I could stop and say, Well that was a D minor, G seven, but I really don't want to know that. I just want to know that there's a combination of notes that makes a sound.

In the early 1950s Konitz recorded and toured with Stan Kenton's orchestra but continued to record under his own name. The presence of Konitz and other white musicians in the group angered some black jazz players many of whom were unemployed at the time but Davis rebuffed their criticisms. Between 1945 and 1947 he worked off and on with Jerry Wald.

Konitz's association with the Cool Jazz movement of the 1940s and 50s includes participation in Miles Davis' Birth of the Cool sessions and his work with Lennie Tristano came from the same period. Paul Desmond and especially Art Pepper were strongly influenced by Konitz.