Norman Keenan

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Norman Dewey Keenan (born November 23, 1916 in Union , Union County (South Carolina) , † February 12, 1980 in Brooklyn , New York City ) was an American jazz musician ( double bass , composition ).

Live and act

Keenan, who came from a musical family, initially received piano lessons. When he was thirteen he moved to Brooklyn with his family; soon after, he switched to the double bass and formed a band with Joe Alston , from which the band of Tiny Bradshaw developed in the mid-1930s . In 1939 he left Bradshaw and then worked for a short time at Lucky Millinder , then at Henry Wells and in 1940/41 at Earl Bostic . With RC Hicks he wrote the R&B vocal number "Get in the Groove, the Jive is Fine" (1941), which was recorded in the same year by Harold Boyce and His Harlem Indians (Decca 8585). At the end of 1941 he led his own formation with which he appeared in New York's Small's Paradise .

From the beginning of 1942 Keenan worked at Cootie Williams , heard in titles such as "Floogie Boo" (1944, with Eddie Lockjaw Davis and Bud Powell ) or " Things Ain't What They Used to Be ". In 1944 he was called up for military service; after his discharge from the army, he returned to Cootie Williams in 1946. Together with Williams and Eddie Johnson he wrote the track "Bring 'Em Down Front" (, with Bob Merrill , vocals; Capitol 15164). From 1947 to 1949 he played with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson , and in late 1949 with the Harlemaires . From 1949 to 1957 he formed a trio with guitarist Carl Lynch and pianist Clarence Williams , which performed at the Village Vanguard before becoming the accompanist for Harry Belafonte in 1957 , with whom he worked until 1962.

Keenan worked as a session musician from the 1940s a. a. with Pearl Bailey , The Ink Spots (1944), The Du-Droppers, Bertice Reading (1953), Big Maybelle (1954) and from 1960 with Miriam Makeba , Chad Mitchell and Joan Toliver . From 1962 to 1964 he played in the studio orchestra on the television show Hootenanny ; from the mid-1960s he was a member of the Count Basie Orchestra , to be heard on albums such as Basie Meets Bond (1966), Frank Sinatra / Count Basie at the Sands (1966), Arthur Prysock / Count Basie (Verve, 1966), How About This (with Kay Starr , 1968), Basic Basie ( MPS , 1969), Basie's Timing (1975) and The Retrospective Sessions (Impulse !, published 1978). Keenan performed with the Basie Band at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1968 ; in the years with Count Basie , with whom he stayed until 1973, he also worked on recordings of Roy Eldridge ( The Nifty Cat Strikes West , 1966). In the field of jazz he was involved in 96 recording sessions between 1942 and 1973, also with Joe Williams (1971), Big Joe Turner (1972) and Teresa Brewer (1973). He is buried in Calverton National Cemetery .

Lexical entry

  • Benjamin Franklin V: An Encyclopedia of South Carolina Jazz and Blues Musicians . University of South Carolina 2016

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions, Part 3, 1941
  2. ↑ a b c Tom Lord The Jazz Discography (online, accessed September 30, 2017)
  3. ^ Guthrie P. Ramsey: The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop . University of California Press 2013
personal data
SURNAME Keenan, Norman
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Keenan, Norman Dewey (full name); Keenan, Norman W. (in military records)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH November 23, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Union, South Carolina , Union County (South Carolina) , South Carolina
DATE OF DEATH February 12, 1980
Place of death Brooklyn , New York City