Saxman Konitz Offers an Imaginative, Unplugged Set

Lee Konitz is a musician who likes to do things his own way. And even before he stepped on stage at the Jazz Bakery on Tuesday night, it was obvious that the program would be guided by his own independent approach to making music.

The Bakery stage was hung with a large, curtained backdrop, and there were no microphones--a rarity for the room--and no drums. Konitz, with bassist Charlie Haden and pianist Brad Mehldau, had decided to do an acoustic set, with no electronic amplification and no percussion to intrude on the interaction between the three players.

When the alto saxophonist strolled on stage by himself to begin the set, he further underscored his desire to pursue imaginative ideas. Starting out by playing a note on his horn, he asked the audience in the half-full house to hum the same note. As the audience did so--with considerable urging from Konitz--he played a spontaneous solo with only the audience’s hummed note repetitions as a drone accompaniment.

Playing with great warmth, tossing in occasional dissonances into the early part of his solo, he gradually transformed his lines into a brief statement of the standard “Alone Together.” And the audience, simply by humming, became part of the improvisation.

Haden then joined Konitz for a pair of duo improvisations on “How Deep Is the Ocean” and “Like Someone in Love.” The choices were as spontaneous as the rest of the program. After pondering for a moment about what to play, Konitz asked Haden, “How about ‘Like Someone in Love?,’ ” and Haden replied, “Sure.” “In A-flat?” added Konitz. “Why not?” said Haden. And they were off to the races.

Mehldau came on for the remainder of the set, a program of introspective, similarly unrehearsed journeys through standards such as “I Hear Music,” “Body and Soul” and the bebop line “Au Privave.”

Performances such as this, in which listeners have the opportunity to have a relatively open view into the musicians’ thought processes, are rare and wonderful events. Konitz, in particular, was fascinating to watch as he built his improvisations, pausing here and there to allow the music to breathe, with brief but intense moments of silence serving as punctuation to his flowing, melodic inventions.

The very spontaneity of the music also opened the door to possible roller-coaster levels of quality, especially in the early stages, as the musicians became accustomed to one another’s idiosyncrasies. Yet Konitz, masterful improviser that he is, veteran of every imaginable musical situation, consistently brought everything together.

One of the great, surviving players of jazz’s postwar renaissance, Konitz is an artist whose music demands to be heard--especially in such an open, revelatory setting.

* Lee Konitz, Charlie Haden and Brad Mehldau at the Jazz Bakery through Saturday, 3233 Helms Ave. (310) 271-9039. $20 today, Friday and Saturday at 8:30 p.m.; $18 today, Friday and Saturday at 10:15 p.m. Konitz duets with guitarist Larry Koonse on Sunday at 8 p.m. $18.