Kenny Drew
Kenneth Sidney Drew, ( born August 28, 1928 in New York City, New York; † August 4, 1993 in Copenhagen, Denmark ) was an American jazz pianist of mainstream jazz and hard bop.
Life
Drew learned the piano at the age and was educated at the Music and Art High School. He made his first recordings with Howard McGhee in 1949 and then with Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Charlie Parker. Between 1952 and 1953 he played in a quartet of Buddy DeFranco and led a trio in 1954 in Los Angeles and San Francisco. He accompanied Dinah Washington, was with Art Blakey (1957 ), appeared on John Coltrane's album Blue Train from 1957 and played with Buddy Rich (1958 ), Miles Davis and Milt Jackson. In 1960 he recorded the album Undercurrent with Freddie Hubbard, Hank Mobley, Sam Jones and Louis Hayes on Blue Note. Like other American musicians, he moved in the early 1960s to the more liberal Europe. In 1961 he moved to Paris and settled in 1964 in Copenhagen, where he formed a trio with Danish bassist Niels -Henning Ørsted Pedersen, the regular guest musician at the club Montmartre also accompanied rhythm section ( Jazz House Montmartre band ), and from where he has appeared throughout Europe. He released many albums under his own name at Steeplechase and took, for example, with Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon, Ben Webster, Chet Baker and Freddie Hubbard. While he was well known as in the European jazz scene, his reputation faded in the States, where he had worked in the 1950s with almost all sizes of jazz as a sideman.
Kenny Drew is on the Assistants Cemetery in Copenhagen's Nørrebro buried.
Drew was married to the daughter of the Danish band leader Leo Mathisen. His son, Kenny Drew Jr. ( born in 1958 ) is also a jazz pianist.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Talkin 'and Walkin' ( Jazz West, 1955)
- Trio / Quartet / Quintet: The Riverside Collection ( Riverside / OJC, 1956 /57) with Paul Chambers, Philly Joe Jones
- Undercurrent ( Blue Note, 1960) with Freddie Hubbard, Hank Mobley, Sam Jones, Louis Hayes
- Dark and Beautiful ( Steeplechase, 1974) with NHØP, Tootie Heath
- Recollection ( Timeless, 1989) with NHØP
- At the Brewhouse ( Storyville, 1993) with NHØP and Alvin Queen