Kenny Wheeler Quintet – Foxy Trot
From Double, Double You: ECM 1262 [Buy]

Kenny Wheeler and Bob Brookmeyer Quintet – Upstairs with Beatrice
From Island: Artists House AH0006 [Buy]

This will be the final post in this series on Kenny Wheeler. Thanks to everyone who has dropped by and especially to everyone who took the time to comment. Don’t worry, Mr Wheeler will return at a later date, without a doubt…

To bid a temporary farewell, some slightly more straightahead stuff, set off with some interesting compositions. On Foxy Trot, Michael Brecker adds his particular muscularity to a group featuring longtime Wheeler collaborators Dave Holland, John Taylor and Jack deJohnette. Recorded in New York, May 1983.

Upstairs with Beatrice is a Bob Brookmeyer composition. Bob (valve trombone) and Kenny are joined by East Coasters John Hollenbeck (d) Jeremy Allen (b) and Frank Carlberg (p) on the 2002 record Island – a disc worth getting just for the bonus DVD with interview material, deconstructions of Kenny’s and Bob’s solos and footage of the recording session.

Coming soon on etnobofin… some kiwi music for New Zealand Music Month.

Kenny Wheeler Brass Ensemble – Going for Baroque
From A Long Time Ago: ECM 1691 [Buy]

Thierry Péala with Kenny Wheeler – 546
From Inner Traces – A Kenny Wheeler Songbook: naive Y266 102 [Buy]

When you track down the (very rare) interviews with Kenny Wheeler, one of the things you learn is that Mr Wheeler is very interested in early music – that is, the music of Western Europe of the middle ages and the Renaissance. And sometimes this interest manifests itself in his compositions.

Here are two examples – Going for Baroque is fairly self-explanatory, with contrapuntal horn lines eventually dissolving into a more familar “wheelerian” harmonies. 546 is a short composition for jazz ensemble and vocalists based on the form and harmonies of Elizabethan English choral music.

Kenny Wheeler Quartet – Kind Folk
From Angel Song: ECM 1607 [Buy]

Kenny Wheeler Big Band – Part II – For H. Part III – For Jan
From Music for Large and Small Ensembles: ECM 1415/16 [Buy]

Thierry Péala – Of Smiles Remembered
From Inner Traces – A Kenny Wheeler Songbook: naive Y266 102 [Buy]

Three different interpretations of Kenny’s tune Kind Folk. The 1996 Angel Song version features the impossibly cool combination of Kenny with Lee Konitz (as), Bill Frisell (g) and Dave Holland (b).

The tune appeared six years earlier under the title “For H” – the second movement of The Sweet Time Suite, played by Kenny’s British big band on Music for Large and Small Ensembles.

Recorded in Pernes les Fontaines, in southeast France in January 2000, the vocal version by French singer Thierry Péala is backed by Steve Arguelles on drums and Bruno Angelini on piano.

Jurgen Friedrich Quartet with Kenny Wheeler – Baghira
From Summerflood: CTI Records [Buy]

John Abercrombie Trio with Kenny Wheeler – Little Booker
From Open Land: ECM 1683 [Buy]

I’ve just spent another whole weekend in the studio, recording the band’s new album. Once again, it’s been a demanding (and sometimes frustrating) experience. I have incredible respect and awe for those professional musicians who can step into someone else’s band at short notice and make a meaningful contribution.

Here’s Kenny Wheeler working as a sideman, both recorded in 1998, in Germany for an American label, and the other recorded in New York for a German label!

Kenny Wheeler Quartet, Jazzclub Lustenau, Austria, May 2001

Kenny Wheeler Quintet -By Myself
Kenny Wheeler Big Band – Part V – Know Where You Are
From Music for Large and Small Ensembles: ECM 1415/16 [Buy]

So here’s the start of a Kenny Wheeler series. I could easily say too much about Mr Wheeler, so I’ll try to say very little and let people just listen to the man’s music.

To kick off, here’s two tracks off his 1990 big band/small band double set Music for Large and Small Ensembles. Recorded in London and Oslo, musicians include Dave Holland (b), Peter Erskine (d), John Abercrombie (g) and John Taylor (p) – and that’s just the core quartet ! This one is for Taxi Driver and Molo.

Tomasz Stanko Quartet – Maldoror’s War Song
From Matka Joanna: ECM 1544 [Buy Here]

Tomasz Stanko and the Motion Trio – Tchetchenie
Live recording from Polish Jazz Network

Yeah, let’s carry on with trumpet players shall we? Tomasz Stanko is a European musician who is finally getting some of the attention he deserves, thanks in large part to some landmark recordings on ECM in the past ten years. But of course his career goes back far longer, having played at one time or another with many of the European avant garde and mainstream.

Image Copyright Karlheinz Kluter