Kenny_Drew

Kenny Drew

Kenny Drew

American jazz pianist

For his son, the American jazz pianist, see Kenny Drew Jr.

Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928[1] – August 4, 1993)[2] was an American-Danish jazz pianist.

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Biography

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

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

As leader

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Compilation

As sideman

References

  1. [1]
    Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 126. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
  2. [2]
    "Obituary: Kenny Drew". The Independent. 23 October 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2021.
  3. [3]
    Feather, Leonard, & Ira Gitler (2007). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz, Oxford University Press.
  4. [4]
    February 1976 liner notes to Morning by Jørgen Frigård.
  5. [5]
    "PORNOGRAFI". Memory.loc.gov. July 26, 1971. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  6. [6]
    "Kenny Drew, Jazz Pianist, 64". The New York Times. August 7, 1993. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
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