Alto saxophonist Lee Konitz is a longtime master of melodic improvisation who’s played a part in some of jazz’s most momentous acts–the Claude Thornhill big band and the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool nonet in the late 1940s, and the Lennie Tristano groups of the 1950s and early 1960s. After working in Stan Kenton’s orchestra and making some albums for Atlantic, Konitz recorded a series of LPs as a leader in the late 1950s for the Verve label…

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I received word this morning from bassist Don Messina that pianist Sal Mosca passed away yesterday afternoon at the age of 80. Mosca, whose story as a musician is inevitably linked to teacher/mentor Lennie Tristano, was…

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In lieu of the proverbial time machine that could take us back to 52nd Street circa 1950, or the Plugged Nickel circa 1968, there’s always YouTube. Recently videos of the Lennie Tristano Quintet performing Subconscious-Lee, 317 E. 32nd St., and Background Music at New York City’s Half Note club in 1964 have been posted. This was–if I’m not mistaken–one of the last times that alto saxophonist Lee Konitz performed with Tristano, and tenor great Warne Marsh was there as well.

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Victor Young Composer and film scorer Victor Young received more than 20 Oscar nominations for his film work, and he authored some of the most frequently heard melodies in the jazz canon. Nearly 50 years after his death, he remains…

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Sometimes when a great jazz musician dies, another jazz musician writes a musical tribute. On this Memorial Day weekend edition of Night Lights we’ll hear elegies for Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Sonny Clark, Clifford Brown, Billie Holiday and more, from artists such as Lennie Tristano, Bill Evans…

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