William James Edwards "Bill" Lee III^[1] (born July 23, 1928) is an American musician. He has played the bass for many artists including Cat Stevens, Harry Belafonte, Chad Mitchell Trio, Gordon Lightfoot, Aretha Franklin, Odetta, Simon and Garfunkel, and Bob Dylan. On the original release of Dylan's classic song "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", Lee on bass guitar is the only musician performing other than Dylan himself.^[2]

Life and career[link]

Lee was born in Snow Hill, Alabama, the son of Alberta Grace (Edwards), a concert pianist, and Arnold Wadsworth Lee, a musician.^[3] With his first wife, Jackie, he had five children, including film director Spike Lee (born 1957), still photographer David Lee (born 1961), actress Joie Lee (born 1962), and filmmaker Cinqué Lee (born 1966)^[4] and has composed original music for many of his son's films, including She's Gotta Have It, School Daze, Do the Right Thing and Mo' Better Blues. With his second wife, Susan, he has one son, Arnold Lee,^[5] who plays alto saxophone.^[6]

Film work[link]

• Music director and performer on the song "Nola," She's Gotta Have It (also see below), Island, 1986.
• Music conductor of Natural Spiritual Orchestra, School Daze (also see below), Columbia, 1988.
• Music conductor of Natural Spiritual Orchestra, Do the Right Thing(also see below), Universal, 1989.
• Music director, Mo' Better Blues (also see below), Universal, 1990.

Film appearances[link]

• Sonny Darling, She's Gotta Have It (also see below), Island, 1986.
• Bassist in the Phyllis Hyman Quartet, School Daze (also see below), Columbia, 1988.
• Father of the Bride, Mo' Better Blues (also see below), Universal,1990.

Stage work[link]

• (With Stuart Scharf) Music arranger, A Hand is on the Gate, Longacre Theatre, New York City, 1966.

Television appearances[link]

• Has appeared on the television show Today and Harry Belafonte television specials.

Album appearances[link]

• The Descendants of Mike and Phoebe: A Spirit Speaks
• The Brass Company: Colors (Strata East)
• Richard Davis: On Philosophy of the Spiritual (Buddah), Fancy Free (Galaxy) and With Understanding (Muse)
• Richard Adams: Harvest (Muse)
• The Warm Voice of Billy "C": Where have you been Billy Boy (Strata East)
• Clifford Jordan: Glass Bead Games (Strata East)
• Peter, Paul & Mary: Album (Warner Bros.)
• Harold Mabern: A Few Miles From Memphis (Prestige), Rakin' and Scrapin' (Prestige)
• First Ian & Sylvia Album

Film music[link]

• Score, She's Gotta Have It, Island, 1986.
• Score, and songs "Straight and Nappy," "Be One," and "Wake Up Suite," School Daze, Columbia, 1988.
• Score, Do the Right Thing, Universal, 1989.
• "Mo' Better Blues" and "Again Never," Mo' Better Blues, Universal,1990.
• Composer of score for the short film "Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads."

Stage music[link]

• (Contributor) Yes, God is Real, Apollo Theatre, New York City, 1988.

Opera[link]

• Composer. The Depot, One Mile East, Baby Sweets, The Quarter, The Rabbi, Monica, Juan Valdez and the children's opera Little Johnny.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bill Lee at the Internet Movie Database

This article about an American musician is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

William Lee or Will Lee or Bill Lee or Billy Lee may refer to:

Other uses[link]

• William Lee (bishop of Clifton) (1875–1948), Roman Catholic bishop
• William Lee (bishop of Waterford and Lismore) (born 1941), Roman Catholic bishop
• William Lee (captain), colonial writer and ship's captain
• William Lee (civil engineer) (1812–1891), English bibliographer of Daniel Defoe
• William Lee (English judge) (1688–1754), British judge and MP for Wycombe
• William Lee (inventor) (c. 1563–1614), inventor of the stocking frame
• William Lee (valet) (c. 1750–1828), George Washington's personal servant
• William C. Lee (1895–1948), American Army soldier and general
• William Charles Lee (born 1938), U.S. federal judge
• William Harold Lee (1884–1971), American architect
• William Henry Lee (1799–1878), Canadian civil servant
• Bill Lann Lee (born 1949), Chinese-American civil rights lawyer
• William Franklin Lee III (1929–2011), pianist, former Dean of the University of Miami School of Music
• USS William Lee (1836)

Politics and government[link]

• William Lee I (died 1425), Member of Parliament (MP) for Shropshire
• William Lee II (died c. 1442), MP for Staffordshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme
• William Lee (Australian politician) (1794–1870), New South Wales politician
• William Lee (diplomat) (1739–1795), American diplomat
• William Lee (mayor) (1822–1906), mayor of St. Paul, Minnesota, 1870–1872
• William Lee (1545–1637), five times mayor of Abingdon: his family tree of 197 descendants hangs in St Helen's Church, Abingdon
• William Lee (1801–1881), British Member of Parliament for Maidstone, 1853–1857 and 1859–1870
• William Lee (1726-1778), British Member of Parliament for Appleby, 1754–1756
• William Henry Fitzhugh Lee (1837–1891), Confederate Army general and US congressman
• William Little Lee (1821–1857), first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court for the Kingdom of Hawaii
• William Swain Lee (born 1935), American lawyer and politician
• William E. Lee (1852–1920), Minnesota politician

Entertainment and literature[link]

• William Harold Lee (1884–1971), American theater designer and architect
• Will Lee (1908–1982), American actor
• William S. Burroughs (1914–1997), American novelist and essayist, who used 'Bill Lee' as a pen name and for several characters
• Bill Lee (singer) (1916–1980), American singer who voiced many Disney characters
• Bill Lee (musician) (born 1928), American jazz musician and composer
• Billy Lee (1929–1989), actor
• Will Lee (bassist) (born 1952), aka William Franklin Lee IV, American musician and bassist
• Bill Lee (author) (born 1954), Chinese-American writer and ex-gang member
• Will Yun Lee (born 1971), American actor
• William Gregory Lee (born 1973), American actor

Sports[link]

• Bill Lee (American football) (1911–1998), American football player
• Bill Lee (left-handed pitcher) (born 1946), American baseball pitcher [aka Spaceman]
• Bill Lee (right-handed pitcher) (1909–1977), American baseball pitcher
• Bill Lee (yacht designer), designer of Merlin 70' Santa Cruz ULDB
• Billy Lee (baseball) (1894–1984), American baseball outfielder
• Billy Lee (footballer) (1878–1934), English footballer
• William "Caveman" Lee (born 1956), American middleweight boxer

Business[link]

• William F. Lee, co-managing partner of law firm WilmerHale
• William Ellsworth Lee (1867–1936), American oil businessman and financier
• William States Lee III (1929–1996), ex-chairman of the board of Duke Power

Fiction[link]

• Billy Lee, character in video game series Double Dragon
• Bill Lee (Stargate), fictional character in the television series Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis

See also[link]

• William Lea (1805–1876), miller
• All pages with titles containing "William Lee"

This disambiguation page lists articles about people with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

John Coltrane
John Coltrane, live at Birdland
Background information
Birth name	John William Coltrane
Also known as	"Trane"
Born	(1926-09-23)September 23, 1926 Hamlet, North Carolina, US
Died	July 17, 1967(1967-07-17) (aged 40) Huntington, New York, US
Genres	Avant-garde jazz, bebop, hard bop, post-bop, modal jazz, free jazz
Occupations	Saxophonist, composer, bandleader
Instruments	Tenor, soprano, and alto saxophone, bass clarinet, flute
Years active	1946–1967
Labels	Prestige, Blue Note, Atlantic, Impulse!, Pablo
Associated acts	Alice Coltrane, Miles Davis Quintet, Thelonious Monk, Pharoah Sanders, Eric Dolphy
Website	johncoltrane.com

John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz. He organized at least fifty recording sessions as a leader during his recording career, and appeared as a sideman on many other albums, notably with trumpeter Miles Davis and pianist Thelonious Monk.

As his career progressed, Coltrane and his music took on an increasingly spiritual dimension. His second wife was pianist Alice Coltrane, and their son Ravi Coltrane is also a saxophonist. Coltrane influenced innumerable musicians, and remains one of the most significant tenor saxophonists in jazz history. He received many posthumous awards and recognitions, including canonization by the African Orthodox Church as Saint John William Coltrane. In 2007, Coltrane was awarded the Pulitzer Prize Special Citation for his "masterful improvisation, supreme musicianship and iconic centrality to the history of jazz."^[1]

Biography[link]

Early life and career (1926–1954)[link]

Coltrane's first recordings were made when he was a sailor

John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, North Carolina on September 23, 1926, and grew up in High Point, NC, attending William Penn High School (now Penn-Griffin School for the Arts). Beginning in December 1938 Coltrane's aunt, grandparents, and father all died within a few months of each other, leaving John to be raised by his mother and a close cousin.^[2] In June 1943 he moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He enlisted in the Navy in 1945, and played in the Navy jazz band once he was stationed in Hawaii. Coltrane returned to civilian life in 1946 and began jazz theory studies with Philadelphia guitarist and composer Dennis Sandole. Coltrane continued under Sandole's tutelage until the early 1950s. Originally an altoist,^[3] during this time Coltrane also began playing tenor saxophone with the Eddie Vinson Band. Coltrane later referred to this point in his life as a time when "a wider area of listening opened up for me. There were many things that people like Hawk, and Ben, and Tab Smith were doing in the '40s that I didn't understand, but that I felt emotionally."^[4]

An important moment in the progression of Coltrane's musical development occurred on June 5, 1945, when he saw Charlie Parker perform for the first time. In a DownBeat article in 1960 he recalled: "the first time I heard Bird play, it hit me right between the eyes."^[3] Parker became an early idol, and they played together on occasion in the late 1940s.

Contemporary correspondence shows that Coltrane was already known as "Trane" by this point, and that the music from some 1946 recording sessions had been played for Miles Davis—possibly impressing the latter.^[5]

There are recordings of Coltrane from as early as 1945. He was a member of groups led by Dizzy Gillespie, Earl Bostic and Johnny Hodges in the early- to mid-1950s.

Miles and Monk period (1955–1957)[link]

The rivalry, tension, and mutual respect between Coltrane and bandleader Miles Davis was formative for both of their careers

Coltrane was freelancing in Philadelphia in the summer of 1955 while studying with guitarist Dennis Sandole when he received a call from trumpeter Miles Davis. Davis, whose success during the late forties had been followed by several years of decline in activity and reputation, due in part to his struggles with heroin, was again active, and was about to form a quintet. Coltrane was with this edition of the Davis band (known as the "First Great Quintet" - along with Paul Chambers on bass, Philly Joe Jones on drums, and Red Garland on piano - to distinguish it from Davis's later group with Wayne Shorter) from October 1955 through April 1957 (with a few absences), a period during which Davis released several influential recordings which revealed the first signs of Coltrane's growing ability. This First Quintet, represented by two marathon recording sessions for Prestige in 1956 that resulted in the albums Cookin', Relaxin', Workin', and Steamin', disbanded in mid April due partly to Coltrane's heroin addiction.^[5]

During the later part of 1957 Coltrane worked with Thelonious Monk at New York’s Five Spot, a legendary jazz club, and played in Monk's quartet (July–December 1957), but owing to contractual conflicts took part in only one official studio recording session with this group. A private recording made by Juanita Naima Coltrane of a 1958 reunion of the group was issued by Blue Note Records in 1993 as Live at the Five Spot-Discovery!. More significantly, a high-quality tape of a concert given by this quartet in November 1957 surfaced, and in 2005 Blue Note made it available on CD. Recorded by Voice of America, the performances confirm the group's reputation, and the resulting album, Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall, is widely acclaimed.

Blue Train, Coltrane's sole date as leader for Blue Note, featuring trumpeter Lee Morgan, bassist Paul Chambers, and trombonist Curtis Fuller, is often considered his best album from this period. Four of its five tracks are original Coltrane compositions, and the title track, "Moment's Notice," and "Lazy Bird", have become standards. Both tunes employed the first examples of his chord substitution cycles known as Coltrane changes.^[5]

Davis and Coltrane again[link]

Coltrane rejoined Davis in January 1958. In October of that year, jazz critic Ira Gitler coined the term "sheets of sound" to describe the style Coltrane developed during his stint with Monk and was perfecting in Davis' group, now a sextet. His playing was compressed, with rapid runs cascading in hundreds of notes per minute. He stayed with Davis until April 1960, working with alto saxophonist Cannonball Adderley; pianists Red Garland, Bill Evans, and Wynton Kelly; bassist Paul Chambers; and drummers Philly Joe Jones and Jimmy Cobb. During this time he participated in the Davis sessions Milestones and Kind of Blue, and the live recordings Miles & Monk at Newport and Jazz at the Plaza.^[5]

At the end of this period Coltrane recorded his first album for Atlantic Records, Giant Steps, made up exclusively of his own compositions. The album's title track is generally considered to have the most complex and difficult chord progression of any widely-played jazz composition. Giant Steps utilizes Coltrane changes. His development of these altered chord progression cycles led to further experimentation with improvised melody and harmony that he would continue throughout his career.^[5]

"Giant Steps" noicon One of Coltrane's most acclaimed recordings, "Giant Steps" features harmonic structures more complex than were used by most musicians of the time. Problems listening to this file? See media help.

First albums as leader[link]

Coltrane formed his first group, a quartet, in 1960 for an appearance at the Jazz Gallery in New York City. After moving through different personnel including Steve Kuhn, Pete La Roca, and Billy Higgins, the lineup stabilized in the fall with pianist McCoy Tyner, bassist Steve Davis, and drummer Elvin Jones. Tyner, from Philadelphia, had been a friend of Coltrane's for some years and the two men long had an understanding that the pianist would join Coltrane when Tyner felt ready for the exposure of regularly working with him. Also recorded in the same sessions were the later released albums Coltrane's Sound and Coltrane Plays the Blues.

Still with Atlantic Records, for whom he had recorded Giant Steps, his first record with his new group was also his debut playing the soprano saxophone, the hugely successful My Favorite Things. Around the end of his tenure with Davis, Coltrane had begun playing soprano saxophone, an unconventional move considering the instrument's near obsolescence in jazz at the time. His interest in the straight saxophone most likely arose from his admiration for Sidney Bechet and the work of his contemporary, Steve Lacy, even though Miles Davis claimed to have given Coltrane his first soprano saxophone. The new soprano sound was coupled with further exploration. For example, on the Gershwin tune "But Not for Me", Coltrane employs the kinds of restless harmonic movement (Coltrane changes) used on Giant Steps (movement in major thirds rather than conventional perfect fourths) over the A sections instead of a conventional turnaround progression. Several other tracks recorded in the session utilized this harmonic device, including "26–2," "Satellite," "Body and Soul", and "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes".

First years with Impulse Records (1960–1962)[link]

In the 1960s, Coltrane and fellow saxophonist Ornette Coleman lead the controversial "New Thing" movement into avant-garde and free jazz

In May 1961, Coltrane's contract with Atlantic was bought out by the newly formed Impulse! Records label.^[6] An advantage to Coltrane recording with Impulse! was that it would enable him to work again with engineer Rudy Van Gelder, who had taped both his and Davis's Prestige sessions, as well as Blue Train. It was at Van Gelder's new studio in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey that Coltrane would record most of his records for the label.

By early 1961, bassist Davis had been replaced by Reggie Workman while Eric Dolphy joined the group as a second horn around the same time. The quintet had a celebrated (and extensively recorded) residency in November 1961 at the Village Vanguard, which demonstrated Coltrane's new direction. It featured the most experimental music he'd played up to this point, influenced by Indian ragas, the recent developments in modal jazz, and the burgeoning free jazz movement. John Gilmore, a longtime saxophonist with musician Sun Ra, was particularly influential; after hearing a Gilmore performance, Coltrane is reported to have said "He's got it! Gilmore's got the concept!"^[7] The most celebrated of the Vanguard tunes, the 15-minute blues, "Chasin' the 'Trane", was strongly inspired by Gilmore's music.^[8]

During this period, critics were fiercely divided in their estimation of Coltrane, who had radically altered his style. Audiences, too, were perplexed; in France he was famously booed during his final tour with Davis. In 1961, Down Beat magazine indicted Coltrane, along with Eric Dolphy, as players of "Anti-Jazz" in an article that bewildered and upset the musicians.^[9] Coltrane admitted some of his early solos were based mostly on technical ideas. Furthermore, Dolphy's angular, voice-like playing earned him a reputation as a figurehead of the "New Thing" (also known as "Free Jazz" and "Avant-Garde") movement led by Ornette Coleman, which was also denigrated by some jazz musicians (including Miles Davis) and critics. But as Coltrane's style further developed, he was determined to make each performance "a whole expression of one's being".^[10]

Classic Quartet period (1962–1965)[link]

	"In a Sentimental Mood" noicon The romantic ballad features Coltrane with pianist Duke Ellington.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

In 1962, Dolphy departed and Jimmy Garrison replaced Workman as bassist. From then on, the "Classic Quartet", as it came to be known, with Tyner, Garrison, and Jones, produced searching, spiritually driven work. Coltrane was moving toward a more harmonically static style that allowed him to expand his improvisations rhythmically, melodically, and motivically. Harmonically complex music was still present, but on stage Coltrane heavily favored continually reworking his "standards": "Impressions", "My Favorite Things", and "I Want to Talk about You."

The criticism of the quintet with Dolphy may have had an impact on Coltrane. In contrast to the radicalism of Trane's 1961 recordings at the Village Vanguard, his studio albums in 1962 and 1963 (with the exception of Coltrane, which featured a blistering version of Harold Arlen's "Out of This World") were much more conservative and accessible. He recorded an album of ballads and participated in collaborations with Duke Ellington on the album Duke Ellington and John Coltrane and with deep-voiced ballad singer Johnny Hartman on an eponymous co-credited album. The Impulse compilation Coltrane for Lovers is largely drawn from these three albums. The album Ballads is emblematic of Coltrane's versatility, as the quartet shed new light on old-fashioned standards such as "It's Easy to Remember". Despite a more polished approach in the studio, in concert the quartet continued to balance "standard" and its own more exploratory and challenging music, as can be seen on the Impressions album (two extended jams including the title track along with "Dear Old Stockholm", "After the Rain" and a blues), Coltrane at Newport (where he plays "My Favorite Things") and Live at Birdland both from 1963. Coltrane later said he enjoyed having a "balanced catalogue."

The Classic Quartet produced their most famous record, A Love Supreme, in December 1964. It is reported that Coltrane, who struggled with repeated drug addiction, derived inspiration for A Love Supreme through a near overdose in 1957 which galvanized him to spirituality.^[11] A culmination of much of Coltrane's work up to this point, this four-part suite is an ode to his faith in and love for God. These spiritual concerns would characterize much of Coltrane's composing and playing from this point onwards, as can be seen from album titles such as Ascension, Om and Meditations. The fourth movement of A Love Supreme, "Psalm", is, in fact, a musical setting for an original poem to God written by Coltrane, and printed in the album's liner notes. Coltrane plays almost exactly one note for each syllable of the poem, and bases his phrasing on the words. Despite its challenging musical content, the album was a commercial success by jazz standards, encapsulating both the internal and external energy of the quartet of Coltrane, Tyner, Jones and Garrison. The album was composed at Coltrane's home in Dix Hills on Long Island.

The quartet only played A Love Supreme live once—in July 1965 at a concert in Antibes, France. By then, Coltrane's music had grown even more adventurous, and the performance provides an interesting contrast to the original.

Avant-garde jazz and the second quartet (1965–1967)[link]

As Coltrane's interest in jazz became increasingly experimental, he added Pharoah Sanders to his ensemble

In his late period, Coltrane showed an increasing interest in avant-garde jazz, purveyed by Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Sun Ra and others. In developing his late style, Coltrane was especially influenced by the dissonance of Ayler's trio with bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Sunny Murray, a rhythm section honed with Cecil Taylor as leader. Coltrane championed many younger free jazz musicians, (notably Archie Shepp), and under his influence Impulse! became a leading free jazz record label.

After A Love Supreme was recorded, Ayler's apocalyptic style became more prominent in Coltrane's music. A series of recordings with the Classic Quartet in the first half of 1965 show Coltrane's playing becoming increasingly abstract, with greater incorporation of devices like multiphonics, utilization of overtones, and playing in the altissimo register, as well as a mutated return to Coltrane's sheets of sound. In the studio, he all but abandoned his soprano to concentrate on the tenor saxophone. In addition, the quartet responded to the leader by playing with increasing freedom. The group's evolution can be traced through the recordings The John Coltrane Quartet Plays, Living Space, Transition (both June 1965), New Thing at Newport (July 1965), Sun Ship (August 1965), and First Meditations (September 1965).

In June 1965, he went into Van Gelder's studio with ten other musicians (including Shepp, Pharoah Sanders, Freddie Hubbard, Marion Brown, and John Tchicai) to record Ascension, a 40-minute long piece that included adventurous solos by the young avant-garde musicians (as well as Coltrane), and was controversial primarily for the collective improvisation sections that separated the solos. After recording with the quartet over the next few months, Coltrane invited Pharoah Sanders to join the band in September 1965.

While Coltrane used over-blowing frequently as an emotional exclamation-point, Sanders would opt to overblow his entire solo, resulting in a constant screaming and screeching in the altissimo range of the instrument. The more Coltrane played with Sanders, the more he gravitated to Sanders' unique sound.

Adding to the quartet[link]

Percussionist Rashied Ali helped to augment Coltrane's sound in the last years of his life

By late 1965, Coltrane was regularly augmenting his group with Sanders and other free jazz musicians. Rashied Ali joined the group as a second drummer. This was the end of the quartet; claiming he was unable to hear himself over the two drummers, Tyner left the band shortly after the recording of Meditations. Jones left in early 1966, dissatisfied by sharing drumming duties with Ali. Both Tyner and Jones subsequently expressed displeasure in interviews, after Coltrane's death, with the music's new direction, while incorporating some of the free-jazz form's intensity into their own solo projects.

There are speculations that in 1965 Coltrane may have begun using LSD^[12][13]—informing the sublime, "cosmic" transcendence of his late period. After Jones's and Tyner's departures, Coltrane led a quintet with Pharoah Sanders on tenor saxophone, his second wife Alice Coltrane on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Rashied Ali on drums. Coltrane and Sanders were described by Nat Hentoff as "speaking in tongues". When touring, the group was known for playing very lengthy versions of their repertoire, many stretching beyond 30 minutes and sometimes even being an hour long. Concert solos for band members regularly extended beyond fifteen minutes in duration.

The group can be heard on several live recordings from 1966, including Live at the Village Vanguard Again! and Live in Japan. In 1967, Coltrane entered the studio several times; though pieces with Sanders have surfaced (the unusual "To Be", which features both men on flutes), most of the recordings were either with the quartet minus Sanders (Expression and Stellar Regions) or as a duo with Ali. The latter duo produced six performances which appear on the album Interstellar Space.

Death and funeral[link]

Coltrane died from liver cancer at Huntington Hospital on Long Island on July 17, 1967, at the age of 40. His funeral was held on Friday, July 21 at St. Peters Lutheran Church in New York City. The Albert Ayler Quartet and The Ornette Coleman Quartet respectively opened and closed the service. He is buried at Pinelawn Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y.

Biographer Lewis Porter has suggested, somewhat controversially, that the cause of Coltrane's illness was hepatitis, although he also attributed the disease to Coltrane's heroin use.^[14] In a 1968 interview Albert Ayler claimed that Coltrane was consulting a Hindu meditative healer for his illness instead of Western medicine, though Alice Coltrane later denied this.

His death surprised many in the musical community who were not aware of his condition. Miles Davis commented: "Coltrane's death shocked everyone, took everyone by surprise. I knew he hadn't looked too good... But I didn't know he was that sick—or even sick at all."^[15]

The Coltrane family reportedly remains in possession of much more as-yet-unreleased music, mostly mono reference tapes made for the saxophonist and, as with the 1995 release Stellar Regions, master tapes that were checked out of the studio and never returned.^{[citation needed]} The parent company of Impulse!, from 1965 to 1979 known as ABC Records, purged much of its unreleased material in the 1970s.^[16] Lewis Porter has stated that Alice Coltrane, who died in 2007, intended to release this music, but over a long period of time; her son Ravi Coltrane, responsible for reviewing the material, is also pursuing his own career.^{[citation needed]}

Instruments[link]

Coltrane played the clarinet and the alto horn in a community band before taking up the alto saxophone during high school. In 1947, when he joined King Kolax's band, Coltrane switched to tenor saxophone, the instrument he became known for playing primarily.^[5] Coltrane's preference for playing melody higher on the range of the tenor saxophone (as compared to Coleman Hawkins or Lester Young) is attributed to his start and training on the alto horn and clarinet; his "sound concept" (manipulated in ones vocal tracts- tongue, throat) of the tenor sax was set higher than the normal range of the instrument.^[17]

In the early 1960s, during his engagement with Atlantic Records, he increasingly played soprano saxophone as well. The cover of his album My Favorite Things features Coltrane playing soprano.^[5] Toward the end of his career, he experimented with flute in his live performances and studio recordings.

Religious beliefs[link]

Coltrane's second wife Alice performed with him and also challenged his spiritual beliefs

Coltrane was born and raised in a Christian home, and was influenced by religion and spirituality from childhood. His maternal grandfather, the Reverend William Blair, was a preacher at an African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church^[18][19] in High Point, North Carolina, and John's paternal grandfather, Reverend William H. Coltrane, was an A.M.E. Zion minister in Hamlet, North Carolina.^[18] John's parents met through church affiliation, and married in 1925.^[18] John was born in 1926. As a youth, John practiced music in the southern African-American church. In A Night in Tunisia: Imaginings of Africa in Jazz, Norman Weinstein notes the parallel between Coltrane's music and his experience in the southern church.^[20]

In 1955, Coltrane married Juanita Naima Grubbs, a Muslim convert, for whom he later wrote the piece "Naima", and came into contact with Islam.^[21] Coltrane explored Hinduism, the Kabbalah, Jiddu Krishnamurti, African history, and the philosophical teachings of Plato and Aristotle.^[22] Coltrane also became interested in Zen Buddhism and, later in his career, visited Buddhist temples during his 1966 tour of Japan.^[23]

Since 1948, Coltrane had struggled with heroin addiction^[24][25] as well as alcoholism.^[25] In 1957, Coltrane had a religious experience which may have been what finally led him to overcome his addictions to alcohol and heroin.^[26] In the liner notes of A Love Supreme (released in 1965) Coltrane states "[d]uring the year 1957, I experienced, by the grace of God, a spiritual awakening which was to lead me to a richer, fuller, more productive life. At that time, in gratitude, I humbly asked to be given the means and privilege to make others happy through music." In his 1965 album Meditations, Coltrane wrote about uplifting people, "...To inspire them to realize more and more of their capacities for living meaningful lives. Because there certainly is meaning to life."^[27]

John and Naima Coltrane had no children together and were separated by the summer of 1963, and not long after that John met pianist Alice McLeod (who soon became Alice Coltrane).^[28] John and Alice moved in together and had two sons before he was "officially divorced from Naima in 1966, at which time John and Alice were immediately married."^[29] John Jr. was born in 1964, Ravi was born in 1965, and Oranyan (Oran) was born in 1967.^[29] According to Lavezzoli, "Alice brought happiness and stability to John's life, not only because they had children, but also because they shared many of the same spiritual beliefs, particularly a mutual interest in Indian philosophy. Alice also understood what it was like to be a professional musician".^[29]

Moustafa Bayoumi, an associate professor of English at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, argues that Coltrane's A Love Supreme (recorded in December 1964 and released in 1965) features Coltrane chanting, "Allah Supreme."^[30] However, in Lewis Porter's book John Coltrane: His Life and Music (2000), on page 242, he describes the lyrics this way: "Coltrane and another voice—probably himself overdubbed—chant the words 'a love supreme' in unison with the bass ostinato". In Peter Lavezzoli's book The Dawn of Indian Music in the West: Bhairavi (2006), on page 283, he says, "Certainly in his opening solo in "Acknowledgment," with his constant modulations of the same phrase in different keys, Coltrane assumes the role of the preacher. After stating the theme in every possible key, Coltrane concludes his solo and quietly begins to chant, "A love supreme ... a love supreme," singing the same four notes played by Garrison on the bass. After chanting "A love supreme" sixteen times, Coltrane and the band shift from F minor down to E flat minor, and the chant slowly tapers off." Whatever the case may be, the liner notes to A Love Supreme appear to mention God in a Universalist sense, and do not advocate one religion over another.^[31] Further evidence of this universal view regarding spirituality can be found in the liner notes of Meditations (1965), in which Coltrane declares, "I believe in all religions."^[29]

Lavezzoli points out that "After A Love Supreme, most of Coltrane's song and album titles had spiritual implications: Ascension, Om, Selflessness, Meditations, "Amen," "Ascent," "Attaining," "Dear Lord," "Prayer and Meditation Suite," and the opening movement of Meditations, "The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost," the most obvious Christian reference in any of Coltrane's work."^[29] Coltrane's collection of books included The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, the Bhagavad Gita, Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, which, Lavezzoli points out, "recounts Yogananda's search for universal truth, a journey that Coltrane had also undertaken. Yogananda believed that both Eastern and Western spiritual paths were efficacious, and wrote of the similarities between Krishna and Christ. This openness to different traditions resonated with Coltrane, who studied the Qur'an, the Bible, Kabbalah, and astrology with equal sincerity."^[32]

In October 1965, Coltrane recorded Om, referring to the sacred syllable in Hinduism, which symbolizes the infinite or the entire Universe. Coltrane described Om as the "first syllable, the primal word, the word of power". The 29-minute recording contains chants from the Bhagavad Gita^[33], a Hindu holy book, as well as Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders chanting from a Buddhist text, The Tibetan Book of the Dead,^[34] and reciting a passage describing the primal verbalization "om" as a cosmic/spiritual common denominator in all things.

Coltrane's spiritual journey was interwoven with his investigation into world music. He believed not only in a universal musical structure which transcended ethnic distinctions, but in being able to harness the mystical language of music itself. Coltrane's study of Indian music led him to believe that certain sounds and scales could "produce specific emotional meanings." According to Coltrane, the goal of a musician was to understand these forces, control them, and elicit a response from the audience. Coltrane said: "I would like to bring to people something like happiness. I would like to discover a method so that if I want it to rain, it will start right away to rain. If one of my friends is ill, I'd like to play a certain song and he will be cured; when he'd be broke, I'd bring out a different song and immediately he'd receive all the money he needed."^[35]

Legacy[link]

The influence Coltrane has had on music spans many different genres and musicians. Coltrane's massive influence on jazz, both mainstream and avant-garde, began during his lifetime and continued to grow after his death. He is one of the most dominant influences on post-1960 jazz saxophonists and has inspired an entire generation of jazz musicians. In 1965, he was inducted into the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame. In 1972, A Love Supreme was certified gold by the RIAA for selling over half a million copies in Japan. This album, as well as My Favorite Things, was certified gold in the United States in 2001. In 1982 Coltrane was awarded a posthumous Grammy for "Best Jazz Solo Performance" on the album Bye Bye Blackbird, and in 1997, was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.^[4]

His widow, Alice Coltrane, after several decades of seclusion, briefly regained a public profile before her death in 2007. Coltrane's son, Ravi Coltrane, named after the great Indian sitarist Ravi Shankar, who was greatly admired by Coltrane, has followed in his father's footsteps and is a prominent contemporary saxophonist.

John Coltrane House, 1511 North Thirty-third Street, Philadelphia

A former home, the John Coltrane House in Philadelphia, was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1999. His last home, the John Coltrane Home in the Dix Hills neighborhood of Huntington, New York, where he resided from 1964 until his death in 1967, was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 29, 2007.

His revolutionary use of multi-tonic systems in jazz has become a widespread composition and reharmonization technique known as "Coltrane changes".

In 2002, scholar Molefi Kete Asante listed John Coltrane on his list of 100 Greatest African Americans.^[36]

Coltrane's tenor (Selmer Mark VI, serial number 125571, dated 1965) and soprano (Selmer Mark VI, serial number 99626, dated 1962) saxophones were auctioned on February 20, 2005 to raise money for the John Coltrane Foundation. The soprano raised $70,800 but the tenor remained unsold.^[37]

Religious figure[link]

After Coltrane's death, congregants at the Yardbird Temple, in San Francisco, began worshipping Coltrane as God incarnate. The Temple was named for Charlie Parker, who they equated to John the Baptist.^[38] The St. John Will-I-Am Coltrane African Orthodox Church, San Francisco, which is fondly known as the "Coltrane church", is the only African Orthodox Church which incorporates Coltrane's music and his lyrics as prayers in its liturgy.^[39] In order to become affiliated with the AOC, Coltrane was "demoted" from being God to a saint.^[38]

In 1996, documentary filmmaker Alan Klingenstein made a short (26 minute) film called The Church of Saint Coltrane.^[40][41] Another documentary on Coltrane, featuring the church and presented by Alan Yentob, was produced for the BBC in 2004.^[42] Samuel G. Freedman writes in his New York Times article "Sunday Religion Inspired By Saturday Nights", December 1, 2007,

... the Coltrane church is not a gimmick or a forced alloy of nightclub music and ethereal faith. Its message of deliverance through divine sound is actually quite consistent with Coltrane’s own experience and message.

In the same article, he comments on John Coltrane's place in the canon of American music.

In both implicit and explicit ways, Coltrane also functioned as a religious figure. Addicted to heroin in the 1950s, he quit cold turkey, and later explained that he had heard the voice of God during his anguishing withdrawal. In 1964, he recorded A Love Supreme, an album of original praise music in a free-jazz mode... In 1966, an interviewer in Japan asked Coltrane what he hoped to be in five years, and Coltrane replied, "A saint."^[38]

John Coltrane is depicted as one of the ninety saints in the monumental Dancing Saints icon of St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. The Dancing Saints icon is a 3,000-square-foot (280 m²) painting rendered in the Byzantine iconographic style that wraps around the entire church rotunda. The icon was executed by iconographer Mark Dukes, an ordained deacon at the Saint John Coltrane African Orthodox Church, who has painted other icons of Coltrane for the Coltrane Church.^[43] Saint Barnabas Episcopal Church in Newark, New Jersey included Coltrane on their list of historical black saints and made a "case for sainthood" for him in an article on their former website.^[44]

Discography[link]

Discography below lists albums conceived and approved by Coltrane as a leader during his lifetime. It does not include his many releases as a sideman, sessions assembled into albums by various record labels after Coltrane's contract expired, sessions with Coltrane as a sideman later reissued with his name featured more prominently, or posthumous compilations except for the one which he approved before his death. See main discography link above for full list.

Prestige and Blue Note Records[link]

• Coltrane (debut solo LP) (1957)
• Blue Train (1957)
• John Coltrane with the Red Garland Trio (1958)
• Soultrane (1958)

Atlantic Records[link]

• Giant Steps (first album entirely of Coltrane compositions) (1960)
• Coltrane Jazz (first appearance by McCoy Tyner and Elvin Jones) (1961)
• My Favorite Things (1961)
• Olé Coltrane (features Eric Dolphy, compositions by Coltrane and Tyner) (1961)

Impulse! Records[link]

• Africa/Brass (brass arranged by Tyner and Dolphy) (1961)
• Live! at the Village Vanguard (features Dolphy, first appearance by Jimmy Garrison) (1962)
• Coltrane (first album to solely feature the "classic quartet") (1962)
• Ballads (1963)
• John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman (1963)
• Impressions (1963)
• Duke Ellington & John Coltrane (1964)
• Live at Birdland (1964)
• Crescent (1964)
• A Love Supreme (1965)
• The John Coltrane Quartet Plays (1965)
• Ascension (1966)
• New Thing at Newport (live with Archie Shepp) (1966)
• Kulu Se Mama (1966)
• Meditations (quartet plus Pharoah Sanders and Rashied Ali) (1966)
• Expression (posthumous and final Coltrane-approved release; one track features Coltrane on flute) (1967)

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Kahn, Ashley (2003) [2002]. A Love Supreme: The Story of John Coltrane's Signature Album. Elvin Jones. Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-200352-2. 
• Lavezzoli, Peter (2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. Continuum International Publishing Group. ISBN 0-8264-1815-5. 
• Nisenson, Eric (1995). Ascension: John Coltrane and His Quest. Da Capo Press. ISBN 0-306-80644-4. 
• Porter, Lewis (1999). John Coltrane: His Life and Music. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-08643-X. 
• Ratliff, Ben (2007). Coltrane: The Story of a Sound. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux. ISBN 0-374-12606-2. 
• Simpkins, Cuthbert (1989) [1975]. Coltrane: A Biography. New York: Herndon House Publishers. ISBN 0-915542-82-X. 
• Thomas, J.C. (1975). Chasin' the Trane. New York: Da Capo. ISBN 0-306-80043-8. 
• Woideck, Carl (1998). The John Coltrane Companion. New York: Schirmer Books. ISBN 0-02-864790-4. 

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (August 2011)

Find more about John Coltrane on Wikipedia's sister projects:
	Images and media from Commons
	Quotations from Wikiquote

• Official Website
• Coltrane Church Website
• 1957 Carnegie Hall Performance in Transcription and Analysis
• "John Coltrane". Find a Grave. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=218. Retrieved March 31, 2008. 
• Infography about John Coltrane
• "John Coltrane: Images of Trane", Jazz Times, June 1997, Lee Tanner
• Discography

Lee Konitz
Background information
Birth name	Lee Konitz
Born	(1927-10-13) October 13, 1927 (age 84)
Origin	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Genres	Jazz Cool jazz
Occupations	Saxophonist, Composer
Instruments	Alto saxophone
Labels	RCA Red Seal Atlantic Records Verve Records Prestige Records Palmetto Records
Associated acts	Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Jim Hall, Elvin Jones, Lennie Tristano, Warne Marsh, Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden

Lee Konitz (born October 13, 1927) is an American jazz composer and alto saxophonist born in Chicago, Illinois.

Generally considered one of the driving forces of Cool Jazz, Konitz has also performed successfully in bebop and avant-garde settings. Konitz was one of the few altoists to retain a distinctive sound in the 40s, when Charlie Parker exercised a tremendous influence on other players.

Konitz, like other students of pianist and theoretician Lennie Tristano, was noted for improvising long, melodic lines with the rhythmic interest coming from odd accents, or odd note groupings suggestive of the imposition of one time signature over another. Paul Desmond and, especially, Art Pepper were strongly influenced by Konitz.

Konitz's association with the Cool Jazz movement of the 1940s and 50s, includes participation in Miles Davis' epochal Birth of the Cool sessions, and his work with Lennie Tristano came from the same period. During his long career, Konitz has played with musicians from a wide variety of jazz styles.

Life and career[link]

Konitz was born in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois. At age eight Konitz received his first instrument—a clarinet—but later dropped the instrument in favor of the tenor saxophone.

Konitz eventually moved from tenor to alto. His greatest influences at the time were the swing big bands he and his brother listened to on the radio, in particular Benny Goodman. Hearing Goodman on the radio is actually what prodded him to ask for a clarinet. On the saxophone he recalls improvising before ever learning to play any standards.^[1]

Konitz began his professional career in 1945 with the Teddy Powell band as a replacement for Charlie Ventura. The engagement apparently did not start out smoothly, as Ventura is said^[who?] to have banged his head against a wall when Konitz played.^{[citation needed]} A month later the band parted ways. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked off and on with Jerry Wald. In 1946 he first met pianist Lennie Tristano and worked in a small cocktail bar with him. His next substantial work was done with Claude Thornhill in 1947, with Gil Evans arranging and Gerry Mulligan as a composer in most part.^[2][3]

In 1949 he teamed up with the Miles Davis group for one or two weeks and again in 1950 to record Birth of the Cool. Konitz has stated that he considered the group to belong to Gerry Mulligan, and credits Lennie Tristano as the true forebearer of "the cool". His debut as leader also came in 1949, with the release of Subconscious-Lee on Prestige Records. He also turned down an opportunity to work with Benny Goodman that same year—a decision he is on record as regretting.^[4]

In the early 1950s, Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra. In 1961, he recorded Motion with Elvin Jones on drums and Sonny Dallas on bass. This spontaneous session, widely regarded as a classic, consisted entirely of standards. The loose trio format aptly featured Konitz's unorthodox phrasing and chromaticism.

Charlie Parker lent him support on the day Konitz's child was being born in Seattle, Washington with him stuck in New York City. The two were actually good friends, and not the rivals some jazz critics once made them out to be.^[5] He has also had problems with his heart which he has received surgery for in the past.^[6]

In 1967, Konitz recorded The Lee Konitz Duets, a series of duets with various musicians. The duo configurations were often unusual for the period (saxophone and trombone, two saxophones). The recordings drew on very nearly the entire history of jazz, from Louis Armstrong's "Struttin' With Some Barbecue" with valve trombonist Marshall Brown to two completely free duos: one with a Duke Ellington associate, violinist Ray Nance, and one with guitarist Jim Hall.

Konitz contributed to the film score for Desperate Characters (1971).

Konitz has been quite prolific, recording dozens of albums as a band leader. He has also recorded or performed with Dave Brubeck, Ornette Coleman, Charles Mingus, Gerry Mulligan, Elvin Jones and others. Amongst his latest recordings are a pair of trio dates with Brad Mehldau and Charlie Haden released on Blue Note as well a live album recorded in 2009 at Birdland and released by ECM in 2011 featuring the same lineup with the addition of drummer Paul Motian.

Konitz has become more experimental as he has grown older, and has released a number of free and avant-garde jazz albums, playing alongside many far younger musicians. He has released albums on contemporary free jazz/improv labels such as hatART, Soul Note, Omnitone and the aforementioned ECM.

He was scheduled to appear at Melbourne's Recital Centre as a key attraction of the Melbourne International Jazz Festival. However he fell ill causing the last minute cancellation of the performance.

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• 1949-50: With Tristano, Marsh and Bauer (Prestige)
• 1953: Konitz Meets Mulligan (With Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker) (Pacific)
• 1954: Konitz (Storyville)
• 1954: Jazz At Storyville (Storyville)
• 1954: In Harvard Square (Storyville)
• 1954: Lee Konitz With Warne Marsh (Atlantic)
• 1956: Lee Konitz Featuring Hans Koller, Lars Gullin, Roland Kovac (Swingtime)
• 1956: Inside Hi-Fi (Atlantic)
• 1957: Tranquility (Verve)
• 1957: The Real Lee Konitz (Atlantic)
• 1958: Very Cool (Verve)
• 1958: An Image: Lee Konitz with Strings (Verve)
• 1959: Lee Konitz Meets Jimmy Giuffre (Verve)
• 1959: You and Lee (Verve)
• 1961: Motion (Verve)
• 1965: Trio and Quartet (Magnetic)
• 1966: Modern Jazz Compositions from Haiti (Impulse!)
• 1967: The Lee Konitz Duets (Milestone: OJC)
• 1968: Impressive Rome (CAM)
• 1968: European Episode (CAM)
• 1969: Peacemeal (Milestone)
• 1970: Lee Konitz Sax Duets (Music Minus One)
• 1971: Spirits (Milestone: OJC)
• 1974: Jazz A Juan (SteepleChase)
• 1974: Satori (Milestone: OJC)
• 1974: Lone-Lee (SteepleChase)
• 1974: I Concentrate on You (A Tribute to Cole Porter) (SteepleChase)
• 1975: Warne Marsh Quintet: Jazz Exchange (Storyville)
• 1975: Hal Galper: Windows (SteepleChase)
• 1975: Trio: Oleo (Sonet)
• 1975: Chicago 'n' All That Jazz (Denon: LaserLight)
• 1976: Lee Konitz Meets Warne Marsh Again (PAUSA)
• 1976: Figure and Spirit (Progressive)
• 1977: The Lee Konitz Quintet (Chiaroscuro Records)
• 1977: The Lee Konitz Nonet (Chiaroscuro)
• 1977: Tenorlee (Candid)
• 1977: Pyramid (Improvising Artists)
• 1979: Seasons Change (Circle Records (Germany), with Karl Berger)
• 1979 Nonet: Live at Laren (Soul Note)
• 1979: Yes, Yes Nonet (Steeple Chase)
• 1980: Martial Solal: Live at the Berlin Jazz Days (MPS)
• 1980: Heroes (Verve)
• 1980: Anti-heroes (Verve)
• 1982: Toot Sweet (Owl)
• 1983: Glad, Koonix! (Dragon)
• 1983: Martial Solal: Star Eyes, Hamburg 1983 (HatOLOGY)
• 1983: Dovetail (Sunnyside)
• 1983: Dedicated To Lee: Lee Konitz Plays The Music of Lars Gullin (Dragon)
• 1983: Art of the Duo (Enja)
• 1984: Wild as Springtime (GFM)
• 1986: Quartet: Ideal Scene (Soul Note)
• 1986: Medium Rare (Label Bleu)
• 1987: Quartet: The New York Album (Soul Note)
• 1988: The Space Jazz Trio: Blew (Philology)
• 1988: Solitudes (Philology)
• 1989: In Rio (MA)
• 1989: Konitz in Denmark (Rightone)
• 1989: Round and Round (Music Masters)
• 1990: Frank Wunsch Quartet: S'Nice (Nabel)
• 1990: Zounds (Soul Note)
• 1990: Once Upon a Line (Musidisc)
• 1991: Lars Sjosten Quartet: Friends (Dragon)
• 1991: Lullaby of Birdland (Candid)
• 1992: The Jazzpar All Star Nonet: Leewise (Storyville)
• 1992: Jazz Nocturne (Evidence)
• 1992: Lunasea (Soul Note)
• 1992: From Newport to Nice (Philology)
• 1992: Frank-Lee Speaking (West Wind)
• 1993: Rhapsody (Evidence)
• 1993: Renato Sellani: Speakin' Lowly, Volume 1 (Philology)
• 1993: So Many Stars (Philology)
• 1993: Rhapsody II (Evidence)
• 1993: Italian Ballads, Volume1 (Philology)
• 1993: Brazilian Rhapsody (BMG: Music Masters)
• 1994: Orchestra Il Suono Improvviso: A Venezia (Philology)
• 1994: Swiss Kiss (TCB)
• 1995: Haiku (Nabel)
• 1995: Umberto Petrin: Breaths and Whispers (Homage to Alexandr Skrjabin) (Philology)
• 1995: John Pl Indreberg: Step Towards a Dream (Odin)
• 1995: Don Friedman: Attila Zoller: Thingin' (HatOLOGY)
• 1995: Move (Moon)
• 1995: Free with Lee(Philology)
• 1996: Alone Together (Blue Note)
• 1996: Live at the Manhattan Jazz Club (GAM)
• 1996: Guarana (AxolOtl Jazz)
• 1996: Unaccompanied Live in Yokohama (PSF)
• 1996: Strings for Holiday: A Tribute To Billie Holiday (Enja)
• 1996: Lee Konitz Meets Don Friedman (Camerata)
• 1996: It's You (SteepleChase)
• 1997: Twelve Gershwin in Twelve Keys (Philology)
• 1997: Out of Nowhere (SteepleChase)
• 1997: The Frankfurt Concert (West Wind)
• 1997: Dearly Beloved (SteepleChase)
• 1997: Body and Soul (Camerata)
• 1998: Saxophone Dreams (Koch)
• 1998: Inside Cole Porter (Philology)
• 1998: L'Age Mur (Philology)
• 1998: Tender Lee (for Chet) (Philology)
• 1998: Self Portrait (Philology)
• 1998: Dialogues (Challenge)
• 1999: Dig-It (SteepleChase)
• 1999: Three Guys (Enja)
• 1999: Trio: Another Shade of Blue (Blue Note)
• 2000: The Axis Quartet: Play French Impressionist Music from the Turn of the Twentieth Century (Palmetto)
• 2000: rich Perry: RichLee! (SteepleChase)
• 2000 Quartet: Sound of Surprise (RCA Victor)
• 2000: Pride (SteepleChase)
• 2001: Franco D'Andrea: Inside Rodgers (Philology)
• 2001: Renato Sellani: Minority, Volume 2: All The Way (The Soft Ways) (Philology)
• 2001 Trio: Some New Stuff (DIW)
• 2001 Quintet: Parallels (Chesky)
• 2002: Matt Wilson: Gong with Wind Suite (Steeplechase)
• 2002: Irio De Paula: Duas Contas (Philology)
• 2002: Barbara Casini: Outra Vez (Philology)
• 2002: At the New Mississippi Jazz Club (Philology)
• 2003: Live-Lee (Milestone)
• 2003: Stephano Bollani: Suite for Paolo (Philology)
• 2003: Kenny Werner: Unleemited (Owl)
• 2003: A Day in Florence (Philology)
• 2004: BargaLee (Philology)
• 2004: Sound-Lee (Membran International)
• 2004: One Day With Lee (Capri)
• 2006: Ohad Talmor String Project: Inventions(OmniTone)
• 2006: New Nonet (directed by Ohad Talmor) (OmniTone)
• 2007: Riccardo Arrighini: The Soprano Sax Album: Standards (Philology)
• 2007: Brian Dickenson: The Glen Gould Session (Philology)
• 2007: Ohad Talmor Big Band: Portology(featuring the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos) (OmniTone)
• 2008: Lee Konitz & Minsarah: Deep Lee (Featuring Jeff Denson, Florian weber, Ziv Ravitz) (ENJA)
• 2009: Lee Konitz / Dan Tepfer: Duos with Lee (Sunnyside)
• 2009: Lee Konitz New quartet: Live at the village Vanguard (Featuring Jeff Denson, Florian weber, Ziv Ravitz) (ENJA)
• 2011: Lee Konitz/Brad Mehldau/Charlie Haden/Paul Motian: Live at Birdland (ECM)

As sideman[link]

With Stan Kenton

• City Of Glass
• This Modern World
• New Concepts Of Artistry In Rhythm
• Sketches On Standards
• Portraits On Standards
• Kenton Showcase

With Gerry Mulligan

• Lee Konitz And The Gerry Mulligan Quartet
• Lee Konitz Plays With The Gerry Mulligan Quartet

With Miles Davis

• Birth of the Cool (1949)
• Miles Ahead (1957)

With Bill Evans

• Crosscurrents (1977)

With Gil Evans

• Gil Evans & Ten (1957)

With Max Roach

• It's Christmas Again (Soul Note, 1984)

With Lennie Tristano

• Lennie Tristano (1956)

With others

• 1947 - Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra: The Uncollected Claude Thornhill and His Orchestra (Hindsight)
• 1949 - Lennie Tristano/Warne Marsh: Intuition (Capitol)
• 1968 - Attila Zoller: Zo-Ko-Ma (MPS Records)
• 1972 - Charles Mingus: Charles Mingus and Friends in Concert (Columbia)
• 2006 - Francois Théberge: Soliloque (Effendi Records)
• 2009 - Jakob Bro: Balladeering (Loveland Records)

With Arkadia Jazz All Stars

• Thank You, Gerry!

With Kenny Wheeler

• Angel Song

Television appearances[link]

• SOLOS: The Jazz Sessions^[7] (2004)
• Weightless - a recording session with Jakob Bro (2009)