Wynton Kelly.html



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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.

He is perhaps best known for working with trumpeter Miles Davis in the '50s.

Biography

Kelly started his professional career as a teenager, initially as a member of R&B groups.^{citation needed} After working with Lee Abrams, Cecil Payne, Dinah Washington and Dizzy Gillespie¹, 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}

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.

Select discography

• Piano Interpretations (1951)
• Blues On Purpose (1965; Xanadu Records)
• Kelly Blue (1959; OJC)
• Piano (1958; OJC)
• Smokin' at the Half Note (1965; Verve)
• Full View (1967; OJC)

References

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