In the late 1940s every alto saxophonist in New York was trying to sound like Charlie Parker. Lee Konitz politely declined. This deep dive follows him from a childhood living behind his family's Chicago laundry, through clarinet and tenor before settling on alto, formal training with Lou Honig and Santy Runyon, and a pivotal 1946 meeting with pianist Lennie Tristano that shaped his long, flowing melodic lines.

The episode examines the racially charged backlash when Miles Davis hired a white saxophonist for the Birth of the Cool nonet, and Davis's insistence that he chose Konitz purely for his dry, vibrato-free tone. It dismantles the critic-invented Konitz-versus-Parker rivalry with the story of Parker keeping Konitz company on the day his child was born, then traces a 75-year career of risk: turning down Benny Goodman in 1949, the piano-le ...