Konitz excels with the standards

Alto saxophonist Lee Konitz was barely out of his teens in the late ‘40s when many jazz listeners cast him in a role he neither claimed nor wanted -- the alternative to Charlie Parker. In those years, when Parker (with Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell) was inventing the vocabulary of bebop, Konitz’s laid-back, angular style did indeed have distinct differences from the rapid-fire, harmony-extending qualities of bebop.

The greater value of Konitz’s playing, however, was not as an alternative but as a stellar example of what jazz is supposed to be all about: the uniqueness of the individual artist.

On Saturday night at the Jazz Bakery, Konitz, now 75, displayed all the characteristics of that uniqueness in the attractive, musically wide-open setting of a trio with bassist Darek Oles and drummer Joe La Barbera. Typically, the material consisted of standards -- “Star Eyes,” “It’s You or No One,” “Body and Soul” and “Cherokee.” Each tune, most notably the latter two, became source material for Konitz’s arching improvisations.

In his musical lexicon every note has a reason, phrases move effortlessly across bar lines, and harmony becomes an engine for melodic invention, rather than (as with so many of today’s young players) the source of bravura arpeggios.

Oles and La Barbera were brilliant collaborators (so much so, in fact, that Konitz brought in a recording unit in midweek to produce a live recording).

Flowing freely within the utter spontaneity of each selection, they provided Konitz with the perfect combination of supportive accompaniment, creative counterpoint and subtle rhythmic drive.