Joe Kennedy, Jr.

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Joseph J. "Joe" Kennedy, Jr. (born November 16, 1923 in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania , † April 17, 2004 in Richmond , Virginia ) was an American violinist , composer , arranger and professor in the field of classical music and the Jazz .

Live and act

Kennedy received his first violin lessons from his grandfather. Ahmad Jamal was one of his childhood friends ; after classical violin studies he was initially influenced by Yehudi Menuhin . During the Second World War he served in the US Army , where he played in the Camp Lee Symphony Orchestra in Petersburg . After his discharge from the army, he returned to Pittsburgh to form the jazz formation The Four Strings with Jamal, Ray Crawford and bassist Edgar Willis ; her song "Strings", produced by Mary Lou Williams , 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 taught and earned a reputation as an expert on instrumental music for the next 32 years. He also completed a master's degree in music education at Duquesne University . From 1973 he built a course on African American music history at Virginia Commonwealth University .

In 1962 he made his debut album, on which Hank Jones , Kenny Burrell and Milt Hinton played; In 1963 he was the first African American to be accepted into the Richmond Symphony Orchestra , of which he was a violinist until 1981. During this time he also composed some songs such as "Opticas", "Be Sure" and "Tempo". From 1984 he was Professor of Music and Head of the Department of Jazz Studies at the Virginia Technical Institute ; In 1995 he retired. During his career, Kennedy worked on several albums by 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 his All Stars formation, as well as 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 has been performed repeatedly.

Kennedy was also the subject of the BBC documentary Fiddlers Three and has received numerous honors, including the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Theresa Pollak Prize for Excellence in the Arts (1999) and the Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation's Living Legacy Jazz Award (2001).

Discographic 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.

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ republished as Falling In Love with Love (2002)
personal data
SURNAME Kennedy, Joe Jr.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kennedy, Joseph J. (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH November 16, 1923
PLACE OF BIRTH Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH April 17, 2004
Place of death Richmond , Virginia