Maury (Morris David) Kaye (b. Kronick) (March 29, 1932 – February 2, 1983) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Life

Born in Montreal, Quebec, he studied piano 1945–49 at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec, where

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was his teacher. In 1952, at the age of 20, Kaye was the bandleader at the

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, a position he held until 1959. During those years Kaye also performed with his own groups and was a dominant participant on the Montreal jazz scene, as a pianist and also as a valve trombonist or trumpeter in the bands of Steve Garrick, Gilbert "Buck" Lacombe, and others. In his later years, Kaye was active both in Montreal and Toronto. He also toured Europe twice during the 1960s. In Toronto, Kaye appeared in 1960–61 at the House of Hambourg in the

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play '' The Connection''. During that period he worked with

Ron Collier Ron Collier, (July 3, 1930 – October 22, 2003) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger. He performed in and led a number of jazz groups, and created orchestrations for and recorded with Duke Ellington. Early life and educati ...

, and also played in various studio orchestras at the

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. A fiery bebop pianist, Kaye recorded with trumpeter

Ted Curson Theodore Curson (June 3, 1935 – November 4, 2012) was an American jazz trumpeter. Life and career Curson was born in Philadelphia. He became interested in playing trumpet after watching a newspaper salesman play a silver trumpet. Curson's fath ...

(1962, Trans-World TWJ-7000). He also made CBC broadcast recordings as trumpeter with Lacombe and as a pianist and French hornist with Collier. At the famous Toronto jazz club Bourbon Street he performed with a plethora of jazz headliners during the late 1960s. Kaye was also highly in demand by the great vocalists of the day; he performed as accompanist with the likes of Tony Bennett,

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, Edith Piaf,

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Josephine Baker Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...

, and

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "The Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Op ...

. In his final years Kaye settled in Montreal. In the late 1970s he worked frequently in a trio format with bassist Jean Cyr and various drummers, occasionally adding trumpeter

Charles Ellison Charles Ottley Ellison (8 February 1898 – 12 December 1978) was an Anglican ecclesiastic who was Archdeacon of Leeds from 1950 to 1969. Ellison was educated at Wrekin College; the University of Leeds; and Ripon College Cuddesdon. During the ...

, or vocalist Barbara Reney to complete a quartet. Kaye influenced many of the jazz performers of his day,www.holtremembers.blogspot.com.
/ref> and also left a legacy of unrecorded compositions which are today held in the

Concordia University Concordia University ( French: ''Université Concordia'') is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Founded in 1974 following the merger of Loyola College and Sir George Williams University, Concordia is one of the t ...

Archives.

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaye, Maury 1932 births 1983 deaths Anglophone Quebec people Canadian jazz pianists Musicians from Montreal 20th-century Canadian pianists