Brooks Kerr
Chester Monson Brooks Joseph Kerr III (born December 26, 1951 in New Haven , Connecticut - † April 28, 2018 ) was an American jazz pianist .
Life
Kerr was blind and was considered a child prodigy at the piano (taught at the Child Study Center of Yale University and the Foote School in New Haven); for the first time at the age of nine he appeared in public as a pianist. To study, he went to the Juilliard School (until 1972) and the Manhattan School of Music . He also took lessons from Willie The Lion Smith (with whom he later collaborated frequently) and Luckey Roberts in 1958 . As an admirer and connoisseur of the work of Duke Ellington , he took part in the 1970s with several former members of the Duke Ellington Orchestrawith Sonny Greer and Russell Procope (with whom he had a band that played in clubs in Greenwich Village ). He also played with ex-Ellington orchestra members Paul Gonsalves , Francis Williams and Ray Nance and others on Ellington tribute projects. Kerr also had ties with Ellington himself, assisting him in a weeklong seminar at the University of Wisconsin in 1972 and standing in for him at a performance of the third Sacred Concert in 1974.
Under his own name, Kerr recorded a first album for Famous Door in 1974, where he led a quartet that consisted of Paul Quinichette , Gene Ramey and Sam Woodyard , with whom he also appeared at Churchill's jazz club . This was followed by a session for Chiaroscuro Records in 1975, with duets with Sonny Greer and finally several tribute albums from 1981 to 1982 (on the Blue Wail label ), dedicated to Duke Ellington, Fats Waller and Irving Berlin . In the field of jazz, he was involved in five recording sessions between 1974 and 1982.
He worked a lot as a teacher (private tuition) and lived in New York City .
Discography
- with the Paul Quinichette Quartet Prevue , Famous Door 1974
- Soda Fountain Rag , Chiaroscuro Records 1975
- Kerr Salutes Waller
- Kerr Salutes Berlin
- Kerr Salutes Ellington
Lexical entry
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 3rd, revised and expanded edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 1989, ISBN 3-15-010355-X .
Web links
- Brooks Kerr at Allmusic (English)
- biography
Individual evidence
- ^ Message from the Darmstadt Jazz Institute
- ^ New York Magazine April 22, 1974
- ↑ Tom Lord Jazz Discography
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kerr, Brooks |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kerr III, Chester Monson Brooks Joseph (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American jazz pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 26, 1951 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | New Haven , Connecticut |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 28, 2018 |