Roger Kellaway

[Peter Friedman]

A few weeks back I attended the Paradise Valley Jazz Party here in Arizona. Roger Kellaway's playing was, to my ears, definitely one of the true highlights of the weekend. Not sure why, but Roger seems to get minimal respect here.

I have seen Roger live a number of times, and have a large collection of his recordings. He is a highly creative jazz piano player who is very versatile in that he can fit well with musicians from a broad range of styles. He swings like mad and approaches each solo with great energy and enthusiasm.

He also has a readily identifiable style of his own which is lacking from many other players.

[John Tapscott]

I find Kellaway to be a very creative and interesting player. I should listen to him more often. Here are several CD's that I have enjoyed over the years:

Edited April 4, 2014 by John Tapscott

[Dan Gould]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=eATnDPvzN_s

Check out how he plays the blues opposite Gene Harris on a medley of Senor Blues and Splanky!

[mjzee]

Back in high school, I was on A&M's mailing list, and one month they sent Roger Kellaway's Center of the Circle. It didn't do much for me then; perhaps it was my youth. I don't have it now; I wonder how I'd react to it.

[jazztrain]

His Cello Quartet recordings are very distinctive and worth checking out.

[fasstrack]

I know it was long ago, but it bears mentioning that he added a lot to the Sonny Rollins soundtrack for Alfie. The entire cast played great on that.

[Clunky]

Back in high school, I was on A&M's mailing list, and one month they sent Roger Kellaway's Center of the Circle. It didn't do much for me then; perhaps it was my youth. I don't have it now; I wonder how I'd react to it.

This is the only one I've heard. I recall being underwhelmed but suspect it was very much a product if it's time

[BillF]

He's certainly been around a long time. I liked his excellent work in the 60s with the Clark Terry/Bob Brookmeyer quintet and on More Blues and the Abstract Truth. I recall reading in a book on jazz piano that as a technique to alter sound Kellaway would move his fingers on keys already depressed. Not sure if I can hear this on the records!

Edited April 4, 2014 by BillF

[JSngry]

I used to have Spirit Feel, then sold it, then a few years bought it again. No regrets one way or the other, about any of those transactions.

OTOH, I bought Stride! a few years ago and was almost instantly upon listening filled with deep regrets beyond the total capacity of linear measurements.

He's one of those guys who can be really interesting and really irritating, often at the same time. But there, credit goes to not being "invisible", ok? He has a lot of decisions at his disposal, so if some are not so fun to hear, hey, you know? Ain't no living in a perfect world, at least not all the time.

But hello world (doggone ya'), how many of us heard him every damn week without realizing it at first?

[Peter Friedman]

My impression is that Roger can impress differently depending upon the context. His recordings with a cello quartet and some of his classical oriented recordings are rather different than the Kellaway in a straight ahead jazz environment. He made a wonderful duo Recording with Ruby Braff, and his things with Red Mitchell on both Concord and Dragon are terrific.

There are also his quite recent things on the IPO label that I very much like.

[Chuck Nessa]

I never connected on records or in person (last time was with Art Pepper) - never felt there was a "real" Roger Kellaway.

[jlhoots]

Well, I've actually enjoyed him with Terry / Brookmeyer & Eddie Daniels (who also doesn't seem to be a favorite around here).

[mjzee]

Well, I've actually enjoyed him with Terry / Brookmeyer & Eddie Daniels (who also doesn't seem to be a favorite around here).

You just hit 5,000 posts! Congratulations!

[GA Russell]

Of all the Widow's Taste issues Laurie Pepper has released, my favorite is the one with Roger Kellaway.

[BillF]

Well, I've actually enjoyed him with Terry / Brookmeyer & Eddie Daniels (who also doesn't seem to be a favorite around here).

Love Eddie Daniels! Have these fine albums in my collection, plus lots with Jones/Lewis:

Edited April 5, 2014 by BillF

[Stereojack]

A superb musician - adaptable to many musical situations, which perhaps puts a different spin on Chuck's assessment. One hopes he got a nice paycheck after "All in the Family" (he wrote and played the closing theme). His success at that time probably allowed the silly "Center of the Circle" LP.

[MartyJazz]

I know it was long ago, but it bears mentioning that he added a lot to the Sonny Rollins soundtrack for Alfie. The entire cast played great on that.

I was just about to post the same sentiments but you beat me to it. That "Alfie" soundtrack album is the proverbial desert island disc for me. Listen to it often. Kellaway, Burrell and Dunlop provide terrific support throughout.

[fasstrack]

I know it was long ago, but it bears mentioning that he added a lot to the Sonny Rollins soundtrack for Alfie. The entire cast played great on that.

I was just about to post the same sentiments but you beat me to it. That "Alfie" soundtrack album is the proverbial desert island disc for me. Listen to it often. Kellaway, Burrell and Dunlop provide terrific support throughout.

Not to mention Oliver's Charts. Just the right amount of background. Sonny, naturally, was brilliant throughout. Alfie's Theme!

[jlhoots]

Well, I've actually enjoyed him with Terry / Brookmeyer & Eddie Daniels (who also doesn't seem to be a favorite around here).

You just hit 5,000 posts! Congratulations!

Thanks - only took me 11 years!

[JSngry]

I never connected on records or in person (last time was with Art Pepper) - never felt there was a "real" Roger Kellaway.

You know, I fully understand this, and for a long time defaulted to it, and largely still do, with the exception, now, that I'm willing to take that as a given going in, and appreciate what I hear that I like (and disregard what I don't), as not being an "expression of core self" and instead look at i as a sort of high-level cleverness, and yes, "clever" is always going to be just that, but also "high-level" creates its own world of sorts, a world of "amusement" if you will, and that's not something I can disregard, even though it is not something I can fully embrace without at least one level of protection, if you know what I mean.

Yes, life is short, and yes, there is too much truly great music to fully engage in, but otoh, when the choice comes between choosing fully present "self"/second rate "execution" & less present "self"/first-rate "execution", it's not that I'm valuing the former less as time goes by, but I am respecting the latter more than I used to. Maybe it's just that "doing the work" means more to me more now than ever. Somebody like Kellaway has done a lot of "the work", more than a great many, actually, and if it has not been in the service of "self" as much as it has been in the service of....service, then so be it. It is what it is.

In a way, several ways, actually, he reminds me of a latter-day Dick Hyman. Hyman gave a clinic at NT back in the day ( a very surprising choice, as nothing he did or said was relevant to "NT values") & his whole thing was playing "the history of jazz piano" from Joplin to Cecil to Jarrett and all steps in between. His was a masterful recreation, and he made it a point to highlight in his demonstrated the idiosyncrasies of each player. This wasn't a generic "overview", this was a really insightful dissection.

But at the end of it, a lot of us asked each other, well, ok, but who is Dick Hyman himself? Is there one? It wasn't a disrespectful wondering, it was just kinda...wow, this guy has a lot of skills, but...what then? Of course, years later, it became apparent that Dick Hyman did have massive skills, and if he was not a strong "individual voice", he was a strong addition to many kinds of a gig, Dick Hyman was not going to fuck up a gig, right? and that's a value of its own,a very real value. Of course, it doesn't answer the question of "who IS Dick Hyman", but it does posit the possibility that the answer is simple - Dick Hyman is a guy who will not fuck up a gig, if you call Dick Hyman for your gig, rest assured that he will not fuck it up in any way, shape, form, or fashion. There are far worse answers!

To me, Roger Kellaway is an extension of that "mentality", only with a lot more "modern" options at his disposal. He's known to be a very avid "fan" of "contemporary classical" music (in most of its forms), and he never does not bring that to the mix. So, think of Roger Kellaway as the next-generation Dick Hyman, amped up on Messiaen and such, and you might have something tangible as to who the "real" Roger Kellaway is. Then, proceed accordingly, etc.

A more interesting "comparison", though, might be Clare Fischer, another guy whose tastes were broad & expressions diverse. Fischer, it has always seemed to me, had a core "self" to an extent that Kellaway has perhaps never displayed, or at least not a fully. There are times when Clare Fischer's music seemed just flat out nuts, whereas Kellaway's best has been...interesting. All of it in a good way, but there is that difference....

Having said all this, I will summarize by saying that if Roger Kellaway came to my town with his own program, I would likely go see it, but if he came as a single to play tunes in a club or an auditorium, I might just as easily forget to go.

[Peter Friedman]

My view is to some extent very much the opposite of Jim's final paragraph. If Roger was doing his own program I would be concerned it would include things more on the order of the 4 Cello group, or some compositions using strings or other instrumentation designed to show off his composing chops.

That is not what I prefer about Kellaway s music.

I would much rather hear him play with a good rhythm section as well as some solo tunes with him playing good Standards and good Jazz tunes by Monk, Golson, Etc.

To my mind, it is his hard swinging creative jazz piano that shows the "real" Kellaway. The other stuff is just him trying out things to see what might result.

Just as many top level jazz players like to record an album with strings or compose and or play once in while in a "workshop" setting that is very different than what they usually do. Is the "real" Ellington defined by his "church music' or by his many masterpieces, or do we not know who he really was?

The other way to look at this is to say the the "real" Ellington is the sum of all his compositions and performing. Might that not be true for other musicians as well?

[JSngry]

How big is that sum?, that would be my answer.

I do like the Cello Quartets, though, but I also like his Rhodes work on The Age Of Steam just as much, totally different realms equally well inhabited. But sometimes he just doesn't connect with me on a pleasurably level (that duet w/Red Mitchell actually irked me for some reason I still can't identify)...but sometimes he does. Go figure.

Different strokes, etc. I think we'd all agree that his skill set is pretty damn immense, and to me, that's what should be universally recognized. Everything else is personal.

[Mike Schwartz]

The recent [within the last couple of years] duo recordings on IPO with Eddie Daniels are terrific

Edited April 6, 2014 by Mike Schwartz

[Larry Kart]

I never connected on records or in person (last time was with Art Pepper) - never felt there was a "real" Roger Kellaway.

I agree about 98 percent, thought he has made nice contributions as a sideman from time to time, along with some darn obtrusive sideman contributions, too, IMO. To me, the thing about Kellaway is that he is, to perhaps coin a term, a "diddler." I had a talented pianist friend, now deceased and of Kelleway's vintage (they knew each other early on, I believe), who was a diddler too, although he also could get it all together. My friend was a terrific ragtime and stride pianist (the best of of his generation according to Eubie Blake), a brilliant Tristano cum Bud Powell disciple, etc. etc. but he also got deeply (almost obsessively) into Burt Bacharach's music at one point and eventually preferred to play "casuals" (wedding, private parties, etc.) rather than jazz gigs because, he said, they ask you/you get to play everything there. Eventually he got into fairly abstract electronic music. My friend did have a genuine musical self or selves IMO, but he also seemed to be more or less running away from them fairly often.

[JSngry]

Or maybe he fed them less each so he could feed them all?