Schorle · CC BY-SA 4.0

Lee Konitz built a rare exception to the era's rule: as bebop's Charlie Parker came to dominate every alto saxophonist's sound, Konitz kept a distinctive style rooted instead in the cool, melodic lines he developed studying with pianist Lennie Tristano. He played on Miles Davis's Birth of the Cool sessions, helping define the genre's restrained, arranged alternative to bebop's velocity, and went on to influence later saxophonists including Paul Desmond and Art Pepper. He performed into his nineties, dying in 2020 from COVID-19 complications.