Song for Someone - The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler

Brian Shaw [+–]

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Brian Shaw is an active performer, arranger, and educator known for his versatility. He is one of the few trumpet players in the world equally comfortable in early music, orchestral, jazz, and commercial settings on modern and period instruments. He has released four albums as a soloist and leader, and holds principal positions the Dallas Winds, Santa Fe Pro Musica, and Spire Baroque Orchestra, and is a frequent guest principal trumpet in American symphony orchestras. A former Banff Centre student of Kenny Wheeler’s, Brian is a passionate advocate for his music and published a book of his solo transcriptions in 2000. He regularly teaches Baroque and modern trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and was Professor of Trumpet and Jazz Studies at Louisiana State University for 15 years. He lives near Seattle with his wife Lana, their sons Thomas and Elliot, and their dog, Ernie.

Nick Smart [+–]

Royal Academy of Music

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Nick Smart is Head of Jazz at the Royal Academy of Music in London, and an internationally renowned jazz educator, trumpeter and musical director. He has been the recipient of the prestigious UK All Party Parliamentary Jazz Award for Education, is a Professor of the University of London, and Honorary Member of the Royal Academy of Music where he also completed his PhD. Throughout the UK he remains one of the leading jazz musicians on the scene, continuing to record and tour with his own projects as well as being in regular demand as a sideman to players of all generations. Nick was also a close associate of Kenny Wheeler, having played in his last big band and with many of his regular colleagues, and he has been instrumental in keeping Kenny’s musical legacy alive in masterclasses and performances around the world.

Trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler (1930–2014) was one of the most enigmatic and influential musicians in recent memory. His instantly recognisable sound was a driving force within every major innovation in modern European jazz during the last half of the 20th century.

More importantly, his life provides us with a profound example of the way music can manifest itself in the most unlikely of vessels. As a lonely and shy teenager in Canada, he sought refuge from his difficult home life in the friendships he forged through a mutual love of bebop. After an unexpectedly bold move to London at the age of 22, he struggled with his confidence for years before making his first big break with the John Dankworth Orchestra. Kenny would soon find his voice in a triumvirate of musical communities: straight-ahead jazz, the burgeoning free scene, and in the busy recording studios.

Throughout his life, he constantly pursued personal growth while investing in his friends from every corner of the music business who would bring the inimitable beauty, precision, and chaos in his compositions to life. And in an artform where individuality represents the highest level of expression, Kenny was peerless. Indeed, few jazz artists of any era developed such a fingerprint in one area, let alone becoming immediately identifiable as virtuoso instrumentalists, improvisors, and composers.

Kenny Wheeler’s life is a compelling – and fundamentally human – story. This book brings together over 130 original interviews and new archival and biographical research on Wheeler’s life and music, chronicling his journey from small town Canada to international acclaim. It is as much a perspective on the history and development of jazz in Britain and Europe as it is the extraordinary tale of this improbable pioneer.

Series: Popular Music History

Introduction

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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Chapter 1

A Long Time Ago [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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Kenny was one of eight children born to a musical family in Toronto, Canada. His father, Wilfred Wheeler, was a semi-professional trombonist who one day brought home a cornet for his adolescent son. Following several moves around Ontario, the Wheelers finally settled in St. Catharines. While in high school, Kenny met a group of like-minded musicians who were enthusiastic about bebop. His father took him on a memorable trip to see Duke Ellington, and he even managed to get into the United States to see Charlie Parker twice. After a brief period of study at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, he had a series of unsuccessful attempts at holding down “day” jobs, all the while seeking musical work with an uncharacteristic determination. On the advice of his great friend, and later eminent jazz writer, Gene Lees, he abruptly decided to move to England, in the hopes of procuring work as a brass player.

Chapter 2

The Imminent Immigrant [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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Kenny arrived in London during the “Great Smog” of 1952. The professional music scene in London at the time was centered around Archer Street, where players gathered in hopes of getting work in dance bands and night clubs. Following a short-lived job at the Post Office, the musicians he encountered and his short stay in a rooming house serendipitously led to him meeting his future wife, Doreen Yeend, over the telephone. He had early musical associations with the successful bands of Roy Fox, Carl Barriteau, Buddy Featherstonhaugh, and Tommy Whittle, with whom he would make his first professional recording. This period was followed by the birth of the Wheelers’ two children, Mark and Louann. Kenny embarked on a tour with Woody Herman before eventually getting his big break: an invitation from John Dankworth, one of the most successful English bandleaders of the time.

Chapter 3

Everybody’s Song But My Own [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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One of Kenny’s first concerts with Dankworth was the now legendary appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1959. He would continue to record and tour with Dankworth, soon becoming a featured soloist. Alongside this work he was becoming increasingly busy with commercial sessions and sideman work. Kenny soon made his first few trips to perform in Europe and his reputation began to grow. In the active and highly fertile period of the late 1960s, Kenny began to meet many of the new wave of young musicians who would become life-long collaborators. It was also a period where his increasing frustration with (what he perceived as) his failure to master bebop meant that he actively sought out the burgeoning free jazz scene at the Little Theatre Club, led by John Stevens and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble. Alongside his increased involvement in the free scene, he began to play with almost every significant ensemble in London at the time, including those led by Mike Westbrook, Graham Collier and John Surman. He formed musical friendships with bassist Dave Holland (who would later join Miles Davis), as well as his future Azimuth trio partners, pianist John Taylor and vocalist Norma Winstone. A chance encounter led to him hearing a record by the trumpeter Booker Little, which would have a profound effect on him and consolidate the formation of his musical approach. The chapter closes with the story behind his debut and now landmark album as a composer and soloist, Windmill Tilter.

Chapter 4

Song For Someone [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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Following the release of Windmill Tilter, Kenny secured his first broadcast for the BBC as a bandleader. This became an annual event that led to an outpouring of new music, and ultimately the formation of his own big band and next album, Song For Someone. This period was the height of his commercial and studio work, and he played on countless television and ‘light’ radio shows as well as more substantial jazz session dates for visiting American artists, including Philly Joe Jones and Paul Gonsalves. By this time, Kenny’s reputation was firmly established and through his association with both the contemporary and free jazz scenes, he began to work increasingly in Europe. He joined Alexander Von Schlippenbach’s Globe Unity band and undertook more Jazz Workshops at Hamburg’s NDR radio studios. On one such occasion he met two people who would shape the coming years more than any other: US saxophonist Anthony Braxton, and the young record producer Manfred Eicher, who had just established his new ECM label.

Chapter 5

Gnu High [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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Even by his standards, this was a prolific time for Kenny. Now considered a modern classic, Kenny’s ECM debut Gnu High was far from an easy ride for the trumpeter. In the recording sessions for this, pianist Keith Jarrett’s chilly reception did not set Kenny’s nervous personality at ease. Nevertheless, the album established Wheeler’s relationship with the German record label, which would last to his final recording and cement his reputation as a pioneer of an increasingly identifiable European jazz sound. Soon thereafter, John Taylor formed the trio, Azimuth with Kenny and Norma Winstone. His work with this group complemented his own albums and became another significant part of his catalogue. Kenny’s session work was increasingly replaced with jazz opportunities. He was invited to join the new Dave Holland Quintet at around the same time that Holland took over as director of the jazz program at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada. Dave invited Kenny onto the faculty, and this position introduced many young international musicians to Kenny and his music.

Chapter 6

Music for Large and Small Ensembles [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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This is perhaps one of the golden periods in Kenny’s musical life. He was touring with Dave Holland’s new quintet alongside saxophonist Steve Coleman and drummer Marvin ‘Smitty’ Smith, and in the late 80s Kenny formed his own all-star quintet – again with Holland, plus Peter Erskine, John Abercrombie and John Taylor. The band toured the UK and Europe to huge acclaim, recorded the ECM album The Widow in the Window, and formed the rhythm section for his 60th Birthday big band tour. This tour saw the premiere of the seminal Suite Time Suite, which was recorded for the ECM double album Music for Large and Small Ensembles. Kenny also recorded the album Flutter By, Butterfly for the Italian Soul Note label, which featured his now frequent saxophonist partner, Stan Sulzmann. During this time he was commissioned to set some poetry to music, some of which was released decades later on the 2012 album, Mirrors. Wheeler also became a member of George Gruntz’ all star large ensemble and maintained further live broadcasts of his own music with the BBC. But one of his best-selling ECM albums, and one of his last, was yet to be recorded.

Chapter 7

Angel Song [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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The drummerless quartet album Angel Song was a commercial success for Kenny, now approaching his seventies. As ECM reached the height of its influence, this beautiful, and in many ways unexpectedly accessible recording made its mark, to critical acclaim. Once again including Dave Holland, it also featured saxophonist Lee Konitz and guitarist Bill Frisell, who had hired Kenny as a sideman for his ECM album Rambler over a decade earlier. Despite the success of Angel Song, this period would see Kenny increasingly record for other labels and marked the end of his long association with the Banff Centre. It was a fertile time of collaboration with new musical partners, marked by duo albums with pianists Paul Bley and Brian Dickinson, as well as a recording with valve trombonist Bob Brookmeyer. In the late nineties, Kenny took on new representation and began a new relationship with Italian record label CAM Jazz.

Chapter 8

The Long Waiting [+–]

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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The final chapter of this book, covering the last decade of Kenny’s life, begins with his 75th birthday tour and a new suite for big band. A period of illness brought a new frailty to his playing and affected his ability to travel comfortably. A particularly difficult week at the Blue Note in New York with pianist Kenny Werner’s band saw his career as a sideman draw to a close, increasing the necessity to play only his own music. Nevertheless, and in some ways against considerable odds, this remained a hugely productive period of composing and playing for Kenny, marked by several CAM Jazz recordings with old friends (including John Taylor and Dave Holland) and new musical partners, including Chris Potter. Renewed interest in recording his large ensemble music followed his 80th birthday celebration, resulting in the release of The Long Waiting (for big band) and Mirrors (for vocal ensemble, rhythm section, and soloists). During this period, Kenny becomes, with his usual reluctance, recognised as an elder statesman of contemporary jazz, and was awarded several honours. Of most significance for him was the 2011 Festival of New Trumpet Music, designated a “Kenny Wheeler Celebration”, curated in New York by Dave Douglas. Despite his deteriorating mobility, Kenny’s big band played two more concerts together at the end of 2012 and his quintet performed up until the end of 2013 – culminating in what would be his last solo recording: a poignant reunion with ECM. Throughout 2014 Kenny’s health declined, leading to his being placed alternately in a nursing facility and hospital. Kenny Wheeler died in Whipps Cross University Hospital, on September 18, 2014.

Epilogue

Present Past, Past Present: The Musical Legacy of Kenny Wheeler

Brian Shaw,Nick Smart

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Royal Academy of Music

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Reviews

Although I had the honour and pleasure of spending countless hours talking with him about life and music over a period of about 45 years, this lovingly created biography by Nick and Brian revealed many details about Kenny’s life that were unknown to me and gave me a new understanding of the man, the musician and his lifelong commitment to more perfectly express himself through his music and share it with us all.
Dave Holland

This exemplary biography covers a lot of ground and covers it well. It manages to take in its stride the vast amount of work Wheeler undertook in a long career, and to cast light on the individuality of his playing and writing styles.
What is particularly appreciated is that the authors, both of them noted trumpeters, manage to convey verbally the effect of Wheeler's playing and what makes it remarkable, both from a musical and a technical viewpoint. All written in a language that won't challenge the understanding of non-performers, and which certainly merits the appreciation of both lay readers and fellow musicians alike.
Jazzwise

A formidably well-researched account of Wheeler’s life and times.
The book probably gets as near the heart of the music as writing can.
UK Jazz News

Song for Someone does a stoutly professional and highly readable job at describing the man behind that sound who made such an impact on so many in his lifetime and long beyond.
Marlbank

Song For Someone is a ground-breaking account of a major jazz figure whose importance will continue to grow as his achievements are further recognized.
All About Jazz

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