Joe Kennedy, Jr.
Joseph J. "Joe" Kennedy, Jr. ( born November 16, 1923 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, † 17 April 2004 in Richmond, Virginia) was an American violinist, composer, arranger and high school teachers in the field of classical music and Jazz.
Life and work
Kennedy received his first violin lessons by his grandfather. Among his childhood friends was Ahmad Jamal; according to the classical violin studies, he was initially influenced by Yehudi Menuhin. During the Second World War he served in the U.S. Army, where he played in the Camp Lee Symphony Orchestra in St. Petersburg. After his discharge from the army he returned to Pittsburgh to form with Jamal, Ray Crawford and bassist Edgar Willis, the jazz band The Four Strings; its produced by Mary Lou Williams song "Strings " was released in 1949 on the small label disc He studied music at Carnegie Mellon University and then moved to Virginia State College, where he also taught in public schools in Richmond. Kennedy was in the next 32 years in the teaching profession and earned a reputation as an expert in instrumental music. In addition, he completed a master's degree in Music Education at Duquesne University. From 1973, he established a course on African-American music history at Virginia Commonwealth University.
In 1962, his debut album, which Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell and Milt Hinton participated; In 1963 he was the first African American to be included in the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, where he served until 1981 as a violinist. During this time he also composed some songs like " Opticas ", " Be Sure " and "Tempo". From 1984 he was Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Jazz Studies at Virginia Technical Institute; In 1995, he went into retirement. Throughout his career, Kennedy collaborated on several albums of his friend Ahmad Jamal, including Listen to the Ahmad Jamal Quintet (1960), The Essence Part 2 ( 1995) and Ahmad Jamal a Paris (1996); He also played with other jazz musicians, including his cousin Benny Carter in the All Stars lineup, also with George Shearing, Major Holley, Oliver Jackson, Toots Thielemans, Billy Taylor ( Where've You Been, 1980), The Heath Brothers, Jon Faddis, John Lewis (Kansas City Breaks, 1982) and the Modern Jazz Quartet. He has performed at international jazz festivals such as the North Sea Jazz Festival and the Monterey Jazz Festival. He also wrote the symphonic composition Sketches for Solo Violin, Jazz Trio, and Symphony Orchestra, which was performed repeatedly.
Kennedy was also the subject of the BBC documentary Fiddlers Three and received numerous honors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts (1999) and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation 's Living Legacy Jazz Award ( 2001).
Disco Graphical Notes
- Strings By Candlelight (1962 ) with Hank Jones, Kenny Burrell, Milt Hinton
- Accentuate the Positive (1962), with Toots Thielemans
- Magnifique! ( Black and Blue, 1980) with Hank Jones, Major Holley, Oliver Jackson.