy | Wayne Shorter Shorter |  | Billy Pierce Pierce |  | Lee Konitz | Konitz | Mel Martin (Bell) | (Bell)  | Mel Martin (SJ) | Joe Henderson | Henderson | Benny Powell | Powell | Rufus Reid Reid |  | Benny Golson | Golson | Bobby Watson atson |  | James Moody | Moody | Frank Foster | Foster  | Johnny Griffin | Griffin |

This i s a reprint of the Lee K Konitz onitz interview in Downbeat Magazine, Dec December ember 1985. I once took a few seminally important lessons from Lee K Konitz onitz as a teenager and thi s was one of the techniques he showed me that opened many doors to the world of improvisation. - M.M.

BY DAVID KASTIN  In Japan, Jap an, where tr tradi adi ti tion on i s revered, an and d where a great pot potter ter o orr sh shakuh akuhachi achi mas master ter i s designated a "National Living Treasure," Lee Konitz would certainly be a prime candidate for  such an honor. honor. Konitz is a master of the art of jazz improvisation. The alto saxophonist saxophoni st on  Miles  Mil es Da Davi vis' s' h hii sto stori ricc Bi Birth rth Of Th Thee Cool sess sessii ons ons,, bot both h si dema deman n an and d lea leader der i n an extraordinari extraor dinari ly w wide ide range of contexts, K Konitz onitz is a musician of unshakable integri integrity ty w who ho has continued to develop and refine his hi s craft. he has al also so (for the last 40 years) been teac teaching hing jazz keeping kee ping ali ve a tradition that for Lee began began during hi s ow own n studies with the legendary piani st, saxophonist, composer composer,, and theore theoretici tician an Lennie Tristano. For Konitz, Konitz, musi c is more than a series of tones set in time, it i t is nothi ng less than "a life  force." Yet, as bot Yet, both per perfor former mer a and nd tteacher eacher, Koni Konitz tz h has as ch chosen osen atoset co count unter er th thee rat rather herderived  m mysti ysti cal and potentially frihghtening frightening challenges of ,improvisation with of organically back-to-basic techniques that are a direct outgrowth of his own very profound experience.  At fi f i rst Lee iiss reluct reluctant ant to ttalk alk ffreely reely abo about ut h hii s ideas i deas and experi experiences ences a ass a tteacher eacher Hi Hiss

1 de 6 Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

 

14/11/2013 18:41 http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html

reservations seem to stem from a combinati reservations combination on of the musi musicians cians natural wariness of words,  Lee's inna i nnate te reti reticence cence ab about out self self-promo -promoti tion, on, a and nd ssome ome u under ndersta standa ndable ble d defensi efensi veness veness,, I th thin ink, k, about both the questionable status of the working working jazz musician musi cian and our society's undisgui sed  contempt for teaching. But once he gets started, Lee Konitz Konitz talks a lot like he plays qui quiet, et,  fluii d, tthou  flu hought ghtful ful,, yet iinten ntense. se.

*********************************************************************************** I studied with Lennie Tris Tristano tano in Chicago when I was in my late tteens. eens. I'd m met et him and was immediately impressed by him. He was a blind man, and the communication was unusual in that sense; but he always talked very straight with me. He was a musician/philosopher. He always had  interesting insights when we got together for a lesson or a rehearsal. I didn't know, as yet, anything about the music as an art form. But he felt and communicated that the music was a serious matter. It wasn't a' game or just a means for making a living; it was a life force. He got through thro ugh to me because sudden suddenly ly I was taking m music usic seriously seriously.. He was the first one to t o present a method for im improvised provised jazz playing. Almost ev everyone eryone at some  point or ot other her came to stud study y with him to find ou outt what he was talking about. I respect what he was doing as an artist, and I'm trying to keep that alive. I'm trying to be true to product at all times. The well-educated musician must have the information from the music first of all, and then find  out whateducation. it all me means ans names and the by rules axi axiom omeverything is is.. All th that atwe adds upand to afinally well-balanced  musical Wethe start out playing ear,and learning can, ending up  playing by ear again. again. Y You ou just absorb it, and it b becomes ecomes part of your abilit ability y to p perceiv erceivee from then on. In order to play, you need a very solid view of the most basic information: the tune and the harmony (about 10 7th chords); that's all the harmony we're dealing with in the traditional kind  of tune tun e pl playing aying.. I have tried to find a more organic way of develop developing ing and using this informatlon so that people do don't n't ove overshoot rshoot the ma mark rk when in their enthusiasm they attempt to create new melodies. The goal of having to unfold a completely new melody on the spot and appraise it as you go the closer you look at it, can be frightening! So I think that first and foremost you have to adhere to the song for a much, much longer period of time. You have to find out the meaning of  embellishment before going on to try to create new melodies. I believe that the security of the song itself can relieve much of the anxiety of jumping into the unknown. I suggest the kinds of compositional devices that are available: a trill, a passing tone, an appoggiatura that can bridge one melody note to another The point is, you're still playing the melody, but you're doing something to it now. And there are many levels of this process before you get anywhere near n ear creating new melody material. Starting out as a performer performer,, I had n nev ever er explo explored red th these ese ideas enou enough. gh. There I was was,just ,just a kid really,  playing with all these t hese people peop le [Miles, Tris Tristano tano,, Mull Mullig igan]. an]. It was as a result of th that at experience th that at I went back b ack to analyze what made me feel off off-balan -balance ce sometime sometimes, s, like I was overextending m myself  yself  in some way. Certainly with the proper stimulus you can function for a while, and my spirituality carried me through in many situations. But then: 1 started backtracking, and it was in my own  backtracking that it occurred o ccurred to t o me that tthere here mig might ht b bee a way of possibly taking some of the mystery mys tery ou outt o off the pro process cess with more knowingness knowingness..

2 de 6 Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

 

14/11/2013 18:41 http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html

I also base my ideas about practice on the playing of tunes and working with embellishment. So if  one is given a two hour period of time to practice, I feel that a student can play tunes for two hours and end up knowing those tunes better and faster than if he warmed-up on scales and  arpeggios for an hour-and-half and played tunes for half-an-hour. I think, though, that in a daily  practice routine rou tine th there ere shoul should d be a littl littlee section call called ed "g "go o for it!" Ev Even en if it's way beyond what you're dealing with just go for it, anytime you feel like it, and then get back and finish the  practice. I try to address playing the instrument properly, knowing as many of the principles as possible and still being flexible. A player can choose what kind of embochure most natural him, which feels best and helps him produce the sound he wants. But thereisare some rightto and wrong ways to do things. For example, there's a right way of touching the reed to produce what is called  an "attack;" a large variety of ways from the so called "brush," a light brush of the reed, to staccato, stacca to, tthe he hardest kind of hit, and all th thee degr degrees ees in between that can be exper experienced ienced and then  brought  brou ght to tthe he muslc in a person personal al way. way. Then to play a tune like All The Things You Are, what you need aside from the basic information I' I've ve outlined is an example of someone you admire playing a v version ersion of it, an and, d, o overa verall, ll, an intimate familiarity with the great soloists, and an understanding of what a great solo consists of  It's the most logical and sensible thing to do if you want to learn how to hear Charlie Parker's music, duplicate his solos. Listening that closely, you can experience every detail. It's a matter of   being able to hear it, du duplicate plicate it on you yourr instrument, write it o out, ut, experience it and draw your  own conclusions conclu sions.. I function as a trouble-shooter of sorts when I teach. I can see what's going on from the  perspective of a performer performer.. I can bring that kind of reality to the sub subject ject rig right ht from the active area of my music-m music-making aking.. So it it's 's g got ot to be b e more vi vital tal than any kind o off codified inform information ation or  theoretical fact from one who's not able to demonstrate. I have students on all levels and  considering my definition definition of learning from analyzing rrecordings, ecordings, I realize that's what a lot of the  players have done to t o my m music usic over the years. So, I' I'd d have to co consider nsider tho those se peopl peoplee my sstud tudents, ents, in a way. way. Recentl Recently y I joined th thee staff at Tem Temple ple Univ University ersity in Philadel Philadelphia. phia. I do what's called a master class and coach a group of students and play music with them. I got the position on the  basis of my my being a perform performer er firs firstt and that I hav havee to be free to do my tours. It's just what we ho hope pe for as players. Often we either have to take the security of a job like this and stop playing (as somee people d som do) o) or else find a way to do both. And if a sc school hool is rea really lly hip eno enough ugh to know that, you can bring them something special that way then it's ideal.  Lee Konitz Koni tz h has as d develop eveloped ed an app approach roach tto o iimprovi mprovi sat satio ion n ba based sed o on na1 10-level 0-level ssystem ystem.. The fi rst rst,, and most i mportant, level is the song iitself tself . It then progre progresses sses increme incrementally ntally through more sophisti cated stages of embe embellishment, llishment, gradually di displacing splacing the ori original ginal theme w with ith new ones. The process process culminates i n the creation creation of an entirely new me melodic lodic structur structure. e. K Konitz onitz calls this  fi  final nal level "a "an n act of p pure ure iinsp nspii rat ratii on." - D D.K. .K.  

3 de 6 Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

 

14/11/2013 18:41 http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html

4 de 6 Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

 

14/11/2013 18:41 http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html

5 de 6 Lee Konitz 10-Step Method

14/11/2013 18:41 http://www.melmartin.com/html_pages/Interviews/konitz.html

 

Features | Upcoming Events | Events | Bios Bios |  | | Education Page Page |  | Interviews and | Main Menu | Menu | Special Features | Articles | Articles  | | Recordings Recordings |  | Mel Martin Quartet | Quartet  | Benny Carter Tribute Band Band |  | Bebop  Bebop and Beyond Beyond |  | Booking Information Information |  | Endorsments and Awards Awards |

| Home | © COPYRIGHT 1996 - 2007 and Beyond Beyond - Mel Martin M artin mel melmartin.com