Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John "Kenny" Wheeler (* 14. January 1930 in St. Catharines , Ontario ; † 18th September 2014 in London ) was a Canadian jazz - trumpet - flugelhorn player and composer . He was known as "one of the most profound and original jazz voices in the world." Ian Carr emphasized the urgency of his playing: "A kind of tense, romantic melancholy ."
Live and act
Wheeler, who learned the cornet at the age of 12 , studied harmony and trumpet at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto from 1950 to 1951 . In 1952 he moved to London . Here he performed with traditional swing and dance bands, but also worked with musicians such as Joe Harriott and Ronnie Scott . In 1959 he performed at the Newport Jazz Festival with John Dankworth's Boporchestra , of which he was a member until 1965. He also studied composition with Richard Rodney Bennett and Bill Russo . From 1966 to 1970 he was part of the Spontaneous Music Ensemble around John Stevens . In 1968 he wrote the album Windmill Tilter with the Dankworth Orchestra , a suite of his own compositions based on Don Quixote by Cervantes .
From 1969 to 1972 he was a member of Tony Oxley's sextet (alongside Derek Bailey and Evan Parker ) , and from 1969 to 1975 of the Mike Gibbs Orchestra . Between 1970 and 2006 he also worked regularly in Alexander von Schlippenbach's Globe Unity Orchestra . From 1971 to 1976 he was a member of Anthony Braxton's quartet . After his large-format album Song for Someone was recognized by Melody Maker as "Album of the Year" in 1975 , he recorded the album Gnu High in 1976 in a quartet with Keith Jarrett , Dave Holland and Jack DeJohnette . A year later he founded the Azimuth trio with Norma Winstone and John Taylor , with whom he had made six albums by 1997. From 1983 to 1987 he was a member of the Dave Holland Quintet . In the early 1990s he was a member of the Dedication Orchestra .
In addition, Wheeler also played jazz rock , u. a. with Mike Gibbs (early 1970s), Bill Bruford (1978) and occasionally in the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble (since 1978). Many critics associate a further increase in Wheeler's work with the 1990s, for example with his albums Music for Large and Small Ensemble , Kayak and 1997 Angel Song , a quartet album with Lee Konitz , Bill Frisell and Dave Holland.
In 2005 Wheeler was awarded the German Jazz Trophy , the fifth prize winner after Erwin Lehn , Paul Kuhn , Wolfgang Dauner and Toots Thielemans . Wheeler last lived in a nursing home in Essex .
Wheeler was honored with an exhibition at the Royal Academy of Music in London during his lifetime : Master of Melancholy Chaos. The Kenny Wheeler Music Prize is named after Wheeler and has been awarded every year since 2011 to the academy's graduate who shows excellence in both his lecture and his compositions.
Discographic notes
- Windmill Tilter (Fontana, 1968)
- Song for Someone ( Incus , 1973)
- Gnu High ( ECM , 1975)
- Deer Wan (ECM, 1977) with Jan Garbarek , John Abercrombie , Ralph Towner , Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette
- Around 6 (ECM, 1980)
- Double, Double You (ECM, 1983)
- Flutter By, Butterfly ( Soul Note , 1988)
- Music for Large & Small Ensembles (ECM, 1990)
- The Widow in the Window (ECM, 1990)
- Kayak (AhUm, 1992)
- All the More (Soul Note, 1997)
- Angel Song (ECM, 1997) with Lee Konitz, Bill Frisell, Dave Holland
- A Long Time Ago (ECM, 1999)
- What now? ( CAM Jazz , 2005)
- It Takes Two (CAM Jazz, 2006)
- Other People (CAM Jazz, 2008) with John Taylor, Hugo Wolf Quartet
- Six for Six (CAM Jazz, 2008) with Stan Sulzmann , Bobby Wellins , John Taylor, Chris Laurence , Martin France
- The Long Waiting (CAM Jazz, 2011) with Diana Torto , Henry Lowther , Derek Watkins , Tony Fisher, Nick Smart , Dave Horler , Mark Nightingale, Barnaby Dickinson, Dave Stewart, Ray Warleigh , Duncan Lamont, Stan Sulzmann, Julian Siegel , Julian Argüelles , John Taylor, John Parricelli , Chris Laurence, Martin France, Pete Churchill
- Songs for Quintet (ECM, 2014) with Stan Sulzmann, John Parricelli, Chris Laurence, Martin France
literature
- Carlo Bohländer , Karl Heinz Holler, Christian Pfarr: Reclam's Jazz Guide . 5th, revised and supplemented edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-15-010464-5 .
- Ian Carr , Brian Priestley , Digby Fairweather (Eds.): Jazz Rough Guide. The ultimate guide to jazz. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today . Metzler Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .
- Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings . 8th edition. Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-14-102327-9 .
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
Web links
- Literature by and about Kenny Wheeler in the catalog of the German National Library
- Peter Keepnews: Kenny Wheeler, Influential Sound in Jazz, Dies at 84th obituary in The New York Times September 21, 2014
Individual evidence
- ^ RIP, Kenny Wheeler , obituary by Peter Hum in the Ottawa Citizen's jazz blog on September 19, 2014. English
- ↑ a b Kenny Wheeler: Master of Melancholy Chaos , text for an exhibition on Kenny Wheeler at the Royal Academy of Music 2013–2014 (archived)
- ^ Ian Carr, in: Jazz Rough Guide , p. 691
- ↑ Kenny Wheeler, Contemporary Jazz Musician, Dies Aged 84 , The Guardian , Sept. 19, 2014
- ↑ Peter Hum: The Kenny Wheeler Jazz Benefit Challenge at the Ottawa Citizen, September 2, 2014
- ^ Kenny Wheeler Music Prize
- ↑ "There aren't many solos of mine that I like as a whole ... Maybe it's the solos on Deer Wan that I can live with," said Wheeler, very self-critical. Quoted from Ian Carr, in: Jazz Rough Guide , p. 691
- ↑ Discussion of Allaboutjazz
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Wheeler, Kenny |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Wheeler, Kenneth Vincent John (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Canadian jazz trumpeter and composer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 14, 1930 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | St. Catharines near Toronto |
| DATE OF DEATH | 18th September 2014 |
| Place of death | London |