Kenny Drew, Jr.

Kenneth Sidney "Kenny" Drew (August 28, 1928 – August 4, 1993) was an American jazz pianist.

Biography
Drew was born in New York City in 1928 and received piano lessons from the age of five. 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 50s, and in 1957 appeared on John Coltrane's album Blue Train.

Drew was one of several 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."

Kenny 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 1993 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., is 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".

As leader

 * 1953: New Faces, New Sounds (Blue Note)
 * 1954: Kenny Drew and His Progressive Piano (Norgran) - also released as The Modernity of Kenny Drew and The Ideation of Kenny Drew
 * 1955: Talkin' & Walkin' (Jazz: West)
 * 1956: Embers Glow (Jazz: West) with Jane Fielding
 * 1956: Kenny Drew Trio (Riverside)
 * 1957: A Harry Warren Showcase (Judson)
 * 1957: A Harold Arlen Showcase (Judson)
 * 1957: I Love Jerome Kern (Riverside)
 * 1957: This Is New (Riverside)
 * 1957: Pal Joey (Riverside)
 * 1960: Undercurrent (Blue Note)
 * 1973: Duo (SteepleChase) with Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen
 * 1973: Everything I Love (SteepleChase)
 * 1974: Duo 2 (SteepleChase) with NHØP
 * 1974: Dark Beauty (SteepleChase)
 * 1974: If You Could See Me Now (SteepleChase)
 * 1974: Duo Live in Concert (SteepleChase) with NHØP
 * 1975: Morning (SteepleChase)
 * 1977: In Concert (SteepleChase)
 * 1977: Lite Flite (SteepleChase)
 * 1977: Ruby, My Dear (SteepleChase)
 * 1978: Home Is Where the Soul Is (Xanadu)
 * 1978: For Sure! (Xanadu)
 * 1981: It Might As Well Be Spring (Soul Note)
 * 1981: Havin' Myself a Time (Soul Note) - with Kim Parker
 * 1981: Your Soft Eyes (Soul Note)
 * 1982: Playtime: Children's Songs by Kenny Drew and Mads Vinding (Metronome) - with Mads Vinding
 * 1982: The Lullaby (Baystate)
 * 1982: Moonlit Desert (Baystate)
 * 1983: Swinin' Love (Baystate)
 * 1983: And Far Away (Soul Note)
 * 1983: Fantasia (Baystate)
 * 1984: Trippin' (Baystate)
 * 1985: ''By Request (Baystate)
 * 1985: By Request II (Baystate)
 * 1986: Elegy (Baystate)
 * 1987: Dream (Baystate)
 * 1989: Recollections (Timeless Records) with NHØP, Alvin Queen
 * 1993: At the Brewhouse (Storyville) with NHØP, Alvin Queen
 * 1996: Solo-Duo (Storyville) with NHØP, Bo Stief

As sideman
With Gene Ammons With Svend Asmussen With Tina Brooks With Clifford Brown With John Coltrane With Kenny Dorham with Art Farmer With Dizzy Gillespie With Dexter Gordon With Grant Green With Ernie Henry With Jackie McLean With Ray Nance With Chet Baker With Sonny Rollins With Sonny Stitt With Toots Thielmans With Ben Webster
 * Goodbye (Prestige, 1974)
 * Prize/Winners (1978)
 * Back to the Tracks (Blue Note, 1960)
 * The Waiting Game (Blue Note, 1961)
 * Best Coast Jazz (Emarcy, 1954)
 * Clifford Brown All Stars (Emarcy, 1954 [1956])
 * High Step (Blue Note, 1956 [1975])
 * Blue Train (Blue Note, 1957)
 * Showboat (Time, 1960)
 * Whistle Stop (Blue Note, 1961)
 * Farmer's Market (New Jazz, 1956)
 * Manhattan (Soul Note, 1981)
 * The Giant (America, 1973)
 * The Source (America, 1973)
 * Daddy Plays the Horn (1955)
 * Dexter Calling... (Blue Note, 1961)
 * One Flight Up (Blue Note, 1964)
 * A Day in Copenhagen (MPS, 1969) - with Slide Hampton
 * Some Other Spring (Sonet, 1970) - with Karin Krog
 * Sunday Mornin' (1961)
 * Presenting Ernie Henry (Riverside, 1956)
 * Jackie's Bag (1960)
 * Bluesnik (1961)
 * Huffin'n'Puffin' (1971)
 * (Chet Baker Sings) It Could Happen to You (1958)
 * Sonny Rollins with the Modern Jazz Quartet (Prestige, 1951)
 * Tour de Force (Prestige, 1956)
 * Sonny Boy (Prestige, 1956 [1961])
 * Kaleidoscope (Prestige, 1950 [1957])
 * Stitt's Bits (Prestige, 1950 [1958])
 * Man Bites Harmonica! (Riverside, 1957)
 * Stormy Weather (1970)