Music for Large and Small Ensembles

Song for Someone - The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler - Brian Shaw

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.

Description

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.

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Citation

Shaw, Brian; Smart, Nick. Music for Large and Small Ensembles. Song for Someone - The Musical Life of Kenny Wheeler. Equinox eBooks Publishing, United Kingdom. Feb 2025. ISBN 9781781792193. https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/view-chapter/?id=25560. Date accessed: 17 Jul 2024 doi: 10.1558/equinox.25560. Feb 2025

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