Kenny Drew
Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928 – August 4, 1993) was an American jazz pianist. Biography. Drew was born in New York City, United States, and received piano lessons from the age of five. He attended the High School of Music & Art in Manhattan. Drew's first recording, in 1950, was with Howard McGhee, and over the next two years he worked in bands led by Buddy DeFranco, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, and Charlie Parker, among others. After a brief period with his own trio in California, Drew returned to New York, playing with Dinah Washington, Johnny Griffin , Buddy Rich, and several others over the following few years. He led many recording sessions throughout the 1950s, and in 1957 appeared on John Coltrane's album, "Blue Train". Drew was one of the American jazz musicians who settled in Europe around this period: he moved to Paris in 1961 and to Copenhagen three years later. While he sacrificed much of the interest of the American jazz audience, he gained a wide following across Europe. Kenny Drew was a well-known figure on the Copenhagen jazz scene, recording many sessions with the Danish bassist Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen. "Living in  Copenhagen, and travelling out from there," Drew remarked, "I have probably worked in more different contexts than if I had stayed in New York where I might have got musically locked in with a set-group of musicians. This way, I have been able to keep my musical antennas in shape, while at the same time I have had more time to study and also get deeper into my own endeavors." Drew and Dexter Gordon appeared on screen in Ole Ege's theatrically released hardcore pornographic film, "Pornografi – en musical" (1971), for which they composed and performed the score. Drew  died in August 1993 in Copenhagen, Denmark (he had stomach cancer, but it was unclear if this was the cause of death) and was interred in the Assistens Cemetery in Nørrebro, Copenhagen. He has a street named after him in southern Copenhagen, "Kenny Drews Vej" (Eng., Kenny Drew Street). His son, Kenny Drew Jr., was also a jazz pianist. Playing style. His touch was described in "The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz" as "precise", and his playing as being a combination of bebop-influenced melodic improvisation and block chords, including "refreshingly subtle harmonizations". Discography. As sideman. With Gene Ammons With Svend  Asmussen With Chet Baker With Art Blakey With Tina Brooks With Clifford Brown With Benny Carter With Paul Chambers With John Coltrane With Ted Curson With Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis With Kenny Dorham With Teddy Edwards With Art Farmer With Dizzy Gillespie With Dexter Gordon With Grant Green With Johnny Griffin With Ernie Henry With Ken McIntyre With Jackie McLean With Ray Nance With Kim Parker With Rita Reys With Sonny Rollins Wíth Sahib Shihab With Sonny Stitt With Toots Thielemans With Ben Webster With Tiziana Ghiglioni