Kenny Drew
Kenny Drew | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Kenneth Sidney Drew |
Born | New York, U.S. | August 28, 1928
Died | August 4, 1993 Copenhagen, Denmark | (aged 64)
Genres | Jazz, post-bop, hard bop, mainstream jazz |
Instruments | Piano |
Labels | Blue Note, Xanadu, SteepleChase, Riverside, Verve, Soul Note, Storyville |
Associated acts | Coleman Hawkins |
Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928[1] – August 4, 1993)[2] was an American jazz pianist.
Biography[edit]
Drew was born in New York City, United States,[1] and received piano lessons from the age of five.[3] He attended the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. Drew's first recording, in 1950, was with Howard McGhee, and over the next two years he worked in bands led by Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker, among others.[3] After a brief period with his own trio in California, Drew returned to New York, playing with Dinah Washington, Johnny Griffin, Buddy Rich, and several others over the following few years.[3] He led many recording sessions throughout the 1950s, and in 1957 appeared on John Coltrane's album, Blue Train.[1]
Drew was one of the American jazz musicians who settled in Europe around this period: he moved to Paris in 1961 and to Copenhagen three years later.[3] While he sacrificed much of the interest of the American jazz audience, he gained a wide following across Europe. Kenny Drew was a well-known figure on the Copenhagen jazz scene, recording many sessions with the Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen.[1] "Living in Copenhagen, and travelling out from there," Drew remarked, "I have probably worked in more different contexts than if I had stayed in New York where I might have got musically locked in with a set-group of musicians. This way, I have been able to keep my musical antennas in shape, while at the same time I have had more time to study and also get deeper into my own endeavors."[4]
Drew and Dexter Gordon appeared on screen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic film, Pornografi – en musical (1971), for which they composed and performed the score.[5]
Drew died in August 1993 in Copenhagen, Denmark[2] (he had stomach cancer, but it was unclear if this was the cause of death) and was interred in the Assistens Cemetery in Nørrebro, Copenhagen. He has a street named after him in southern Copenhagen, "Kenny Drews Vej" (Eng., Kenny Drew Street).[6]
His son, Kenny Drew Jr., was also a jazz pianist.[1]
Playing style[edit]
His touch was described in The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz as "precise", and his playing as being a combination of bebop-influenced melodic improvisation and block chords, including "refreshingly subtle harmonizations".[3]
Discography[edit]
As leader[edit]
Year recorded | Title | Label | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
1953 | New Faces, New Sounds | Blue Note | Trio, with Curly Russell (bass), Art Blakey (drums) |
1953–54 | Kenny Drew and His Progressive Piano | Norgran | One track solo piano; some tracks trio with Gene Wright (bass), Lawrence Marable (drums); some tracks trio with Wright (bass), Charles "Specs" Wright (drums); also released as The Modernity of Kenny Drew; contains tracks originally released on The Ideation of Kenny Drew |
1955 | Talkin' & Walkin' | Jazz: West | Quartet, with Joe Maini (alto sax, tenor sax), Leroy Vinnegar (bass), Lawrence Marable (drums) |
1956 | Embers Glow | Jazz: West | Sextet; some tracks with Joe Maini (alto sax), Ted Efantis (tenor sax), Leroy Vinnegar (bass), Lawrence Marable (drums), Jane Fielding (vocals); some tracks with Paul Chambers (bass) replacing Vinnegar |
1956 | Kenny Drew Trio | Riverside | Trio, with Paul Chambers (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums) |
1957 | A Harry Warren Showcase | Judson | Duo, with Wilbur Ware (bass) |
1957 | A Harold Arlen Showcase | Judson | Duo, with Wilbur Ware (bass) |
1957 | I Love Jerome Kern | Riverside | Duo, with Wilbur Ware (bass) |
1957 | This Is New | Riverside | Some tracks quartet, with Donald Byrd (trumpet), Wilbur Ware (bass), G.T. Hogan (drums); most tracks quintet, with Hank Mobley (tenor sax) added |
1957 | Pal Joey | Riverside | Trio, with Wilbur Ware (bass), Philly Joe Jones (drums) |
1960 | Undercurrent | Blue Note | Quintet, with Freddie Hubbard (trumpet), Hank Mobley (tenor sax), Sam Jones (bass), Louis Hayes (drums) |
1973 | Duo | SteepleChase | Duo, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass) |
1973 | Everything I Love | SteepleChase | Solo piano |
1974 | Duo 2 | SteepleChase | Duo, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass) |
1974 | Dark Beauty | SteepleChase | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Albert Heath (drums) |
1974 | If You Could See Me Now | SteepleChase | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Albert Heath (drums) |
1974 | Duo Live in Concert | SteepleChase | Duo, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass); in concert |
1975 | Morning | SteepleChase | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Philip Catherine (guitar) |
1977 | In Concert | SteepleChase | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Philip Catherine (guitar); in concert |
1977 | Lite Flite | SteepleChase | Quintet, with Thad Jones (flugelhorn, cornet), Bob Berg (tenor sax), George Mraz (bass), Jimmy Cobb (drums) |
1977 | Ruby, My Dear | SteepleChase | Trio, with David Friesen (bass), Clifford Jarvis (drums) |
1978 | Home Is Where the Soul Is | Xanadu | Trio, with Leroy Vinnegar (bass guitar), Frank Butler (drums) |
1978 | For Sure! | Xanadu | Quintet, with Charles McPherson (alto sax), Sam Noto (trumpet), Leroy Vinnegar (bass), Frank Butler (drums) |
1981 | It Might as Well Be Spring | Soul Note | Solo piano |
1981 | Your Soft Eyes | Soul Note | Trio, with Mads Vinding (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1982 | Playtime: Children's Songs by Kenny Drew and Mads Vinding | Metronome | Duo, with Mads Vinding (bass) |
1982 | The Lullaby | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1982 | Moonlit Desert | Baystate | With Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums), The Almost Big Band |
1966–83 | Solo-Duo | Storyville | Some tracks solo; some tracks duo, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen and Bo Stief (bass; separately) |
1983 | Swingin' Love | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1983 | And Far Away | Soul Note | Quartet, with Philip Catherine (guitar), Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Barry Altschul (drums) |
1983 | Fantasia | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1984 | Trippin' | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1985 | By Request | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1985 | By Request II | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1986 | Elegy | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1987 | Dream | Baystate | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Ed Thigpen (drums) |
1989 | Recollections | Timeless | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Alvin Queen (drums) |
1993 | At the Brewhouse | Storyville | Trio, with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (bass), Alvin Queen (drums); in concert |
As sideman[edit]
With Gene Ammons
- Goodbye (Prestige, 1974)
With Svend Asmussen
- Prize/Winners (1978)
With Chet Baker
With Art Blakey
- Originally (Columbia, 1956 [1982])
With Tina Brooks
- Back to the Tracks (Blue Note, 1960)
- The Waiting Game (Blue Note, 1961)
With Clifford Brown
- Best Coast Jazz (EmArcy, 1954)
- Clifford Brown All Stars (EmArcy, 1954 [1956])
With Benny Carter
- Summer Serenade (Storyville, 1980 [1982])
With Paul Chambers
- Chambers' Music (Jazz:West, 1956)
With John Coltrane
- High Step (Blue Note, 1956 [1975])
- Blue Train (Blue Note, 1958)
With Ted Curson
- Plenty of Horn (Old Town, 1961)
- All of Me (SteepleChase, 1983)
With Kenny Dorham
- Showboat (Time, 1960)
- Whistle Stop (Blue Note, 1961)
With Teddy Edwards
- Out of This World (SteepleChase, 1980)
With Art Farmer
- Farmer's Market (New Jazz, 1956)
- Manhattan (Soul Note, 1981)
With Dizzy Gillespie
- The Giant (America, 1973)
- The Source (America, 1973)
With Dexter Gordon
- Daddy Plays the Horn (Bethlehem, 1955)
- Dexter Calling... (Blue Note, 1961)
- Landslide (Blue Note, 1961-62 [1980])
- One Flight Up (Blue Note, 1964)
- Loose Walk (SteepleChase 1965 [2003])
- Misty (SteepleChase, 1965 [2004])
- Heartaches (SteepleChase, 1965 [2004])
- Ladybird (SteepleChase, 1965 [2005])
- Stella by Starlight (SteepleChase, 1966 [2005])
- The Squirrel (Blue Note, 1967 [1997])
- Both Sides of Midnight (Black Lion, 1967 [1981])
- Body and Soul (Black Lion, 1967 [1981])
- Take the "A" Train (Black Lion, 1967 [1988])
- A Day in Copenhagen (MPS, 1969) with Slide Hampton
- Some Other Spring (Sonet, 1970) with Karin Krog
- The Apartment (SteepleChase, 1975)
- Swiss Nights Vol. 1 (SteepleChase, 1975 [1976])
- Swiss Nights Vol. 2 (SteepleChase, 1975 [1978])
- Swiss Nights Vol. 3 (SteepleChase, 1975 [1979])
With Grant Green
- Sunday Mornin' (Blue Note, 1961)
With Johnny Griffin
- Blues for Harvey (SteepleChase, 1973)
With Ernie Henry
- Presenting Ernie Henry (Riverside, 1956)
With Ken McIntyre
- Hindsight (SteepleChase, 1974)
- Open Horizon (SteepleChase, 1976)
With Jackie McLean
- Jackie's Bag (Blue Note, 1960)
- Bluesnik (Blue Note, 1961)
- Live at Montmartre (SteepleChase, 1972)
- A Ghetto Lullaby (SteepleChase, 1974)
- The Meeting (SteepleChase, 1974) with Dexter Gordon
- The Source (SteepleChase, 1974) with Dexter Gordon
With Ray Nance
- Huffin'n'Puffin' (MPS 1971)
With Kim Parker
- Havin' Myself a Time (Soul Note, 1981)
With Rita Reys
- The Cool Voice of Rita Reys (Columbia, 1956)
With Sonny Rollins
- Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet (Prestige, 1951)
- Tour de Force (Prestige, 1956)
- Sonny Boy (Prestige, 1956 [1961])
Wíth Sahib Shihab
- Sentiments (Storyville, 1971)
With Sonny Stitt
- Kaleidoscope (Prestige, 1950 [1957])
- Stitt's Bits (Prestige, 1950 [1958])
With Toots Thielemans
- Man Bites Harmonica! (Riverside, 1957)
With Ben Webster
- Stormy Weather (Black Lion 1965 [1970])
- Sunday Morning At The Montmartre (Black Lion 1965 [1977]; reissued as Gone with the Wind)
With Tiziana Ghiglioni
- Sounds Of Love (Soul Note, 1983)
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
- ^ a b "Obituary: Kenny Drew". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e Feather, Leonard, & Ira Gitler (2007). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, Oxford University Press.
- ^ February 1976 liner notes to Morning by Jørgen Frigård.
- ^ "PORNOGRAFI". Memory.loc.gov. July 26, 1971. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
- ^ "Kenny Drew, Jazz Pianist, 64". Nytimes.com. August 7, 1993. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
External links[edit]
- 1928 births
- 1993 deaths
- The High School of Music & Art alumni
- American expatriates in Denmark
- Post-bop pianists
- Mainstream jazz pianists
- Hard bop pianists
- American jazz pianists
- American male pianists
- Danish jazz pianists
- Musicians from New York City
- SteepleChase Records artists
- Xanadu Records artists
- Timeless Records artists
- Riverside Records artists
- Blue Note Records artists
- American emigrants to Denmark
- 20th-century American pianists
- Jazz musicians from New York (state)
- 20th-century American male musicians
- American male jazz musicians
- Almost Big Band members