finetune artist: Connie Kay

b. Conrad Henry Kirnon, 27 April 1927, Tuckahoe, New York, USA, d. 30 November 1994, New York City, New York, USA. A self-taught drummer, in his late teens Kay played with leading bop musicians, including Miles Davis. He gained big band experience with Cat Anderson in the late 40s. In the early 50s, he was playing R&B in studio backing bands - but was mostly playing in small modern jazz groups with Lester Young, Stan Getz, Davis, Charlie Parker and others. In 1955, he took over from Kenny Clarke in the Modern Jazz Quartet, remaining with the group for the next 20 years. During these years he also performed with other artists on record dates, among them Chet Baker, Paul Desmond, Cannonball Adderley and fellow MJQ member John Lewis. He played on rock singer Van Morrison's 1968 masterpiece Astral Weeks. After the MJQ disbanded in 1974 Kay worked with Lewis and other jazzmen, including Benny Goodman in whose band he played at the Carnegie Hall 40th Anniversary Concert. In the late 70s he was mostly working in New York playing jazz-club dates which included several years in the house band at Eddie Condon's. In 1981, he was again a member of the MJQ when the group re-formed. Despite his wide experience in several areas of jazz, Kay was understandably best known for his highly sophisticated work with the MJQ in which context he played with great subtlety and deftly understated swing.

Listen to Connie Kay at Finetune.