Nick Smart
Head of Jazz, Royal Academy of Music
It is hard to express just how large a contribution Kenny Wheeler made to the music in this country and around the world, and how deeply he touched the musicians that had the honour of working alongside him. Kenny was an important and much loved figure to the jazz department at the Royal Academy. He was the founding patron of our Junior Jazz programme and the subject of a year-long exhibition about his life and work. We are extremely proud to hold the archive of his manuscripts and awarded the annual Kenny Wheeler prize in conjunction with Edition Records, inaugurated after the unforgettable evening in the Duke’s Hall celebrating his 80th Birthday.
In my own experiences as an educator, sharing Kenny’s music with young musicians for the first time is one of the greatest and most lasting gifts one can pass on. The example he showed us all through his music is like a timeless masterclass, a guiding beacon of the most truthful artistry to which we can only aspire. Timeless because he so perfectly balanced humility, honesty, beauty, improvisation and craftsmanship. What finer core principles could we celebrate and honour in a period where the Creative Arts face more challenges than ever.
With Kenny’s passing we said goodbye to one of the great musical innovators of contemporary Jazz. His harmonic palette and singularly recognisable sound will live on in the memory of all who heard him and in the extraordinary legacy of recordings and compositions he left behind, inspiring generations to come. Famously self deprecating, Kenny was always modest and humble about his own musical achievements. But the truth is, he was a genius walking amongst us, and it was the most tremendous privilege to have been able to consider him a dear colleague and friend.
Henry Lowther
I first heard Kenny in 1962 when he played with the John Dankworth band at the Earlswood Jazz Festival. As well as playing in the big band there he also played in a quintet “band within a band” with John Dankworth on alto. The next time I heard him after that was in about 1965/65 when I played opposite him on a BBC Jazz Club broadcast. He was playing with a septet led by John Stevens and played so good I was frightened to death and I have been ever since.
In 1967 I was invited to join the John Dankworth big band in which Kenny was also member and this was the band that recorded the legendary Windmill Tilter album.
Of course, ever since then I worked with Kenny in numerous situations over the years on commercial recording sessions, television shows as well as jazz things and we became close friends. As a musician he was always an inspiration to me and I felt it was an enormous privilege to have been able to play in his many big bands including on the iconic Music for Large and Small Ensemble album in 1990.
I think it was G K Chesterson that said something like, “Talent can do whatever it wants to but genius can only do what it can”. Kenny was undoubtably the true genius of British jazz!
I miss him both as a friend and as a great musician.
Richard Williams
Jazz Journalist
From his earliest days on the London scene, Kenny Wheeler was held in a special reverence by his fellow musicians. As a player, his tone and phrasing were immediately identifiable, not just through their extraordinary beauty but through an immense sophistication that never got in the way of the emotional impact on his listeners. As a composer, he mined an equally rich seam of originality. And he was wonderfully broad in his engagement with all the possibilities offered by the jazz of his era. Few musicians have seemed equally comfortable finding new things to say on standard tunes, exploring the most complex harmonic and rhythmic contours of modern compositions, or leaping into the unknown with a group of free improvisers. From the bands of John Dankworth and Buddy Featherstonhaugh to collaborations with Keith Jarrett, Lee Konitz, John Stevens and Evan Parker, he seemed never to play a false or unnecessary note. It’s immensely gratifying to see the huge respect for this modest, unassuming genius being transferred to new generations of players and listeners, ensuring that his unique sound remains with us.
Norma Winstone
I miss experiencing Ken’s sound live and up close; I also miss his humour! How lucky we all were to have worked with him. It’s hard to believe that there will be no new music to look forward to but we do have the legacy of his compositions and it’s wonderful to think that his music will still be played worldwide as more and more people have access to it.