Kenny Graham (born Kenneth Thomas Skingle; 19 July 1924 – 17 February 1997) was a British

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 ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

, composer and

essayist An essay is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal a ...

, described as "one of Britain's foremost jazz composers and arrangers", and as "a genuine, often overlooked pioneer of the modern jazz movement in Britain".

Life

He was born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, and learned to play the

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

as a young child. He then learned the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

, with the

tenor sax The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

his preferred instrument by the time he became a professional musician at the age of 16. He joined the army in 1942, expecting to join a service band, but was turned down for that role and went

absent without leave Desertion is the abandonment of a military duty or post without permission (a pass, liberty or leave) and is done with the intention of not returning. This contrasts with unauthorized absence (UA) or absence without leave (AWOL ), which a ...

, dyeing his red hair black and working under the name Tex Kershaw for two years as a member of

Johnny Claes Octave John Claes (11 August 1916 – 3 February 1956) was an English-born racing driver who competed for Belgium. Before his fame as a racing driver, Claes was also a jazz trumpeter and successful bandleader in Britain. Early life and jazz ...

's Claepigeons.Kenny Graham, ''British modern jazz''
Retrieved 18 November 2014 After the end of the war, he played in many of the leading

British dance band British dance band is a genre of popular jazz and dance music that developed in British dance halls and hotel ballrooms during the 1920s and 1930s, often called a Golden Age of British music, prior to the Second World War. Thousands of miles aw ...

s of the era, including those led by

Nat Temple Nat Temple (18 July 1913 – 30 May 2008)
- accessed May 2011 was an English

Nat Gonella Nathaniel Charles Gonella (7 March 1908 – 6 August 1998) was an English jazz trumpeter, bandleader, vocalist, and mellophonist. He founded the big band The Georgians, during the British dance band era. Early life and career Gonella was bo ...

Ambrose Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promo ...

Leslie "Jiver" Hutchinson Leslie George "Jiver" Hutchinson (6 March 1906 – 22 November 1959) was a Jamaican jazz trumpeter and bandleader. Hutchinson played in the band of Bertie King in Jamaica in the 1930s, then moved to England, where he played with Happy Blake's C ...

and

Eric Winstone Eric Winstone (born 1 January 1913 in London, died 2 May 1974 in Pagham, Sussex) was an English big band leader, conductor and composer. Biography and career Playing piano in his spare time from a job as Westminster Gas and Coke Company led hi ...

, as well as in

Victor Feldman Victor Stanley Feldman (7 April 1934 – 12 May 1987) was an English jazz musician who played mainly piano, vibraphone, and percussion. He began performing professionally during childhood, eventually earning acclaim in the UK jazz scene as ...

's Sextet, before forming Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists in April 1950. The band sought to develop "an amalgam of

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...

, African and Cuban rhythms and super-modern harmonies". Although "artistically successful" and acclaimed for its innovative style, the band did not gain a large enough audience and the original band folded in March 1952 when trumpeter Jo Hunter and drummer Dicky DeVere left. However, a new band of Afro-Cubists performed at the opening night of the Flamingo Club in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develop ...

in August 1952. Graham also played

baritone sax The baritone saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of instruments, larger (and lower-pitched) than the tenor saxophone, but smaller (and higher-pitched) than the bass. It is the lowest-pitched saxophone in common use - the bass, contra ...

Jack Parnell John Russell Parnell (6 August 1923 – 8 August 2010) was an English musician and musical director. Biography Parnell was born into a theatrical family in London, England. His uncle was the theatrical impresario Val Parnell. During hi ...

's band, and tenor with other bands, occasionally reconvening the Afro-Cubists for recordings and performances. The Afro-Cubists recorded two EPs in 1954, ''Afro-Cadabra'' and ''Excerpts from Caribbean Suite'', with a band including saxophonist

Eddie Mordue Edwin "Eddie" Mordue (5 January 1928 – 26 January 2011) was a British jazz saxophonist whose career spanned 70 years. Born in South Shields in January 1928, Edwin Mordue moved to London in 1941 aged 13 and toured with 'Archie's Juvenile Ba ...

and drummer

Phil Seamen Philip William Seamen (28 August 1926 – 13 October 1972) was an English jazz drummer. With a background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s Brit ...

. Kenny Graham's Afro-Cubists, ''Discogs.com''
Retrieved 18 November 2014 From 1955, Graham became more active as a writer and arranger than as a performer. In 1956, inspired by the work of American musician

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

, he recorded an album, ''Moondog And Suncat Suites'', credited to Kenny Graham And His Satellites, which included treatments of some of Moondog's compositions as well as Graham's own. ''Moondog And Suncat Suites'', Trunk Records
Retrieved 19 November 2014 The following year he recorded an album, ''Presenting Kenny Graham'', for the

Pye Nixa Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherho ...

label, featuring Seamen and pianist

Stan Tracey Stanley William Tracey (30 December 1926 – 6 December 2013) was a British jazz pianist and composer, whose most important influences were Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. Tracey's best known recording is the 1965 album ''Jazz Suite Inspir ...

, and engineered by

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...

. Following a serious illness in 1958, Graham gave up performing completely. He wrote for several bands including that of

Ted Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...

, composing the Beaulieu Festival Suite recorded by Heath in 1959, and also worked as an arranger at recording sessions. Inspired by the music of

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based ...

, he was commissioned to write a series of compositions for Ellington's musicians in 1960, which were recorded by a band that included

Harry Carney Harry Howell Carney (April 1, 1910 – October 8, 1974) was a jazz saxophonist and clarinettist who spent over four decades as a member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra. He played a variety of instruments but primarily used the baritone saxopho ...

, Paul Gonsalves,

Ray Nance Ray Willis Nance (December 10, 1913 – January 28, 1976) was an American jazz trumpeter, violinist and singer. He is best remembered for his long association with Duke Ellington and his orchestra. Early years Nance was the leader of his ow ...

and

Sam Woodyard Sam Woodyard (January 7, 1925 – September 20, 1988) was an American jazz drummer. He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey, United States. Woodyard was largely an autodidact on drums and played locally in the Newark, New Jersey area in the 1940 ...

. He also directed recording sessions by blues musicians including

Big Bill Broonzy Big Bill Broonzy (born Lee Conley Bradley; June 26, 1903 – August 14, 1958) was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s, when he played country music to mostly African American audiences. In the 1930s ...

and

Josh White Joshua Daniel White (February 11, 1914 – September 5, 1969) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and civil rights activist. He also recorded under the names Pinewood Tom and Tippy Barton in the 1930s. White grew up in the Sout ...

,Eugene Chadbourne, Profile at ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 19 November 2014 and worked extensively as a writer and arranger with

Humphrey Lyttelton Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton (23 May 1921 – 25 April 2008), also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster from the Lyttelton family. Having taught himself the trumpet at school, Lyttelton became a professional ...

, composing the piece "One Day I Met an African" which Lyttelton recorded several times. In 1980, Graham wrote further pieces for Lyttelton's band, including "Adagio For David" and "Ladyless and Lachrymose". He also wrote for films such as ''

The Small World of Sammy Lee ''The Small World of Sammy Lee'' is a 1963 British crime film written and directed by Ken Hughes and starring Anthony Newley, Julia Foster and Robert Stephens. A striptease-show compere is hunted across the seedy London underworld of Soho by de ...

'' (1963), ''

Night Train to Paris ''Night Train to Paris'' is a 1964 British-American spy film starring Leslie Nielsen, Aliza Gur and Dorinda Stevens. Plot Former OSS officer Alan Holiday is visited by Catherine Carrel on New Year's Eve, Carrel says she's a close friend of Jule ...

'' (1964) and ''

Where the Bullets Fly ''Where the Bullets Fly'' is a 1966 British comedy spy film directed by John Gilling and starring Tom Adams as Charles Vine and John Arnatt reprising their roles from '' Licensed to Kill''. It also stars Dawn Addams, Tim Barrett and Michael R ...

'' (1966), and an orchestral suite, "The Labours of Heracles", for

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

. He wrote occasional and acerbic essays on music for various magazines. He was dismissive of much modern popular music, including

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

. It was said of him that "he was completely dedicated to his strong belief in how jazz should sound", and was described as "a man of uncompromised integrity in both his musical and personal life hohated insincerity and crassness", and who had a "mercurial temperament".Kenny Graham biography, ''Jazz Professional''
Retrieved 19 November 2014 He experimented with

electronic keyboard An electronic keyboard, portable keyboard, or digital keyboard is an electronic musical instrument, an electronic derivative of keyboard instruments. Electronic keyboards include synthesizers, digital pianos, stage pianos, electronic organs an ...

s, and became an expert in electronics. He worked as a

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent ceremonial counties of England, counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and He ...

ticket machine A ticket machine, also known as a ticket vending machine (TVM), is a vending machine that produces paper or electronic tickets, or recharges a stored-value card or smart card or the user's mobile wallet, typically on a smartphone. For instanc ...

maintenance engineer, and also became a skilled maker of clocks and watches. In later life he worked as a caretaker of an apartment block in

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

, and became something of a recluse. He died in London in 1997, aged 72.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Kenny 1924 births 1997 deaths 20th-century British composers British jazz composers British jazz saxophonists British male saxophonists 20th-century saxophonists Male jazz composers 20th-century British male musicians 20th-century British essayists 20th-century jazz composers People from Ealing