Kenneth David Hatfield (born November 18, 1952) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

guitarist, who is also a composer, arranger, producer, and educator.

Biography

Born Kenneth David Hatfield in

Portsmouth, Virginia Portsmouth is an independent city in southeast Virginia and across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk. As of the 2020 census, the population was 97,915. It is part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. The Norfolk Naval Shipyard and Naval M ...

, Hatfield grew up in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

and began his formal guitar instruction with John Griggs at the Griggs School of Music in 1967. At the Griggs School Hatfield was introduced to the classical and jazz guitarists of the time such as

Andrés Segovia Andrés Segovia Torres, 1st Marquis of Salobreña (21 February 1893 – 2 June 1987) was a Spanish virtuoso classical guitarist. Many professional classical guitarists were students of Segovia or their students. Segovia's contribution to the m ...

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for an unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a dist ...

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

and

Johnny Smith Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Early life During the Great Dep ...

. As a teenager growing up in the Tidewater, Virginia area, Hatfield met and played professionally with some of the area's most popular jazz musicians, including Joe Jones, Jimmy Barbour, and Philippe Fields. After graduating from

Lake Taylor High School Lake Taylor High School is a public high school located in Norfolk, Virginia and is the "Home of the Mighty Titans". It is administered by Norfolk City Public Schools. The school colors are red and black and its mascot is the Titans. Lake Taylor H ...

in Norfolk in 1971, Hatfield attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, where he established himself as a leading student. He joined the faculty after his first year and remained an adjunct professor for the next two years. Then he left Berklee to pursue a career as a professional musician. He travelled throughout the U.S. and Canada before settling in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Hatfield remained in Baltimore for two years, working as a member of the R&B group Pockets, playing local jazz gigs and frequently augmenting

Charlie Byrd Charlie Lee Byrd (September 16, 1925 – December 2, 1999) was an American jazz guitarist. Byrd was best known for his association with Brazilian music, especially bossa nova. In 1962, he collaborated with Stan Getz on the album '' Jazz Samba' ...

's trio. In 1976 Hatfield moved to New York City, where he worked with the jazz organ groups of

Jimmy McGriff James Harrell McGriff (April 3, 1936 – May 24, 2008) was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader. Biography Early years and influences Born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Germantown, Pennsylvania, Uni ...

and

Jack McDuff Eugene McDuff (September 17, 1926 – January 23, 2001), known professionally as "Brother" Jack McDuff or "Captain" Jack McDuff, was an American jazz organist and organ trio bandleader who was most prominent during the hard bop and soul jazz era ...

. Hatfield later became a member of

Chico Hamilton Foreststorn "Chico" Hamilton (September 20, 1921 – November 25, 2013) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He came to prominence as sideman for Lester Young, Gerry Mulligan, Count Basie, and Lena Horne. Hamilton became a bandleader, ...

's group Euphoria while pursuing a career as a

studio musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

. His career as a session sideman fed his increasing interest in composition and arranging. This interest led to his return to academia to further his studies in composition, with an emphasis on

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

. In addition to composing jazz works for his own ensembles, he has written chamber pieces that range from solo classical guitar to

string quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

and mixed ensembles of various sizes. He has composed choral works and ballet scores, including commissioned works for

Judith Jamison Judith Ann Jamison (pronounced JAM-ih-son) (born May 10, 1943) is an American dancer and choreographer. She is the artistic director emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Early training Judith Jamison was born in 1943 to Tessie Brown Ja ...

The Washington Ballet The Washington Ballet (TWB) is an ensemble of professional ballet dancers based in Washington DC. It was founded in 1976 by Mary Day, and has been under the artistic directorship of Julie Kent since 2016. Septime Webre was artistic director for ...

, and the

Maurice Béjart Maurice Béjart (; 1 January 1927 – 22 November 2007) was a French-born dancer, choreographer and opera director who ran the Béjart Ballet Lausanne in Switzerland. He developed a popular expressionistic form of modern ballet, talking vast th ...

Ballet Company. He has written scores for television and film, including

Eugene Richards Eugene Richards (born 1944) is an American documentary photographer living in Brooklyn, New York. He has published many books of photography and has been a member of Magnum Photos and of VII Photo Agency. He was born in Dorchester, Massachusett ...

's award-winning documentary ''but, the day came''. Arthur Circle Music has published five books of Hatfield's compositions, and in 2005

Mel Bay Mel Bay (February 25, 1913 – May 14, 1997) was an American musician and publisher best known for his series of music education books. His '' Encyclopedia of Guitar Chords'' remains a bestseller. Biography Early life Melbourne E. Bay was bo ...

published his book ''Jazz and the Classical Guitar: Theory and Application'', which is designed to demonstrate his approach to playing jazz on a

classical guitar The classical guitar (also known as the nylon-string guitar or Spanish guitar) is a member of the guitar family used in classical music and other styles. An acoustic wooden string instrument with strings made of gut or nylon, it is a precursor o ...

. In June 2006 Hatfield received the

ASCAP Foundation The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

's Jazz Vanguard Award for "innovative and distinctive music that is charting new directions in jazz".

Discography

As leader

* ''Music for Guitar and Bass'' (Arthur Circle Music, 1998) * ''Explorations for Solo Guitar'' (Arthur Circle, 1999) * ''Dyad'' (Arthur Circle, 2000) * ''Phoenix Rising'' (Arthur Circle, 2002) * ''The Surrealist Table'' (Arthur Circle, 2003) * ''String Theory'' (Arthur Circle, 2005) * ''Etudes for Solo Guitar in 24 Keys'' (Arthur Circle, 2008) * ''Ken Hatfield and Friends Play the Music of Bill McCormick'' (2008)

Books

*''Etudes for Solo Guitar in 24 Keys'' (with companion CD), Arthur Circle Music, New York, 2008 *''Jazz and the Classical Guitar: Theory and Application'' (with companion CD), Mel Bay Publications, Pacific, MO, 2005 *''New York Suite for Solo Guitar'', Arthur Circle Music, New York, 1999 *''Sonata in E Major for Solo Guitar'', Arthur Circle Music, New York, 1998 *''Nine Jazz Duets for Guitar and Bass'', Arthur Circle Music, New York, 1998 *''Two-Part Contrapuntal Etudes for Guitar'', HLH Music Publications, New York, 1998

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatfield, Ken 1952 births Living people American jazz composers American jazz guitarists American classical guitarists American male guitarists Musicians from Portsmouth, Virginia Guitarists from Virginia Berklee College of Music alumni 20th-century American guitarists Jazz musicians from Virginia Classical musicians from Virginia American male jazz composers 20th-century American male musicians