History Wynton Kelly Quartet

Wynton Kelly (December 2, 1931 in Jamaica — April 12, 1971, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) was a jazz pianist who spent his career in the United States of America.

Though he was born on the island of Jamaica, Wynton grew up in Brooklyn. His academic training appears to have been brief, but he was a fast musical developer who made his professional debut in 1943, at the age of eleven or twelve. His initial musical environment was the burgeoning Rhythm and Blues scene of the mid to late 1940s. Wynton played his first important gig with the R&B combo of tenor saxophonist Ray Abrams in 1947. He spent time in hard hitting R&B combos led by Hot Lips Page, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis, in addition to the gentler environment of Johnny Moore's Three Blazers. In April 1949, Wynton played piano backing vocalist Babs Gonzales in a band that also included J.J. Johnson, Roy Haynes and a young Sonny Rollins.

Kelly started his professional career as a teenager, initially as a member of R&B groups.After working with Lee Abrams, Cecil Payne, Dinah Washington and Dizzy Gillespie[1], he was a member of Miles Davis's Quintet from 1959 to 1963. He appears on Davis's seminal 1959 album Kind of Blue, replacing Bill Evans on the track "Freddie Freeloader" (with Davis asking Kelly to sound more like Ahmad Jamal).[citation needed] He likewise appears on a single track from John Coltrane's Giant Steps, replacing Tommy Flanagan on "Naima".[citation needed]

Miles Davis described Kelly as a "hybrid" of Red Garland and Bill Evans.[cite this quote] This is a very accurate description of Kelly by his former bandleader, as Kelly played with an underlying driving rhythm (à la Red Garland), and yet played with a fair amount of understatement, in the tradition of Bill Evans.[citation needed]

A superb accompanist, Wynton Kelly was also a distinctive soloist. He recorded 14 titles for Blue Note in a trio (1951), and worked with Dinah Washington, Dizzy Gillespie, and Lester Young during 1951-1952.[citation needed] After serving in the military, he worked with Dinah Washington (1955-1957), Charles Mingus (1956-1957), and the Dizzy Gillespie big band (1957), but he would be most famous for his stint with Miles Davis (1959-1963), recording such albums with Miles as Kind of Blue, At the Blackhawk, and Someday My Prince Will Come.[citation needed] When he left Davis, Kelly took the rest of the rhythm section (bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb) with him to form his trio. The group actually sounded at its best backing Wes Montgomery[citation needed]

Kelly's first big break in the jazz world came in 1951, when he became Dinah Washington's accompanist. In July 1951 Kelly also made his recording debut as a leader on the Blue Note label at the age of 19. After his initial stint with Dinah Washington Kelly gigged with the combos of Lester Young and Dizzy Gillespie and recorded with Gillespie's quintet in 1952. Wynton fulfilled his army service between 1952 and the summer or 1954 and then rejoined Washington and Gillespie in 1955. By this time Kelly had become one of the most in demand pianists on record. He distinguished himself on record with such talent as J.J. Johnson, Sonny Rollins, Johnny Griffin and especially Hank Mobley whom Kelly inspired to some of his best work on classic Blue Note albums like Soul Station, Work Out, and Roll Call.

Wynton proved himself as a superb accompanist on the Billie Holiday Clef sessions of June 1956 and showed his mettle both as an accompanist and soloist on the star-studded Norman Granz session with Coleman Hawkins, Paul Gonsalves, Dizzy Gillespie and Stan Getz in 1957 that produced the fine Sittin' In album on the Verve label. In 1957 Kelly left Gillespie and formed his own trio. He finally recorded his second album as a leader for the Riverside label in January 1958, six years after his Blue Note debut.

In early 1959 Miles Davis invited Wynton to joint his sextet as a replacement for Bill Evans. Kind of Blue, recorded in March 1959, on which he shares the piano stool with Evans, Kelly excels on the track "Freddie Freeloader" a medium temp side that is closest to the more theory-free jazz of the mid-fifties. Wynton proved a worthy successor to Red Garland and Bill Evans in the Miles Davis combo, together with bassist Paul Chambers and drummer Jimmy Cobb, an old colleague from Dinah Washington's rhythm section, he established a formidable rapport.

During his stay with Davis, Kelly recorded his fine Kelly Blue for Riverside and three albums for Vee Jay. By the end of 1962 Kelly, Chambers and Cobb formed the Wynton Kelly Trio, which soon made its mark. The Kelly Trio remained a regular unit for a number of years and reached the height of their popularity after they joined up with guitarist Wes Montgomery, resulting in three albums, a live set in New York's Half Note, a September 1965 studio album for Verve, and a live set at the Half Note for the Xanadu Label. Kelly's trio, now with Cecil McBee and Ron McClure kept working during the late 1960s until he died of an epileptic fit on April 12, 1971, aged only 39.

Wynton Kelly was a greatly underrated talent, who was both an elegant piano soloist with a rhythmically infectious solo style in which he combined boppish lines with a great feeling for the blues as well as a particularly accomplished accompanist, gifted with perfect pitch and a highly individual block chording style. Kelly's work was always highly melodic, especially in his ballad performances, while an irresistible sense of swing informed his mid and up-tempo performances.

Before his early death, Kelly recorded as a leader for Blue Note, Riverside Records, Vee-Jay, Verve, and Milestone.[citation needed] Kelly had a daughter, Tracy, in 1963, with partner Anne.[citation needed] The track, "Little Tracy", from the LP Coming In the Back Door, is named after Kelly's daughter.[citation needed] Tracy Matisak is a now a Philadelphia television personality.

Kelly's second cousin, bassist Marcus Miller, also performed with Miles Davis in the eighties and nineties.

Creative Commons By-SA License