Kenny Wheeler

Kenny Wheeler (born 14th January 1930, Toronto, Canada) is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based since the 1950s in the UK. Most of his output is rooted in jazz, but he has also been active in free improvisation and has occasionally contributed to rock music recordings. Highly respected among his peers for his beautiful tone and extensive range on the trumpet and flugelhorn, Wheeler has written over one hundred compositions and is a skilled arranger for small groups and larger ensembles. His compositions blend lyrical melodies with a distinctive and ever changing harmonic palette.

He has recorded some twenty albums as a leader, and has recorded or perfomed with Dave Holland, John Taylor and Norma Winstone (as Azimuth), Anthony Braxton, Lee Konitz, Keith Jarrett, David Sylvian, Spiritualized and the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, among others.

Growing up in Toronto, Wheeler began playing cornet at age 12, and became interested in jazz in his mid-teens. Wheeler spent a year studying composition at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto in 1950. In 1952, Wheeler moved to Britain. He found his way into the London jazz scene of the time, playing in groups led by Tommy Whittle, Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott. Throughout the Sixties, he worked with John Dankworth. Kenny Wheeler still lives in Britain today.

Writing for Large Ensembles

Kenny Wheeler has performed and recorded his own compositions with large jazz ensembles throughout his career, starting with his first album Windmill Tilter, (1969), recorded with the John Dankworth band. The Windmill Tilter LP today is a collector's item, since the original master tapes have been lost, and the album has not been re-released on CD. The big band album Song for Someone fused Wheeler's characteristic orchestral writing with passages of free improvisation provided by musicians such as Evan Parker and Derek Bailey, and was also named Album of the Year by Melody Maker magazine in 1975.

Improvised Music

In the mid-1960s, Wheeler became a close participant in the nascent free improvisation movement in London, playing with John Stevens, Evan Parker, the Spontaneous Music Ensemble and the Globe Unity Orchestra. His involvement in this genre continues to this day.

Small Group Jazz

Much of the respect for Kenny Wheeler as a trumpet and flugelhorn player derives from his work with small sized jazz groups. Wheeler's first small group recordings to gain significant critical attention were Gnu High (1975) and Deer Wan (1977), both for the ECM label. Wheeler was also a member of chamber jazz group Azimuth, with John Taylor and Norma Winstone, and was the trumpet player in the Anthony Braxton Quartet from 1971 to 1976.

More recently, Wheeler received widespread critical praise for his 1997 album Angel Song, which featured an unusual "drummerless" quartet of Bill Frisell (guitar), Dave Holland (bass) and Lee Konitz (alto sax).

Critical Reaction

"The Wheeler sound is one of the most distinctive in the history of the jazz trumpet. A thin, overblown note is followed by a florid flurry, the high squeal by a long low note he rolls around his mouth like a chewy mint. Although his phrases are bordered, like blotting paper in ink, with romanticism, the comforting phrase is superseded by the querulous, a moment of tenderness by a scream of panic. He has his trademark tics, but is incapable of producing a hackneyed phrase. Like words from a prophet, every note counts."

- Sholto Byrnes in The Indepedent, 20th August 2002 (quoted on guitarist John Parriccelli's website ^*

Discography

Windmill Tilter, 1968
Song For Someone, 1973
Gnu High, 1976
Deer Wan, 1978
Around 6, 1980
Double, Double You, 1984
Flutter By, Butterfly, 1988
Music For Large & Small Ensembles, 1990
The Widow In The Window, 1990
Kayak, 1992
Touché (with Paul Bley), 1996
All The More, 1997
Angel Song, 1997
Live at the Montreal Bistro (with Sonny Greenwich), 1998
Siren's Song, 1998
A Long Time Ago, 1999
One More Time (with Norma Winstone and UMO Jazz Orchestra), 2000
Moon (with John Taylor), 2001
Ordesa (with Stan Sulzmann and John Parricelli), 2002
Dream Sequence, 2003
Island (with Bob Brookmeyer), 2003
Where Do We Go From Here (with John Taylor), 2005
What Now?, 2005

Links

Kenny Wheeler entry in the Canadian Encyclopaedia ^*

Kenny Wheeler profile on the European Jazz Network ^*

2003 Interview with journalist John Eyles^* - AllAboutJazz.com

2005 Interview with John Fordham - PDF ^* - Jazzservices.org.uk

2005 Review of the Kenny Wheeler Big Band by John Fordham in the Guardian ^* - Guardian.co.uk

1930 births | Living people | Jazz trumpet players | Free improvisation

Kenny Wheeler | Kenny Wheeler