Rodney Kendrick

Rodney Kendrick (born April 30, 1960 in Philadelphia ) is an American jazz pianist , composer and music producer . He is considered a "hard swinging" musician with "delicious, monk-like wit and drive ."

Live and act

Kendrick grew up in a musical family in Miami . His father, the pianist Jimmy Kay Kendrick, accompanied Illinois Jacquet for many years ; his mother was a gospel singer . He first played the drums before turning to the piano. In the late 1970s, he toured with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes , James Brown and George Clinton . In 1981 he turned to jazz and moved to New York City , where he studied with Barry Harris . Other influences were Randy Weston and Sun Ra . In the next few years he accompanied musicians such as Freddie Hubbard , Stanley Turrentine , George Benson , Clark Terry and JJ Johnson . In the 1990s he was part of the Abbey Lincoln trio for seven years, serving as musical director for them and being involved in several of their albums. In addition, he led his own bands and released albums under his own name since 1994, on which musicians such as Houston Person , Arthur Blythe , Bheki Mseleku or Graham Haynes , in recent years Randy Weston, his wife, the singer and actress Rhonda Ross, and his Father participated. He also recorded with Frank Morgan , Bheki Mseleku, Jeffery Smith and Justin Robinson and composed for the 29th Street Saxophone Quartet , Justin Robinson and Lafayette Harris .

Discographic notes

• Dance, World, Dance (Verve; 1995)
• No Dress Code (Polydor 1998)
• Thank You (2002)
• The Colors of Rhythm (impulse! 2014)

Web links

• Literature by and about Rodney Kendrick in the catalog of the German National Library
• MySpace page
• Rodney Kendrick at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Theodore Baker, A Biographical Dictionary of Musicians , Schirmer Books 2001, p. 1851
2. ^ Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : The Rough Guide to Jazz , Rough Guides. London 2004, p. 434
3. ↑ AllAboutJazz ( Memento of the original from February 25, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
4. ↑ James L. "Jimmy Kay" Kendrick Miami New Times, July 12, 2007