REALLY FEELING LIKE IT HAPPENED JUST A FEW HOURS OR EVEN MINUTES AGO I'M WITH ALTO SAXOPHONIST LEE LEON KONITZ ONE OF THE FEW ESSENTIAL CREATORS OF MODERN JAZZ IN HIS APARTMENT ABOVE THE FIFTH FLOOR OF A WEST 86TH STREET BUILDING SOUTH SIDE IN MANHATTAN BETWEEN THE HUDSON RIVER AND CENTRAL PARK EXCEPT IT WAS DURING ONE OF OUR SATURDAY JAZZ LESSONS AND LEE IS TELLING ME HOW HE FELT WARNE MARSH WAS THE GREATEST TENOR SAXOPHONIST HE EVER PERFORMED WITH OR HEARD LIVE IN PERSON OR ON THE RADIO OR PHONOGRAPH AND I ALSO WITNESSED HOW MUCH KONITZ LOVED BEN WEBSTER WE LISTENED TO HIS ALBUM WITH OSCAR PETERSON, RAY BROWN AND ED THIGPEN WHILE DRIVING IN BEVERLY HILLS CALIFORNIA WHICH REGGIE JOHNSON LENT TO ME (I MADE A CASSETTE TAPE FROM THE LP) AND IS OUT OF THIS WORLD OPENING WITH THE TOUCH OF YOUR LIPS BY BRITISH GREAT RAY NOBLE WHO ALSO COMPOSED CHEROKEE AND THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU DONE SO GREAT BY NORAH JONES THE SISTER OF ANOUSHKA SHANKAR AND WILLIE NELSON OF HAWAII WHO I MET IN THE UPSTAIRS OFFICE OF 888 LAHAINA WHERE HE WAS SMOKING MARIJUANA SEATED AT THE DESK OF ROBERT JOSEPH LONGHI WHO WASN'T THERE AT THE TIME AND NEITHER WAS TOM WHITE WHO SHARED THE OFFICE WITH HIS FORMER ROOMMATE FROM CORNELL UNIVERSITY IN TROY NEW YORK.

NOT TO MENTION HOW LEE SAT NEXT TO ZOOT SIMS IN THE STAN KENTON ORCHESTRA AND KNEW STAN GETZ INTIMATELY IF DISLIKING THAT TENOR PLAYER PERSONALLY WHO SPARKED LEE TO ANGER LIKE I'D NEVER SEEN BEFORE REFERRING TO ANOTHER ULTIMATE JAZZ LEGEND LIKE GETZ ("STAN GETZ IS AN ASSHOLE!!!") FROM THE BRONX BORN ONE YEAR APART WHO ALSO BEGAN PLAYING PROFESSIONALLY AFTER LEAVING SCHOOL LIKE LEE DID NOT SURE IF LEE FINISHED HIGH SCHOOL BUT BOTH NEVER WENT TO COLLEGE WHILE STAN ACTUALLY SUPPORTED HIS ENTIRE FAMILY WHILE STILL A TEENAGER EVEN MOVING THEM OUT TO THE CITY OF HOLLYWOOD IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY BEFORE THEY MOVED BACK BECAUSE IT WAS TOO MUCH OF A CULTURE SHOCK DESPITE THE BETTER CLIMATE.

HOWEVER KONITZ AND GETZ WERE LINKED BY THEIR MUTAL LOVE FOR THE JAZZ OF BENNY GOODMAN AND FRANK SINATRA.

LEE NEVER SPOKE ABOUT COLEMAN HAWKING OR SONNY ROLLINS OR ANY OTHER TENOR PLAYER TO ME HE JUST GUSHED ABOUT WARNE MARSH WHOSE SON I HAD THE SURPRISE PLEASURE OF MEETING ONE NIGHT. HE IS AN ACTOR I BELIEVE AND NOT A MUSICIAN LIKE HIS DAD WHO WAS FROM A WEALTHY FAMILY WARNE'S DAD A LEADING CAMERA MAN FOR HOLLYWOOD FILMS I BELIEVE IT WAS.

BOTH LEE AND WARNE STUDIED WITH LENNIE TRISTANO WHO WAS FROM CHICAGO ILLINOIS AS LEE WAS GROWING UP IN BACK OF HIS PARENT'S DRY CLEANING BUSINESS PERHAPS THEY OWNED THE BUILDING LEE DIDN'T MENTION THAT.

WARNE FIRST LEARNED OF LENNIE TRISTANO WHEN STATIONED IN THE ARMY IN NEW JERSEY WHERE LEGENDARY TRUMPETER DON FERRARA TOLD HIM ABOUT TRISTANO'S JAZZ TEACHING WHOSE STUDENTS ALSO INCLUDED SAL MOSCA, PETER IND, BILLY BAUER, RONNIE BALL AND PHIL WOODS.

PHIL WOODS WAS A CENTRAL MUSICAL INFLUENCE UPON MYSELF EVEN THOUGH I ONLY HAD ONE PRIVATE LESSON WITH HIM AT HIS HOME IN DELAWARE WATER GAP INCLUDING MEETING HIS WIFE CHAN RICHARDSON A PROFESSIONAL DANCER WHO WAS EARLIER THE WIFE OF CHARLIE PARKER WHO WAS A CLOSE FRIEND OF LEE KONITZ BASICALLY HOLDING HIS HAND ALL DAY IN SEATTLE WHEN THEY WERE ON TOUR THERE TOGETHER WITH DIZZY GILLESPIE AND STAN LEVEY THE DAY LEE'S FIRST CHILD WAS BORN PROBABLY IN NEW YORK CITY.

PHIL DID ONE OF THE GREATEST JAZZ ALBUMS EVER TITLED MUSIC DU BOIS WITH ALAN DAWSON, RICHARD DAVIS AND JAKI BAYARD INCLUDING PERHAPS THE GREATEST INSTRUMENTAL VERSION OF THE SUMMER KNOWS BY MICHEL LEGRAND (WE HAD THE SAME DENTIST ON WEST 57TH STREET) WITH LYRICS BY ALAN AND MARILYN BERGMAN WHO ALSO WROTE LET'S TAKE IT NICE AND EASY AS DONE SO GREAT BY FRANK SINATRA AND ALAN HIMSELF, TOO.

- MICHAEL ROBINSON LONGHI, LOS ANGELES CALIFORNA, JANUARY 2026

Michael Eric Robinson Longhi is a Los Angeles-based composer, computer music programmer, pianist and musicologist. His over 200 albums include over 150 albums for meruvina and over 50 albums of piano improvisations both solo and with Eliot Zigmund formerly of the Bill Evans Trio and tabla player Anindo Chatterjee of India both among the greatest percussionists in recorded history. Michael has performed and lectured for churches, universities, colleges, NPR, Pacifica, college and community radio stations, high schools, elementary schools and community centers in America and all over the world online.